Question for the group

[St.stephen]

So some of you have seen that I am trying to see if I can sell my 260 project. I have posted it here as well as Zcar.com.

I keep getting emails from people stating they want to buy my car. Their sentence structure and spelling is way off from the english language and to boot, the person emailing me never asks specifics really on the condition of the project...only that they are def going to buy it.

Now, the person wants my address information so that they can send me a certified cashiers check (from a third pary mind you). The cashiers check they state is for the purchase price of the vehicle and that they have already made arrangements with a shipping company to come get it. I am told to cash the check.....take out what my price of the car is, and then give the rest of the funds to shipping company that is coming to get the car.

My replies have been basically go scratch. This is def some shady scam. Anyone else ever encounter this??

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by St.stephen

My replies have been basically go scratch. This is def some shady scam. Anyone else ever encounter this??

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Well know scam. The check they send is a bogus one and by the time it is discovered, the car is gone, you are on the hook to the shipper for costs to send your car somewhere. There was two threads about this a month or so ago. Said it was coming from Africa somewhere.

[2ManyZs]

Not only the shippers cost, but the cashiers checks in the scam are forgeries. You'd end up owing the bank money as well.

Don't do it.

And, if you find anyone using this forum trying to pull this scam, let us know immediately! They will be banned and reported!

[St.stephen]

Just did a search in the forums and found the two posts bambi was referring too.

scam

Sellers beware. I knew this was crap the moment I read the stupid email. Now I'm on the hunt. anything we can do other than to advise everyone?

[2ManyZs]

Not sure which department it is, but the gov't does have an internet scam operation going as we speak. It was on the news the other day about all the scams they were busting up, such as identity theft, and scams such as this on Ebay and others....

You can try this.....

http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

Here's the section about the scam.

http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/strategy/11403NigerianWarning.pdf

[Smokey]

St. Stephen, good for you for questioning this. It would ring a little, uh, quirky to me too.

Request to mods. Lets make this thread a sticky in the for sale section. It is a good read for everyone, and since it has the links for the gov agencies and prior threads, this is the best on to sticky. Thanks.

[2ManyZs]

Good idea Smokey.... never thought about it before. :stupid:

[St.stephen]

Well for what its worth, I logged a complaint with the IFCC......Also I sent all of this over to Vince at Zcar.com.

Maybe I should send something to Zhome as well. Thanks for the links 2many!

[Mike]

The deals you guys make outside this site should always be considered risky until you've covered yourself. Never give someone product until you verify that their money is good. Never never never.....

Trade good money for product. In your situation, I would have verified the funds and then sent the car only after you are holding the cash in your hand. Make sure the check is good by asking the bank to verify it.

This may or may-not be a scam, but, if someone says, "send whatever is left along with the driver," I would be cautious. Most people want to know exactly where their money is going. So, this sounds like a scam to me.

Make it easy on yourself. Tell the new owner to pick up the car himself. Then he can decide how to ship it.

You can also hire a service to act as a neutral party. This service will take his money and verify that it is all good. Upon confirmation that his money is good, you ship the car knowing that they have the cash. Upon his receipt of the car, they will release the funds to you.

Check ebay for services like that.... With something as important as a car, I would always use that kind of service.

For what it's worth...

-- MIke