Does this sound like a scam?

[goughy]

It sounded like one to us. Clikchics father has a 90k motorhome for sale, and received an email today from someone who wants to purchase it, sir unseen, and will send a 'mate ' to pick it up after payment. In his email, clikchic said he was very much pushing the idea that PayPal was the best method for payment and that's what he wanted to use.

I've told her dad to not accept that, and gave whether he will accept another method of payment, say bank transfer. Apparently the guy has already got back to him to confirm that he would be happy to make the payment via bank transfer.

So it smelled like the usual scamming that goes on, but his willingness to do a bank transfer threw me. Are the any risks here, if him being able to reverse a bank transfer payment? Still smells wrong to me, but you guys may have a better idea?

[Captain Nemo]

Who the hell has $90k in paypal...
Id be wanting a Bank cheque, not a personal cheque.
Mate of mines dad had his Range Rover stolen by guys who came for a test drive once....
They just jumped in a drove away!

[Marto65]

Just make sure the money is in the bank before the motorhome leaves... but best to contact the bank and ask them the question.

[mike]

Goughy ignore it. It's a scam that's been around for a few years now. I'm not exactly sure how they scam you but I've heard it's something emailing you a bogus copy of a paypal invoice that's say $1000 too much and then they ask you to refund that amount. Or something like that.

[mike]

They tried it on us last year and a work mate early this year. Both were advertised on Gumtree.

[goughy]

The eBay /PayPal scam involves saying you'll pay with PayPal and pick up, then after g getting it they file a claim with PayPal for an undelivered item and since there is no record of delivery PayPal refund. He had to go to the bank anyway, so he's gonna ask them. Certainly nothing would move till money showed in his account, and I'd tell him to transfer it to another account to be doubly sure.

Who the heck buys a motorbike sight unseen. Even get a mate to check it out.

[goughy]

Goughy ignore it. It's a scam that's been around for a few years now. I'm not exactly sure how they scam you but I've heard it's something emailing you a bogus copy of a paypal invoice that's say $1000 too much and then they ask you to refund that amount. Or something like that.

You would think people would actually check their account rather than accepting a payment receipt. If I pay for something for my business, they wait till its in their account before they send me anything.
I guess some aren't that smart.

[WBennett]

Scam. Avoid!

[Marto65]

Shaddup Benno ...I'm trying to scam goughy's dads motorhome.

[PeteyD]

Its the Marto Scam. Run away.

[WBennett]

When Marto impersonates a copper, pulls you over and tells you to blow onto this, it isn't an RBT...

[goughy]

Shaddup Benno ...I'm trying to scam goughy's dads motorhome.

:)

He insists on trying to see if it's genuine, he really wants to sell this thing. I told him to use an old account which has no money in it, which he happens to have and was about to close. Bank said one the money is cleared the is no way to reverse it. Told him to give them the bsb and account number, but not the account name, and give them no details of his address ours, as the motorhome is here. And expect to get some harassing emails either with receipts for payment included and they want to pick it up, or that they've paid too much and want some back. He had enough up top to o ask us, and I know he's the sort of person who would check an account rather than taking their word.

I'll let you know when the abusive threatening emails arrive!

[coalesce]

I'll let you know when the abusive threatening emails arrive!

This thread has potential, but I don't think it will rival Grizwolds...

[crops23]

Its a scam they tried it on me saying that he was working offshore and had no phone contact but he would send someone to pick up my car! pay via Paypal with a dodgy paypal link that you cant click onto and youve lost your car and no money!

[Hatchman]

On face value it appears to be a scam.

[Gw 86]

Is the buyer a Nigerian prince ?

[Lobsta]

I could see out playing out like this.

Sends a bloke to pick up the motorhome after giving you money. As a clever bloke, your old man checks id and gets a receipt signed.

Your dad some time later gets a court appearance notice or contact by the cops saying that someone has claimed that he scammed them out off $90k by not delivering on a sale of a motorhome. Your dad produces a receipt signed by some guy who showed a fake id at the time, has skipped the country or something and has no provable ties to the complainant. Your dad is ordered to repay the money, plus court costs.

Any legal eagles see a hole in the scenario?

[timah!]

Won't there need to be a transfer of registration for this at somepoint?

[perci]

Tell him to put it for sale in the Pro Shop and get offered $60,000 "Shipped"

[3oneday]

You can't eft without an account name. Maybe ask for pictures of the happy buyers, evidence for later.

[3oneday]

And ring the local cops and ask if you can do the exchange there, and if they'll witness it. Tell the buyers, there'll be no hesitation if they are fair dunkum you'd think.

[MegaWatty]

You can't eft without an account name. Maybe ask for pictures of the happy buyers, evidence for later.

I did to Matty's account for NSW Champs.

Well I'm sure his account name isn't Matty...

[3oneday]

So they'd use "mobile home"? :)

[Marto65]

Get the whole transaction on film too ...

and make sure your dad gets my good side.

[MegaWatty]

Get the whole transaction on film too ...

and make sure your dad gets my good side.

And the shoes!

[MegaWatty]

So they'd use "mobile home"? :)

Maybe Goughy's Dad.

[markTHEblake]

sounds likely they will be paying with funds from a stolen bank account.

So many alarm bells here its not funny.

Also be wary of them giving checks or cash in an envelope, then asking for the envelope back with an excuse like they wrote a phone number on it.

[Lobsta]

And ring the local cops and ask if you can do the exchange there, and if they'll witness it. Tell the buyers, there'll be no hesitation if they are fair dunkum you'd think.

This is very smart.

[Veefore]

The eBay /PayPal scam involves saying you'll pay with PayPal and pick up, then after g getting it they file a claim with PayPal for an undelivered item and since there is no record of delivery PayPal refund. He had to go to the bank anyway, so he's gonna ask them. Certainly nothing would move till money showed in his account, and I'd tell him to transfer it to another account to be doubly sure.

Who the heck buys a motorbike sight unseen. Even get a mate to check it out.

Late to this thread but I bought my latest motorbike sight unseen from a bloke on the NSW/Queensland border. I also sold my last bike to a bloke in NSW. In both cases the bikes were picked up by a transport company.

[Daggs]

Who the hell has $90k in paypal...
Id be wanting a Bank cheque, not a personal cheque.
Mate of mines dad had his Range Rover stolen by guys who came for a test drive once....
They just jumped in a drove away!

This is the ONLY way to go !!
Then take him and the Cheque to the bank pay the fee to cash it straight away then hand over if it all good.

Good luck with it

[goughy]

I haven't heard any more, and I bet he hasn't either.

[Daggs]

most of the scamers run at the slightest hint of common sense

[Dcanto]

Selling my car and have it listed on Gumtree. Guess what, get an email from someone wanting to buy it sight unseen, payment by PayPal and it will be collected by a courier agent as the interested party is a marine engineer and currently out at sea.

[Ned]

Scam

[Grunt]

Selling my car and have it listed on Gumtree. Guess what, get an email from someone wanting to buy it sight unseen, payment by PayPal and it will be collected by a courier agent as the interested party is a marine engineer and currently out at sea.

Had the same scam last year while trying to sell my Mondeo. Ended up selling it on OzGolf ;)

[Haystacks]

Had the same scam last year while trying to sell my Mondeo. Ended up selling it on OzGolf ;)

To a Nigerian Prince!

[Dcanto]

Anyone interested in buying a 2007 Volkswagen Passat Wagon, 3.2 litre V6 with less than 105,000 klms send me a pm. ;)

[goughy]

Think I'm emailing with one at the moment. Had someone claiming to be deaf, email me at work about some busted couches. Had a couple of emails, which they didn't seem to be listening to me. Anyway, I didn't respond to one for a few hours, and then got a call from the national relay service, acting a middleman for this person, asking how long till I reply to the last email.

Anyway, after giving an estimate and a timeframe months away, they sent me an email saying the removalists are coming to pick up their furniture as they are moving to a new house, and will be dropping the chairs off to me. But they have a problem which needs my help. They have to pay the removalists by direct deposit, but are not able to do so, so they want to pay me 2550 by credit card, and they want me to keep 1000 off it as a deposit on my work, and then pay the rest to the removalists for him! To see what happens, I've replied that I can't possibly have the furniture come here yet, as I have no room for storage and can't do them right away anyway, and regardless that I would not be able to participate in your arrangement with your removalists, I have no credit card facilities set up with my bank.

The phone call I received threw me a bit. But the rest just sounds shonk. Can't wait to see the reply.

[Lobsta]

Only way I could see that being dodge would be a stolen credit card number.

[goughy]

It just sounds wrong. Why has he arranged for removalists when he can't even pay them! And he wants to give me a deposit for my work, when the deposit is nearly double what my estimate was. It's the phone call that's throwing me.

Suffice to say, I won't be taking his payment, and can't take his furniture anyway.

[PeteyD]

It is a scam Goughy. You 'pay' the removalists and the assholes all disappear with your money gone. The deposit is cancelled before you have the money, or is done with a stolen credit card, so you lose your money anyway.

[Lobsta]

It definitely smells fishy. Maybe the removalists are in on it and he's gonna lodge a dispute saying you over charged his credit card for the work you quoted him for.

[3oneday]

Can't you use your paypal thingy?

[Dotty]

Don't believe the deaf thing either.

It's used to disorient you, to get you more compliant and to use your kindness/morals to prevent you opposing him.

[goughy]

Can't you use your paypal thingy?

Of course I could. Bit I think he's scamming me, and regardless wouldn't get involved in the whole pay me pay them thing.

By saying I had no cc arrangement with my bank, I didn't have to lie.

[Haystacks]

Think I'm emailing with one at the moment. Had someone claiming to be deaf, email me at work about some busted couches. Had a couple of emails, which they didn't seem to be listening to me. Anyway, I didn't respond to one for a few hours, and then got a call from the national relay service, acting a middleman for this person, asking how long till I reply to the last email.

Hmmm...

[Lagerlover]

giggle, giggle, giggle.

[goughy]

Metaphoric listening, metaphoric dude :)

[goughy]

Clikchic has looked at the couple of photos they sent me of the damaged furniture, and apart from the image being a very low resolution, the metadata has been stripped from both images.

I'm just kinda excited. This is the best quality scam I've had so far.

And just to add, she's just done a google search on the images and found the website the images have been taken from.

It's the bloody phone call that got me. That was really unexpected, and certainly added a level of authenticity to the enquiry.

[Peppas]

Don't they say that they've sent you the money usually (fake transfer documents/emails) and then ask you to refund part of it into another account? That's how they get some money out of you?

[goughy]

I don't know exactly what they do, cause we've never been successfully scammed before.

[markTHEblake]

Did you check the IP address of the emails they sent, and did Caller ID present their number.

I would be reporting the whole lot to the police. There is no chance this is not a scam.

[goughy]

No caller ID on my phone. Clikchic said the emails are coming through some service in the US. I called the NRS, gave them all my details and when the call happened... They were pretty pissed someone was talking advantage of their name, or possibly even using the service, as they weren't allowed to disclose to me whether the call was actually made through them or not. I reported it to the cops, who sounded thankful enough but didn't record anything. I'm just pissed off for the NRS.

Clikchic contacted the company the pics are taken from, which is a recliner service in NSW. They've already replied that they had the same scam happen to them a few months ago, but caught on when the photos were forwarded to them and they recognised that they were from their own site.

I won't say I was sure it was a scam straight away, and the call added some realism to it. But as soon as the money situation came up I knew it was one. It smelt wrong from the start, but that confirmed it.

[Peppas]

Probably a variation of this one

http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/ChequeOverpaymentScams

[jimandr]

I might be jumping at shadows with this story, but there is a question at the end worthy of discussion even if everything is legit.

I got a text message saying in effect that mum was about to enjoy a cruise off Seattle, and to reply on her US number. The text was from an international number.

There are many reasons why I know this wasn't my mum. She doesn't even have a mobile, and is effectively housebound. She won't even leave home to visit me!

So, it is probably just a wrong number, but, could this be a scam?

Even if not, what do people do when they get a wrong number text?

[Daves]

I ignore them. Sounds scammish to me;

http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/missedcallstextmessages

[jimandr]

Good link Daves, thanks.

I'm still waiting for the $720,000 someone said I won about 10 years ago.

[Dotty]

Good link Daves, thanks.

I'm still waiting for the $720,000 someone said I won about 10 years ago.
I'll chase it up.

What's your account, BSB and PIN?

:)

[oncewasagolfer]

I had a call from an Indian guy the other night saying he worked for telstra and my bank details had been hacked from my computer. I told him that I don't have my internet through telstra and that he is a scammer then hung up.

[gameboy]

my in-laws have fallen for every scam in the book. microsoft updates over the phone, friends trapped in foreign lands needing bailing out, even that they had won a lottery and needed to log in to their email account to send confirmation etc

[yoyo]

Some people just cant be helped.