selling to someone out of country

Nails · May 31, 2011

I was recently contacted by a prospective buyer for some gear that I have for sale. He is from Europe and has offered to pay via cashiers check or money order after I asked for PayPal. His e-mail to me is as follows.

Hello,
Thanks for the quick mail...I will be buying the Quad Parka you have for sale,so kindly reserve it for me.However, the payment will be deliver to you this week or next week...So please as soon as you receive the payment, get it cashed immediately, deduct the money for the item and send the remaining balance to the shipping agent that will handles the shipment via Western union money transfer. Moreso, I'll be giving you an extra $40 for keeping this item for me till the shipper's come for the pick up and to know you're selling this to me. So in view of the above, Here are some of the details I will need for final issuance of the Check or MoneyOrder to you.
(1) Full Name
(2) Mailing address, not p.o.box please
(3) your direct telephone number both home and cell.
Once you get back to me with all the above informations, the payment will be issued out immediately and it will be sent to you.
hope to hear from you.
Best regards.

What do you guys think?
My gut felling is to stick with my insistence on using PayPal.
I am a bit uneasy with a transaction where someone goes through this much trouble when PayPal is so easy.

RJ · May 31, 2011

Your gut is right. Its a scam. Don't do it. Once you insist on paypal you will most likely not hear from him again.

deadI · May 31, 2011

I would say its a scam. Don't do it.
DeadI/Jared

Ram187 · May 31, 2011

Once you send the remaining balance to the shipping agent you will find out that the cashed money order is no good and you will be stuck.

Nails · May 31, 2011

That's what I thought. Here is what I see happening.

I receive the cashiers check and cash it like he asked.
I send the balance after deducting cost of the item to the "shipping agent".
Agent comes to pick up item and I return the $40 he so graciously sent me to hold item for him.
Agent leaves with item, $40 and the balance that was to pay shipping.
Cashiers check bounces and now I am out the money and the item.

I will insist on PayPal on this one and any others in the future.

Nails · May 31, 2011

Thanks for the responses guys. I was planning on sticking with my guns and insisting on PayPal, but still wanted to post and hear your thoughts. Maybe somebody else will read this and be forewarned about this type of tactic.

Thanks again.
Nails.

sremim · May 31, 2011

It's one of the oldest scams in the book. Tell the guy you contacted the FBI!!!

deadibob · May 31, 2011

If you took this scammer seriously for even two seconds I've got a bridge I want to sell you. How do people fall for this crap?

Nails · May 31, 2011

How much are you asking for your bridge and how can we work out shipping

First time I have ever gotten something like that.Did a red flag go up immediately? You bet. I am bringing it to the members attention because the scammer has obviously been lurking on MM's classified, so who knows what they will try next.

trophyhunter · May 31, 2011

Nails: Another thing to watch out for is a fake Pay Pal the purchaser sends to you as an email link. My daughter was attempting to sell some expensive jewelry a few months back and was also dealing with an out of country buyer. It actually was same time as now near last father's day. The out of country buyer gave her the song and dance and asked the sale be delayed and held for them as they would pay more than the asking price. Then they sent a fake "Pay Pal" link that looked exactly like the real website. Money was made to look like deposited on the fake site. If you send the item.. you are out your item..So do your homework and verify you are actually dealing with the true Pay Pal...Luckily my daughter's husband is a deputy sheriff and got the FBI involved. Three hits on the jewelry and all were fake Pay Pal's. FBI says fake Pay Pal scam is common.

Give out no personal information also wach out for idenity theft.

Good Luck,

))))......>

BrowningRage · May 31, 2011

Scam, scam, scam...

"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" 2 Ne. 28: 24

travishunter3006 · May 31, 2011

a guy in my office got the same thing only from a sweepstakes thing.

what happens is, you go and cash the check, send him the extra money and then low and behold the check bounces and you are out the money that you sent him plus fees you rack up at your bank or CU. dont do it. they do this all the time on ksl. especially if youa re trying to buy dogs. someone in "africa" on a "mission" is trying to send the dogs back home etc. they just want your full name, address, etc. SCAM!

It was a big bodied 2 point.

whitwell_56 · May 31, 2011

Like everyone said...its a scam. It is surprising how many of those are out there. If it is too good to be true, it probably is.

B_BOP_A_LU_LU · May 31, 2011

A couple years ago I had an item listed on KSL!

A guy calls me & asks if I have another item identical to it?

I say I sure do!

He wants both of them!

He demands my Physical Address so he can ship the Check!

Told him to ship it to My P.O. Box!

He got mad & demanded my physical address!

I said No!

The SOB sent me a 1500.00 Check via UPS with My P.O. Box number on it!

I never sent him any goods!

Anybody know what this F'r was up too?

I've still got the Check!

I know it's a Scam,but WTF was he trying to Pull?

For GAWDS Sakes Guys,We Got Kids on this Site,Some of them are 65 years Old!

I don't care if they're big or small!
If they throw lead I like em all!

Trix4me · May 31, 2011

Bess, What kind of check did he send you? CC, personal, drawn on a business. Did he give instructions to call him when you rec'd it? Was this check for the exact amount of the purchase? Curious too!

HuntinFool · May 31, 2011

A bunch of guys on another website I frequent just got the exact same email.

B_BOP_A_LU_LU · May 31, 2011

Trix!

I'll have to dig it out sometime & look,I can't remember?

It was for the exact amount!

Just couldn't never figure out what kind of Scam it was?

After He sent me the Check I never heard from him again!

For GAWDS Sakes Guys,We Got Kids on this Site,Some of them are 65 years Old!

I don't care if they're big or small!
If they throw lead I like em all!

Gator · May 31, 2011

Last week I got a e-mail from a member on here, That said "you have to see this" now I have talked with this guy and exchanged e-mails before, I click to open this message, I started to get tons of popups for free pornsites and ad for a security system to fix the problem, My son wipe my computer and installed a Norton anti virus and Now it back clean again, so even if you know the person be careful.

The deal you have right now is a pure up scam to make you part with your money. Get as much free information from the POS and then turn it over to the FBI.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".

vaquero · May 31, 2011

This site needs an area to post up good or bad feedback regarding past classified dealings.
It's not going to help with first timers or those that change their username but it might stop some of this

deadibob · May 31, 2011

60 minutes or somebody did an article on this where it was another angle of the nigerian scam, they would buy things and have them shipped to africa. The television show actually tracked several packages to the end scammers in Africa. It was mostly electronics. I don't recall how they were paying for the items originally, either forged checks or stolen credit cards.

Those Nigerians work any angle they can. I used to get bombarded with Nigerian emails because I would string them along and then eventually tell them to f' off and that I had forwarded all emails and info to the FBI.

Last month I had a scammer hit me up for a rifle I was selling on ksl. It was pretty much the same deal as you described. I just told them to F' off.

1911 · May 31, 2011

What surprises me is how many millionaire relatives I have in Africa that I have never heard of and yet somehow they knew me well enough to will all their millions to me when they die in unfortunate traffic accidents. All they need is all my personal information and banking numbers. Odd.

The crazy part about these scams is that people sucker for it all the time or they would not continue to do it. The best ingredient for a well working scam is playing on one thing. People's greed. Bottom line is if it is too good to be true it is.

The unfortunate part is many of the victims preyed upon on these scams are the elderly of diminished mental capacity who came from an era of a more trusting nature. Combine that with their lack of exposure to the E world we live in and it is a recipe for disaster.

With most of these scam operations based outside of the country, there is little to nothing we can do about it. The ones they can deal with are a drop in the bucket and new crime operations pop up more frequently than hemmeroids on Eel's fanny.