Scammer!

**breakaway** · 13th February 2009, 13:02

Just listed my bike (600) on motorcycle trader.

Got some interest:

Dear Trader,

My name are Michael Ocean, i live in England. am much interested to purchase your motorcycle for my loving son, my son really like it when he view the pictures.
I want to know your last price for it and the conditions. i see it like brand new but i just want to know the conditions and your last price.
I hope to read from you asap.

Best Regards.....

I emailed Mr. Ocean back, saying I wanted what was listed on the ad for the bike, or near offer, and got this back:

Dear breakaway,

It really nice to read from you, am okay with your asking price for the motorcycle and the conditions,i will like you keep other buyer and post the ad sold.

My Sercetary presently in England will issue you Bank Draft Check for 6,500 GBP for the motorcycle and the excess funds for the shipping the motorcycle to my place.

Therefore; When you get the payment, you will deposit it at your bank and withdraw the shipping funds and get the send to them, via western union money transfer. They will arrange all the document needed for pickup for the motorcycle.

Fill the details bleow;

Full name.......

Full contact address.......

City.......

States.....

Country......

Phone number........

All the details require from will be use to issue out the check payment.

I will wait to read from you as soon as possible.

Regards, Michael Ocean

SIX THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS?

6500 GBP = 17835.0921 New Zealand dollars (at time of writing)

Fortunately I'm an internet superhero and know that when it's too good to be true, it probably is - so be careful if you're selling your bike and get an offer from Overseas

**DarkLord** · 13th February 2009, 13:04

Heh. You should have a bit of fun with him. Mess him around a bit.

**jrandom** · 13th February 2009, 13:14

Yeah.

The way this old-as-the-hills scam works is, you deposit the cheque, which is written out for some amount greater than the actual price of what you're selling.

You draw the cash out when your local bank provisionally (that's the important point) clears the cheque, then send the 'excess portion' of that cash back to the scammers via Western Union (which is untraceable and non-refundable).

Now the scammers have cold hard cash in their hands, and you won't hear another peep out of them.

Then, a week or two later, the cheque bounces, your bank reverses those funds out of your account, and you're now in the hole for however much cash you sent, because you didn't realise how international cheque clearing worked.

The important point to note here, the point that enables the scam, is that the international banking system is set up so that local banks will make funds available to their customers while they wait for international cheques to clear, but if the cheques bounce, those funds will disappear again, leaving you deep in the red if you spent them in the meantime.

But Western Union isn't a part of the international banking system. It deals solely in cold hard cash, paid in at one end before it's available at the other, totally anonymously if desired.

The interaction of those two separate systems leaves a hole open for the unwary to be scammed through. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unwary and uneducated people out there.

**jrandom** · 13th February 2009, 13:18

Originally Posted by DarkLord

Heh. You should have a bit of fun with him. Mess him around a bit.

If you want to have some fun, try talking the scammers into sending you some cash via Western Union. Make up some shit, make it believable. 'Processing fees' or whatever. You might get fifty bucks out of them if you're lucky and this guy is one of the really stupid ones.

Probably not, though. They usually know to terminate contact the moment their target starts asking for anything outside the scam script. Most of the operators running these scams have fairly automated systems going that harvest ads from the various trading websites, and don't want to put any particular effort into single deals that aren't following the right response pattern.

Personally, I wouldn't waste my time on it. I just bin scam emails without responding. If I have an hour or two spare, I'd rather read a book, go for a ride or fire up some games than sit around composing emails to barely-literate Eastern European or African criminals.

**MIXONE** · 13th February 2009, 13:45

I've won two lotteries in the last few weeks!
Both from the UK one "sponsered " by Toyota UK and the other by Exxon!
One million squids in each.

JR you mean it's not real?

Better cancel the order for my new bikes then.

**slofox** · 13th February 2009, 14:27

I met exactly this type of scam in my wineshop...dude wanted 48 CASES of a very expensive wine (Dom Perginon) to be shipped to Japan please...from an "expat American" whose ENGRISH was as bad as your potential customer's...."yeah right" I thought, but I did string him along after notifying the local constabulary...I eventually got sick of pissing around and told him to sod off. He did.

**peasea** · 13th February 2009, 14:40

Originally Posted by jrandom

If you want to have some fun, try talking the scammers into sending you some cash via Western Union. Make up some shit, make it believable. 'Processing fees' or whatever. You might get fifty bucks out of them if you're lucky and this guy is one of the really stupid ones.

Probably not, though. They usually know to terminate contact the moment their target starts asking for anything outside the scam script. Most of the operators running these scams have fairly automated systems going that harvest ads from the various trading websites, and don't want to put any particular effort into single deals that aren't following the right response pattern.

Personally, I wouldn't waste my time on it. I just bin scam emails without responding. If I have an hour or two spare, I'd rather read a book, go for a ride or fire up some games than sit around composing emails to barely-literate Eastern European or African criminals.

Quite right; posting on kb is far more productive

**Cynos** · 13th February 2009, 14:59

Originally Posted by MIXONE

I've won two lotteries in the last few weeks!
Both from the UK one "sponsered " by Toyota UK and the other by Exxon!
One million squids in each.

JR you mean it's not real?

Better cancel the order for my new bikes then.

When I took phone calls for Consumer Affairs, we had truckloads of people ringing up to find out if their lottery winnings in Spain were legitimate - and a lot of them didn't want to believe that they weren't.

Me: "Ma'am, did you buy a ticket for this lottery? They only sell tickets to Spanish lotteries in Spain."
Her: "But no! They said they picked my name from the Internet! And I use the Internet all the time!"

The funniest/saddest ones were the people ringing up only after sending the scammers $20,000 or so dollars - I loved the ones who borrowed money from friends and family to pay their "processing fees", really made me wonder what lies they told to get it.

**DarkLord** · 13th February 2009, 15:02

Originally Posted by Cynos

When I took phone calls for Consumer Affairs, we had truckloads of people ringing up to find out if their lottery winnings in Spain were legitimate - and a lot of them didn't want to believe that they weren't.

Me: "Ma'am, did you buy a ticket for this lottery? They only sell tickets to Spanish lotteries in Spain."
Her: "But no! They said they picked my name from the Internet! And I use the Internet all the time!"

The funniest/saddest ones were the people ringing up only after sending the scammers $20,000 or so dollars - I loved the ones who borrowed money from friends and family to pay their "processing fees", really made me wonder what lies they told to get it.

That is sad. Some people can be incredibly naieve. If people like that grew a clue or two, these scammers would be out of work.

**neilwgtn** · 13th February 2009, 15:08

Friend was trying to find a flat and came across an ad for a rental house in wellington - apply via email.. she got a rpely saying the house was hers and for her to send money to this account and they would send her the keys.. they said they were currently overseas.. i told her to be careful about it.. there was photos of the house and everything..
In the end she went to the address and saw a real estate guy there.. supposly 4 other people had already been scammed and sent money and they place wasnt for rent but was currently being sold...

she was really in need of a house so almost sent the money
many scammers... "if its too good to be true.. then its a scam"

**jrandom** · 13th February 2009, 15:15

Originally Posted by neilwgtn

they said they were currently overseas...

This is an important point to note.

Any time people want money sent via unrecoverable, untraceable means like Western Union, they're either selling something illegal (and if you're quite aware that that's what you're buying, no worries, I guess) or they're looking to scam you.

Transfers between actual bank accounts are easily traceable, particularly within the same country. Bank accounts can't be opened without proper ID, and you have reasonable legal protections if payments are made based on fraudulent info, etc.

If someone gives you their fair dinkum NZ bank account number, they're probably not out to scam you, unless they're mind-numbingly stupid (although it can certainly be a real hassle to recover money when a deal goes sour, so caveat emptor still applies).

**breakaway** · 13th February 2009, 15:34

It sucks how there are a rather large amount of people out there who fall for these scams

**Swampdonkey** · 13th February 2009, 15:57

419EATER .com go have a look....priceless

**Crazy Steve** · 13th February 2009, 16:24

Originally Posted by breakaway

Just listed my bike (600) on motorcycle trader.

Got some interest:

I emailed Mr. Ocean back, saying I wanted what was listed on the ad for the bike, or near offer, and got this back:

SIX THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS?

6500 GBP = 17835.0921 New Zealand dollars (at time of writing)

Fortunately I'm an internet superhero and know that when it's too good to be true, it probably is - so be careful if you're selling your bike and get an offer from Overseas

I think you will find the only Scammer is you....Asking $6200 for an old 600 Srad......Done 65kms plus.....

Your a Dreamer Bud ! ! !

It will need a Rebuild for sure....

Crazy Steve..