Jump to content
HybridZ

Obvious scam... what should I do?


JKDGabe

Recommended Posts

I advertised my truck on another site and one of the people that replied was "Samson Apollos". Red flag #1. His poor english and the fact that he offered $1000 more than I asked (for all my help in shipping :roll: ) were red flags #2&3. I apparently deleted his first email to me but here are the next two.

 

Dear Christopher,

Thanks for your mail,I have spoken to my client and he

has instructed me to inform you that payment will get

to you in a cashier check of $13,000, which is a

refund payment of a cancelled order earlier made by my

client. Due to company policy this check has to be

made out in this amount to you ,because company policy

only allows a refund payment on one cashier check,so

you are required to deduct cost of (item)$7,500when

payment gets to you and refund balance of $5,500 to my

customer via western union money transfer for him to

be able to upset shipping charges down here.Confirm

this and provide name, and address for check payment

to be delivered to you via fedex courier. Thanks,

samson Appolloss.

 

2003 05:28:46 -0800 (PST)

 

Dear Gabriel,

please can you give out your on physical address? you see P.O.BOX will take a long time even fedex carier would not offer the duty cause the don't use P.O BOX and if you are using P.O BOX you have to give me your TELLEPHONE NOMBER

i would have send the check today

please get back to me

samson.........

 

What I had originally planned on was simply framing the bogus check as a good story/way to inform friends. There's no way I'm gonna give him my physical address, what I want to know is why he wants it! Any idea's?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Fontouk

Can you fill in the blanks (or provide a link to the post) of the back story to this?

 

Generically though, ONLY banks cut cashier's checks, that's why they're "gold" to financial instututions, because there's no account to pull against.

 

Also, you could ask for additional information such as the bank it's drawn against, account number, their phone number, etc for verification purposes. These are not unreasonable requests for reputable people. Some people will only accept personal checks for cars, by going to the bank with the person, having them write a check to cash, turn around, hand it to you, and you hand over the title.

 

If you've already been screwed, contact your local district attorney.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, I've seen this type of scam before.

 

The check is worthless, Since it looks like a cashers check your bank will take it and give you the cash, by the time your bank gets to transfering the funds from the bank the cashers check was drawn against that account if it was ever real is closed, which leaves you hanging. Since by that time you have already sent back to this guy the $5,500 which he gets "real" money. then your bank comes back to you for the full $13,000

 

I would send a reply back and let them know you are not interested in selling your vehicle to them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think what JKDGabe is trying to do is snare this guy somehow.

 

What I would do is contact your state attorney general's office and just hand over all this info to them. Then let them decide if they want to use you to get more evidence against the guy.

 

Personally, I'm intrigued by the process and would be curious to see how or if the authorities can go after scamsters like this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mike kz has it correct, This person is most likly not on US soil, so sending it Regular USPS is not an option, FedEx won't ship to a P.O. box. The phone number is requested so he can start calling and harassing you if you don't cash the check within a day or so of receving it. See at that point it is now a case of YOU owing HIM money rather than the other way around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was well aware that it was a fraud from the beginning... I've also heard how hard it is to catch them. That's why I figured I'd make 'em go to the trouble/cost of sending the check. I think I'll give the address but not ph.#. If I get the check I'll post it for all to see! Then I'll delete my hotmail account... :D

 

This is not the first time it's happened and if it happens again I'll go to the authorities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest BigWhyteDude

since he is trying to screw you, turn around and burn him if it is possible that is. Go talk to your local attorney general and see what they think. If they will back you upm go with it and try to get these ppl. I hate people that dont want to do honest work for a living. :evil:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wait a minute - Why shouldn't he get the cashier's check from the guy before doing anything else? Once the check is in his hands, it's a simple matter for Gabe's bank to check whether or not it's real or not before cashing it. If it's valid, the bank can cash it out to him, and the transaction goes along normally. If it's fake, he turns the matter over to the D.A. Gabe, tell the guy to send the check to your business address, and tell him to put HIS OWN phone number on the FedEx envelope. Better yet, have him send it via Registered Mail.

 

Until you receive his cashier's check, there is no actual evidence against this guy. If he's a scammer he should be tracked down and caught, and that will be easier to do with physical evidence in hand.

 

That's my thought on matters. Does anyone see a gaping hole in my logic?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a well known fraud called the Nigerian letter' date=' among others. The feds are all over this. Don't reply, ignore them. You can't out scam them, and you can't catch them.

 

Run away fast.

 

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/fraud.htm[/quote']

 

Wow. I never realized they were so sophisticated, or that money could take that length of time to hit your account! This information might save a lot of folks a lot of money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The same scam was used on a book store here in Richmond last summer. An African-based corporation Ordered a shipment, paid with a bad check for 2x the price, asked for an immediate refund of the other half. By the time the US banks caught up, the book seller ( a sole proprieter of a small store) was out the full amount - cash and books. How low do you have to be to cheat someone over a case of Bibles?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...