Selling stuff on the net ain't what it used to be

[tucker301]

I've got my R1 listed on gunbroker and gunsamerica.

So, I've received a few genuine e-mails of interest, but I've also received several obvious bogus attempts to scam me out of my somewhat hard-earned cash.

Today, Akeem wanted to buy the rifle.
He wanted all of my contact information, so I told him to go first.

Here's his reply:

"Hello,
thanks for the mail.i will like you to know that am okay with the price, and i want you to know that the payment is going to be inform of a money order and the total amount on it will be $4000 which you will deduct your's from and send the balance to my shipping company who will be coming to your location for the pick-up, so if this is okay with you i will like you to get back to me with the information of where the cheque is to be sent to and this is as follows.

YOUR FULL NAME...........
ADDRESS............
STATE.................
ZIP CODE...........
PHONE NUMBER(OFFICE,HOME).................

so i will be expecting your mail with this information and as soon as the cheque get's to you,you will send the balance to my shipping company shipper so i will be expecting your mail back Asap.thanks...
BEST REGARDS......."

1. Does anyone actually fall for this crap?

2. Do you think Akeem would be a bit more successful if he'd bother to learn English first?

I should take him up on his offer and box up this week's dirty shorts and let "his shipping company" pick them up [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Alas, I already e-mailed him back, and if he's doing what I suggested he do, he's contorted and in quite a bit of pain right now

[ 05-22-2006, 01:55 PM: Message edited by: tucker301 ]

[garren]

That’s funny. I assume that the idea of someone underestimating your intelligence should hurt more than actually loosing the money….and the rifle

[GlennRoss]

Here's a great one from ebay:

Ebay Account seller -- tonya242016 -- Swarovski PV 2.5-10x42 Rifle Scope & Swarovski 10x42 bino's each for $500. Has photo's and all. WoW, what a deal eh???

They have an ad with some one who has a 100% rating, but I know they often gain access to others accounts thru bogus, but very official looking ebay emails asking for personal info (they tried it on me and I pulled my ebay account). So I sent an email last night trying to get the free shipping if I paid thru email, LOL. Here's the response:

From: Load552@aol.com
"First thing I want to tell you that all my Swarovski PV 2.5-10x42 Rifle Scope are brand new in original sealed box and come with all accesories included.
They are coming with The Manufacturer´s International Warranty.The best price that I can give you for this unit is 500 US Dollars,including the shipping fees and insurance.
I have 6 units available.Will ship from Europe.I can provide big discounts if you will buy more than one unit.
As delivery service we use UPS 2 days air service or overnight (with insurance and
15 days return policy), because it's the faster also free. And if you will have
a quick payment, we must also have a quick delivery. So that's why we use as a payment method Western Union money transfer,
the fastest and also very secure way of sending money.
So, if you agree with my terms I'm sure that we can close the deal as soon as possible.
Waiting your quick answer right now,

THANK YOU"

Of course the sellers ads are all gone this morning and no account. So I'm sure they hijacked her account and it got pulled. I sent the guy an email back that I forwarded it to law enforcement.

Caveat Emptor!

-Glenn

[Webfoot]

I'm sure you guys have probably seen these but they are the bogus emails from "ebay sellers."

I got one the other day that looked so real it was amazing. And is was actually for a product I might have been interested in. They had the ebay logo down perfect and the "buy it now" items looked identicle to those on the genuine ebay site. The only thing that set it apart was at the top of the page it was addressed to my email address rather than my full name listed with ebay. When ebay sends out emails they will address you buy your registered name. Not your login name or email.

I'm somewhat naive and usually very trusting of people. I find myself very guarded now.

I got a phone call, probably your buddy Akeem, wanting my bank routing numbers so he could "deposit" a grant that I had one. I instantly knew what he was up to knowing full well you don't win grants you don't apply for. So I played around with him for a while. I think I finally drove him nuts. I told him to just mail me the money and I'll deposit it myself. Then I got as much info as I could and turned it in. There was actually a website, that took info and provided help to anyone, regarding the exact same fraudulent calls.

Pretty lame. Do they really think we are that stupid.

[tucker301]

Most of them use the graphics hosted by ebay, and they use parts of ebay's HTML to make it look authentic.

The simplest way to check them authenticity is to hover the mouyse over the button or link.
If it's ebay or paypal, it will point to their site.
If it's fake, it will point to something shady like ebay.stealmeblind.com/stealmeblind.asp

I always follow them and then type in some nasty words in for the logon and password.

All such emails should be forwarded to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com.

If you know how, forward the full headers as well.
In Outlook, click View > Options to see the headers.
They will also give away the fact that the e-mail is bogus.

The absolute dead giveaway is if they're asking you to login through the email.
Ebay, PayPal, Credit Cards NEVER ask you to do that.

[Shepherd]

Hi tucker, same thing happened to me... I was contacted and the same guy it sounds like did the same to me. Actually sent the money orders and I checked them out and they were stolen. Money grams came from over seas somewhere... Sent me about $4000... I wish he'd get put away...

[Dave Williams]

I recently sold a Tokarev SVT-40 through Gunbroker and had quite a number of obviously fraudulent "buyers" who just wanted to do little more than kick the tires and offer oddball "layaway" deals. At last, someone won my auction: Then claimed to be 17 years old and thought it was legal for him to buy. Er, no. I finally sold it to a guy via a new auction, who, as it turned out, lived just about 3 miles from my own house. Funny.

[GlennRoss]

BTW Tucker -- went and saw your ad.

Liked it -- definately one of the better ones!

Any bites yet? I mean legitimate bites, not those fraudulent nibbles from the money pirahnas.

Take care-

Glenn

[tucker301]

A few offers and bargain hunters, but I'm not the discounting type.
If I can't get what it's worth then I'll just keep it.

[tucker301]

Well, I guess I should check my auctions more often!
The gunbroker listing has met the reserve with a little over a day left, so it's on the way out... hopefully.