Post by AtariGuy on May 11, 2017 13:53:31 GMT -5
This is not new information, this is not a new scam either, but it still should be repeated so hopefully you or someone you know won't fall victim of this scam as my wife and i nearly did.
We're trying to sell our car on craigslist. No biggie, hundreds of thousands of autos are out there for sale. We were contacted by a "wife" via text. (The area code was from miami/dade, we live in minnesota.) She asked us to email her husband who's offshore with our bottom line price. (Red flag?) Sent the email, he asked for pictures, sent more pictures, then said he would buy it. (Didn't ask what was wrong with it, etc.) Said he'd buy it and have it transported down to his wife, and would UPS overnight a check to us. (Why would they want to buy and transport a salty, winter-beaten car to miami when they can get much cleaner cars there?) Bonus, he'd pay an extra $50 to take the ad down right away as he was serious about buying it. The check showed up this morning, and as my wife opened the envelope, her complete shock at it was apparent. They wrote the check for the cost plus 2 grand. We emailed him about the discrepancy, and he wrote back saying that his secretary must've wrote it including the transporters cost by accident, so set the 2 grand aside for them. Just let him know when the check clears the bank first before we set up a pickup time.
The check was from some cell phone business out of... arizona? We googled it, the business puts up camouflaged cell towers apparently. Called them up. They really set up the business front. Asked them if they were hiring, that the guy who was emailing me told them to call and set up a job interview. Threw them off their script and they hung up on me. Decided to see how scam their check is. Brought it to the bank, told them we were suspicious of a scam, but we wanted to try cashing it. We have put a hold on the money to see if this check really does clear as a legitimate deal. Emailed him back saying the bank called us back, that they had to put a 30 day hold on the funds. Our bank is in on it with us lol but odds are it won't clear. Either its a great forgery, or they planned to cancel the check if we were able to withdraw the funds immediately. We'll see when the bank contacts us next week. We reposted the car on craigslist again. How many more scammers will contact us next?
We're trying to sell our car on craigslist. No biggie, hundreds of thousands of autos are out there for sale. We were contacted by a "wife" via text. (The area code was from miami/dade, we live in minnesota.) She asked us to email her husband who's offshore with our bottom line price. (Red flag?) Sent the email, he asked for pictures, sent more pictures, then said he would buy it. (Didn't ask what was wrong with it, etc.) Said he'd buy it and have it transported down to his wife, and would UPS overnight a check to us. (Why would they want to buy and transport a salty, winter-beaten car to miami when they can get much cleaner cars there?) Bonus, he'd pay an extra $50 to take the ad down right away as he was serious about buying it. The check showed up this morning, and as my wife opened the envelope, her complete shock at it was apparent. They wrote the check for the cost plus 2 grand. We emailed him about the discrepancy, and he wrote back saying that his secretary must've wrote it including the transporters cost by accident, so set the 2 grand aside for them. Just let him know when the check clears the bank first before we set up a pickup time.
The check was from some cell phone business out of... arizona? We googled it, the business puts up camouflaged cell towers apparently. Called them up. They really set up the business front. Asked them if they were hiring, that the guy who was emailing me told them to call and set up a job interview. Threw them off their script and they hung up on me. Decided to see how scam their check is. Brought it to the bank, told them we were suspicious of a scam, but we wanted to try cashing it. We have put a hold on the money to see if this check really does clear as a legitimate deal. Emailed him back saying the bank called us back, that they had to put a 30 day hold on the funds. Our bank is in on it with us lol but odds are it won't clear. Either its a great forgery, or they planned to cancel the check if we were able to withdraw the funds immediately. We'll see when the bank contacts us next week. We reposted the car on craigslist again. How many more scammers will contact us next?
