Selling a boat scam

[US27inKS]

I have an employee who is selling a car, and was contacted by an internet scammer. I jumped in and started messing with him just for the entertainment value. I was amazed to find out how many people don't know how this scam works, so I thought I should share.

When selling an item online (car, boat, motorcycle, etc) that is worth a few thousand dollars, you will be contacted by someone wanting to buy the item sight unseen. He will make an excuse for not picking up the item, and will tell you a shipper will pick it up. You will be sent a check for more than the item is worth, and you will be asked to cash the check and send the excess funds to his shipper. Sending a check will be unacceptable, you must send a money gram at wal-mart or western union. Basically, you get a check and he gets cash, and he'll be in a huge hurry to get it done.

The check I got was a real check, with a real routing number and a good account number. The check was from a used car dealer in Los Angeles, and all of the bank information belonged to them. The check was mailed from a small town in PA near NYC, but the return address was from Broken Arrow, OK. I was supposed to send a Money Gram to someone in Pontiac Michigan. So I looked up the used car dealer and gave them a call. It seems that I was the second person to call them that day about similar deals. They were in shock, and were taking steps to stop this.

The problem with this one is that since the check was real, and the information all matched, my employee could have cashed the check. The check likely would have cleared, and the dealership would not have caught it until they balanced the checkbook. Then the check would have been traced back to my employee and he would have been stuck with the whole amount.

I pressed Mr Terrorist Bomber for a phone number, but he wouldn't give me one. So I told him I decided to keep all of the money and the car. I haven't heard from him again.

[Rockter]

Check out 419eater.com for this fraud and a thousand variations.

This fraud is the oldest trick in the book.

Do not bait these fraudsters so openly my friend.

Check out the website anyway.

[sailingdog]

You should report these incidents to the local police. Bring them the checks and envelope.

[Freesail99]

I get this same scam via email wanting me to ship wine to Japan, Europe, anywhere. It is always from an American living there and had my wine while in America and wanted a "taste of home". They offer credit card payments or a check payment in full and they always will have their own shipper pick up the wine.

[Zanshin]

I love baiting these guys, I've got a whole alter ego set up, with e-mail, corporate logo, fake passports & name and a FAX. Usually it is some African money repatriation scheme, but I was selling a motorcycle and got the same scam regarding payment in a check above the selling price. Too bad Imelda Marcos, who contacted me via e-mail, never came by to visit and discuss shoes like I had asked her to

Before 9/11 the Department of the Treasury, Secret Service had a task force that I diligently reported scammer to (after they realized that I was toying with them), but that is dissolved and now internet fraud in the US should be reported to this site.

[easygoing]

I've been sent the saqme type of message before. I just hit spam key and have it put into spam folder. Watch out and LOL.

[US27inKS]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

You should report these incidents to the local police. Bring them the checks and envelope.

I did exactly that. They took a report, but that's all they are going to do. Basically told me that until I cashed the check, no real crime had been committed.

[sailingdog]

The local police I talked to on a similar case handled forwarding the information to the white collar crimes group mentioned by Zanshin