Hi Everybody,
The following is an example of the new type of "Nigerian Scam", where they answer YOUR ad. Remember, it can claim to be from a man or a woman, and it can appear to come from ANY country. Lately they have been coming from all over Europe.
Like I said, what they do is, they express an interest in your ad, and you may even notice that they know very little about what you are selling. They use the pretense where they have someone in the US mail you a worthless money order for considerably more than you are asking and you are supposed to mail them the difference, then you're left holding the bag.
The scammer doesn't even have to use email!! Someone who works for a bank told me he sees this all the time. People who post ads anywhere for items for sale (of large value) have a person show up or call
and say they want the item at full price (they seldom negotiate) and they show up or possibly mail the seller a cashier's check which is for an amount greater than the selling price. They inform the seller that there was a mistake made when the bank made out the cashier's check and then ask the seller to wire the difference (minus any wire fees) back to their account in Jamaica or some other country outside the U.S. They are told that the buyer won't be there to pick up the car, tractor, or whatever, for a few more days so the sellers think that since it's a cashier's check, and they still have the item, they are ok. The buyer never shows up (if possible) and never attempts to get the item and
the cashier's check turns out to be a forgery and the seller's money that was wired is irretrievable.
There is a US government task force working on the ORIGINAL Nigerian Scam.. If you want to read a LOT more about it, click HERE. Or, read THIS one, from our OWN US Postal Service.
The following emails are some of the actual correspondence that went on between a "scammer" and a person who placed an ad on this web site. I have changed his name to "B. Dubya"
Item | Description | Price |
E-mail address |
1943 John Deere BW | 1943 John Deere BW... looks and runs excellent, picture on request
| $2800 or best offer | |
Subject: Enquiry
Date: Sun, 25 May 2003 11:56:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lanre James
Reply-To: glabacoms@yahoo.com
To: bdubya@xxx.com
Hello ,
How are you?I saw your advert on the Web about the things you sell,I am extremely interested in your 1943 John Deere
BW/factory
wide front
I am based in West Africa
I am ready to pay $2900
I will like you to send me an email and also iw ill like to know the Conditon of what i am buying from you and also will love to see
pictures also you can also email me Via the email address above and iw ill get back to you asap.
Regards
B.Dubya wrote:
Lanre, your the 2nd inquiry that I've had from W Africa! How did you plan on getting it there? The tractor runs excellent and
looks good, all metal is straight and in original condition. Don't know how familiar you are with old JD tractors, this one has
a fly wheel and manual start! Here is a picture that you requested. thx B. Dubya
> ATTACHMENT part 2 image/tiff name=John Deere #1_1.tif
From: Fred Lexington
To: B. Dubya
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2003 2:47 AM
Subject: Agreed
Thanks,
I am based in Lagos,Nigeria,West Africa.
I will be willing to buy your tractor
I hope it is in excellent condition,i appreciate your effort by letting me know the conditions of what i am
buying from you.Aspa shipping i have made all necessary arrangement with a shipping company Called Pacific
Ocean Airliners they will be on ground to do the pick ,they gave me more information about their packaging
they will be in charge of the Crafting of everything .
As regards payment,this is what i am going to do;I have an Associates in the USA who is owing me $9,800 i
would instruct him to make out a money order to you in that amount and as soon as it clears your bank you can
now deduct your money from it and send my balance by MONEYGRAM INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER.
Although the value of the money order is more than the price of the tractor but i think i should be able to
trust you with my balance.The reason why i am doing this is that it would take a money order sent from over
here in africa 30days to clear over there,whereas a money order sent from within the US would clear tops
within 48hrs.I will also be using part of the balance to pay for the shipping company that will be on ground to
do the pick up. So i would like you to deduct the MONEYGRAM charges from my balance.So if my terms are
acceptable to you,i would like you to give me your full name address and phone numbers so that i can instruct
my Business Associates in US to make out the money order to you.Pls get back to me as soon as you get this
mail so that i can know my stand.
Regards,
So..... If you receive anything that even REMOTELY resembles this, it is a SCAM. Do NOT respond to it!!
If you'd like to see ANOTHER example of this scam, click HERE.
~Meli~
|
