Is This an "Attempted" Scam

Lawreston

Lawreston

En-Route
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Feb 23, 2005
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Georgetown, ME
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Display name:
Harley Reich
After my recent installation of the Power Flow Systems exhaust I put an adv. in the AOPA Free Classifieds. The carb-heat box from the plane is still in good condition and somebody might need one. Within several days I received the following email:

Seller,

I am interested in the above subject item and will like to purchase it, if available for pick up.let me know your last price and the location of the item with brief condition of the item and pictures if available.

It "reads," to me, similarly to some of those Nigerian "deals." And the return email address is .UK. I smell a potential rat in the woodwork. My email address is a pretty good indication of where I'm located.

HR
 
I would limit my sales/purchases to the US, Harley. Even that is not a guarantee. Unless he wants to send you the money first (make sure its not something the bank can retract from your account later); you want cash up front.
 
I ran into a similar scammer when my airplane was for sale. I smelled a rat, but strung him along for a little while to see what would happen. He starts out as a UK buyer, then after a few emails he is representing someone in another country, in my case South Africa, and wanted me to line up shipping.

Then I got busy with work and replied to one of his emails with a simple, "Go away scammer, I'm tired of playing with you" and never heard from him again. Of course, anytime I put an ad out there in internet land, I ALWAYS use a Yahoo address. I periodically throw it away and create a new one.
 
I had someone make repeated offeres to purchase my A-36, even though it wasn't on the market. He offered a very good price; so, I went back in forth with him. In the end, he wanted to trade a condo in California for it; sent me nice pics etc. Sacramento to be specific. Then it was to be a trade, but his condo was worth more than my plane; so, I was to send him a check for the difference. Told him I had too much real estate now and a few other things, nicely, and he went away.

Dave
 
Last edited:
If he wants you to use an escrow company and recommends one of his own choosing, yeah, its probably a scam.

Did you see the P-P-Powerbook?
 
Yep. They usually start out asking condition & best price to find out if you'll reply. It goes downhill from there....

I bet if you reply with some price, they'll be offering you more $$ and the difference to be split later.

Scam.


-Rich
 
Harley, it's the first phase of the "I (or some other victim) will send a check for too much money. Please wire me the difference." scam. His "cashiers check" will be worthless but you won't find that out until your bank takes the money from you in 3-4 weeks.
 
That or the "I'll put too much money in escrow, and the escrow company will confirm its there" until you go to collect it and the escrow company just stops responding.
 
No reason not to respond to this, but if it goes in any of the bad directions noted above (primarily the "too much money" scam), disconnect.
 
I tried to sell a portable oxygen system on a very respected website myself one time. I got the same thing "I send you one-thoussand Dolllars, to cover for the ship to me...." sort of garbage. I notified the web hostess and she said that this was fairly common and that she got reports like mine from people all the time. The site was pretty pro-active about getting the word out and passing on information to law enforcement.

Edit: If they want to go through with it, use Escrow.com. Reasonable rates and is is an actual web-site.

--Matt
 
Thanks for all the commentaries. I didn't trust it right from the beginning, it being so similar(wording, presentation, etc) to the "deals" which have been outed previously on PoA. But I thought y'all would get a chuckle from the latest guy who thinks he's dealing with someone who was "born at night." I was, but it wasn't last night and the lights weren't out.

HR
 
Ron Levy said:
No reason not to respond to this, but if it goes in any of the bad directions noted above (primarily the "too much money" scam), disconnect.
Click to expand...

Interestingly, today I received the following email(twice, within 2 minutes). It's from an address different from the original but, again, from the UK.

"I am intrested in purchasing your item which you placed and i will like to know the duration of possession of
this item,its working condition, and final asking if you will accept a certified check as a
mode of payment, and also if you will be able to wire transfer the rest excess funds (shippment
fees)to my shipper after you might have cashed and deducted your charges for this item as i will be taking care of the
shippment of the item from united state to our store in united kingdom or ,pls kindly get back to me with your CONTACT
NAME AND ADDRESS Immediately so that i can issued and forward the check to you ASAP you can aswell send me your
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER.soon as that is done.,i willimmediately proceed to the end of the transaction .
Regards
+2348034802482
+447031904987
CAPITAL EXPRESS INC"

No communication shall emit from me.

HR
 
Lawreston said:
No communication shall emit from me.

HR
Click to expand...
Harley, why not reply "The Police and your bank advise that I should cash the check and hold the funds in escrow for two months to ensure safe receipt of the funds, as international certified checks take a long time to clear. To compensate you for the inconvenience, I will accept $100 less for this transaction. Alternatively, you may wire the funds to my account. Please advise."

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
Alternatively, you may wire the funds to my account. Please advise."

-Skip
Click to expand...

If you it goes that way, make sure the account has no funds in it.
 
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