I placed our old car on Craigslist.org to sell it and we have a person that wants to buy it. However he has not seen the car. He said that he is going to send payment in the mail-howvever it will be an overpayment. The difference in amounts he would like for us to give to the shipping company that is coming to pick the car up for him. We asked him tpo pay by money order, the name of the shipping company and person coming to pick the car up,a copy of his state ID to be included with the money order, and a tracking number for the payment once he mails it.
It just sounds really fishy to me and liek a scam-has anyone else experienced this? Please advise.
It is a common scam typically seen when you sell a car on eBay. If you are familar with the scam it’s fun to lead them on out of spite but do NOT give them the car because their money is no good.
Sometimes the bank will say the money is good and then come back 10 days later and say it is no good but by then you have already released the car and the bank cannot be held accountable.
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usually they would send a check…you would deposit the check and give the money to the “shipper”, but then the check wouldn’t clear and the other guy has your money.
I
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I can smell the anchovies from here…………….. The order wasn’t by any chance placed from Nigeria, was it?
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scam
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Actually, it makes sense. If you are paid by money order, you are safe – just make sure that the person who picks the car up signs something so that he can’t accuse you of not giving up the car.
What it sounds like is happening is that the buyer is probably not buying for his own personal use, but buys used cars fitting certain descriptions for resale. Since he is not in your area, he has someone else pick up the car and ship it to his location, and that person demands to be paid upon picking up the car. Rather than sending him money separately, the buyer is sending you the total amount. Also, this pretty much guarantees that the shipper will not be paid unless he actually shows up to take possession of the car.
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The exact same thing happend with my aunts friend, who sold a cat. We’re in Canada, he is in the States (Go figure). I don’t know why she was selling a cat to someone so far away, but none of my business. Anyways, the person on the other end, ended up with the cat, and not paying a cent, while the seller ended up with the shipping fees and what not. A guy then tried to do this to my aunt, and when she confronted him about the scam, she never heard from him again. So yeah, its a scam. DTA
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So long as the device he sends you for payment successfully turns into cash, I don’t see a problem.
Car transport companies can run into problems when they get paid on delivery. If the recipient refuses to pay, what do they do? They’ve already burned a lot of diesel to transport the car. It would not surprise me if the transport company he is using simply requires payment at time of pickup.
If you have full payment in hand prior to signing anything, or releasing anything (ie your car), I cannot envision how this might be a scam. If he starts requesting any changes that alter those conditions, then you might want to beware.
The only thing I can think of would revolve around the transport issue. There is a significant difference between arranging shipping by you, or by the buyer. No matter that he might be “ordering the pickup”, most likely there will be some paperwork for you to sign when the transporter arrives at your house. READ THAT DOCUMENT CAREFULLY!
Or, simply decline to transport the vehicle this way. Ask him to make whatever arrangements he prefers with the transport company himself. There is no reason he can’t send payment to them directly…
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Tell this idiot to fvck off in Nigerian. These scams are all over the place. I tried to sell a picture for $75 on a local internet classifieds board and some creep wanted to send me $2000+ and have me ship it to Africa.
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It is a scam if the payment is in the form of a check. Do not release the car until the check clears. It’ll probably bounce. You’ll be out a car and the money if you cash it and conclude the transaction.
If the payment is in the form of a certified check/money order (cashable at any location) go ahead, there is no way you will lose money over it. (cash it first though, do NOT deposit it, deposit the money received.)
So the answer is maybe (likely really).
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My sister got scammed by someone on ebay..same kind of transaction. Sounds just like it.
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S C A M
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This it is Nigerian scam.
Fishing for fools on internet = PHISHING.
I have been in same situation. Being in Nigeria (W Texas region?)he claim to have $6,000 at Alexandr BMW (a company on east coast and have no branches in CA) and asked me to pay him the diffrence of $2000. 3,900 was for my minivan posted on recycler.com and $100 for my troubles…I received the check made at a printer by Quickchex.com
My bank said it is my responsability if I deposit, but they will give me the money…the police don’t want to verify…and Alexandria BMW not recognized this chek.
The Check was mailed from San Diego, had printed on it a nonexistent address in Orange County where I live too..
You have to report to governemnt this scam spam@uce.gov , but they are over tired by this scammers…You may find more on internet under “scam” + 1 or 2 more keywords on google or yahoo search.
This is it, pretty much.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=nigerian+scam
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=PHISHING
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This is a SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!
The ones who are saying it’s OK are probably the ones who are trying to scam you!!!!!
Just because they pay by money order doesn’t mean they can’t scam you. They either send a stolen one or one that they just print out on their computer.
When you deposit the fake money order, the bank will credit your account within a few days, even though it really takes over a month to verify it.
Then you withdrawal some of the money and send it to the scammer. A month passes….. the money order bounces (big surprise!) and the bank deducts the amount. Since you already withdrew some of the money, your account ends up being overdrawn. You end up losing your car AND owing the bank the amount you paid the scammers plus overdrawn fees, bounced check fees and more!!!!!!!!
DO NOT BOTHER WITH THIS SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER SELL A CAR UNLESS YOU SEE CASH IN YOUR HANDS FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=nigerian+scam
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=PHISHING
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Most of the advice in the other answers is excellent.
However, please be aware that although a cheque can APPEAR to have cleared, it is possible for the amount to be removed from your account at a later date.
So, even if you are told that the cheque/money order has cleared, you MUST wait until the bank confirms that it can no longer be reclaimed.
It is a little-known fact that this can happen even on legitimate accounts – Delta Airlines did this to me some years ago. They paid me compensation in USD, then took back the money without my permission or agreement. They subsequently paid me in GBP, but that was an entirely separate transaction, and not linked with the removal of the cleared funds from my US account.
What you describe is a common scam – as one of your answers suggests, play along just to mess them up! You could also hand over any evidence to the police, although I doubt that they will do much.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=nigerian+scam
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=PHISHING
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I only take cash in person at a bank so that all the money can be verified. All checks, money-orders and etc., can all be forged.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=nigerian+scam
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=PHISHING
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It’s a common scam. Here’s a full explanation:
http://www.used-car-advisor.com/car-buyer-scam.htm
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=nigerian+scam
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2005-39,GGLR:en&q=PHISHING
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its a pure scam..run away!and spread the word around!
http://tinyurl.com/gtb89
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Anytime anyone sends you a check that is an overpayment you can bet the check is fraudulent and will eventually bounce. Drop this “buyer” immediately. He has NO interest in buying the car. All he wants to do is scam you out of money. If he has a shipping company coming to pick up the car then HE should be the one paying them. This does not make sense. You do not need this.
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