suspicious reply from armslist

EH1 said:

I just posted a rifle for sale on Armslist. I was asking $650.00 for a Remington 700 in .222 Mag with Weaver K12 scope. Within minutes I received a reply stating "I'll pay you $700.00 plus $40 S&H if you will ship to my ffl dealer in California." I've never sold anything on any internet site before so I'm a bit cautious. Does this seem suspicious or am I just paranoid about internet untrustworthiness?

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Offering a premium is very suspicious. Don’t be fooled by an apparent payment that may be able to be reclaimed after you have shipped the merchandise. This is a classic scam. Supposedly your greed would make you take the generous offer and ignore warning signs. Don’t fall for it. You need to get solid payment posted to your account.

Is it legal to sell this particular rifle to somebody in California ?
If I were suspicious, I'd drop it like a hot rock.
Check S&H costs, with insurance, preferably something with fraud coverage.

It’s probably a scam. The buyer is mostly likely going to send you a bad check or fake money order. You’ll deposit it and the money will post to your bank account and you’ll think everything is good. But then the bank will realize the check or money order is bad and will take the money back. By that time it’s too late.

Most variations involve the buyer being very eager to make the transaction as soon as possible. They don’t seem to care about details or extra pics of the gun. They usually
offer to send you more money than the item is worth. Sometimes that’s so they can ask you to send them the difference back (and since the check is bad they can pocket the difference even if you don’t send them the gun). Or that’s just to make sure you sell the gun to them over other offers since they’re offering to pay extra.

Check with your bank you may be able to have him wire the funds securely to your account or a one time account the bank sets up for you. I don't know but the bank will know if this can be done. I sure wouldn't ship the gun until I knew the funds were solidly in your hand.

They’ll offer a cashier’s check. It won’t be legit. It’s a scam.

Postal money order. Once I have cash in hand I will ship. Funny how many “buyers” that runs off.

I would certainly be mighty suspicious if someone just offered me more than I was asking right out of the gate.
This aint a house that someone thinks multiple offers may be coming in. It's a rifle.
My money says scam.

My favorite are the sellers who will only ship to a ffl, even if local; here in WA you have to go to a dealer anyways so it’s actually easier to do a FTF at a gun store, thusly avoiding shipping and tracking, and safer for buyer.
There was a guy somewhat local to me selling a excellent condition colt woodsman .22. I msgd him. His response was “I don’t do FTF”. That to me is a tell that the seller may be scamming... that and he only wanted $300 for it. That’s way cheap. Try to get ppl excited and in a rush, they don’t think through the situation and send off the money order ASAP. And that’s prolly the last you hear of the great deal.
I’ve had a few suspicious offers on armslist. I usually just ignore them.

It's either:
1. A scam
Or
2. They really want the rifle and they're offering extra so you aren't turned off by doing the extra work of taking it to an FFL and having to wait for a check to clear.

If you have the time to wait for a check (or whatever payment) to actually clear, your FFL verifies that the buyer's FFL is valid, and the rifle is "California compliant" then I don't see much to worry about. But I would be very clear with the buyer that your FFL isn't shipping until the payment actually clears and that you're going to confirm it with the bank.

Seems like too much hassle to me. Your FFL is probably going to want $25-75 to go through the trouble of verifying the buyer's FFL and shipping the rifle (there goes your extra $50). And you'll probably also have to front the actual cost that the FFL is paying the shipping company (there goes that $40). And you'll want to take good pictures to document the rifle's condition in case the shipping company damages it, or in case the buyer does and tries to claim it showed up in bad shape. Then waiting on the payment to clear. In the end I don't really see it as getting $50 over your asking price. I'd personally rather drop my price to $600 (if necessary) and get a local buyer.

My favorite attempt was kinda weird;
I was selling something fairly non-rare/unique.

I wonder if it was local burglars casing for guns via armslist-

I get this msg from “Brown Jeff”

“I`m ready to buy it and the state of the Gun is great likewise the price. I wont be able to come make the pickup myself but i have a FFL Dealer which i told i would buy a Gun and he said its OK if i wont be making the pickup myself because i just relocated and i still have my properties i`m moving from your area which the movers are to move. He would come with the paperwork so you will fill out the bill of sale transferring ownership so he can also do that when he delivers to me. Would you accept a Bank certified check as payment and after it clears in your bank a local pickup will be made as explained and i`m willing to add an extra $100 to the payment for you to secure the purchase for me till the check arrives. Please get in touch with your name and mailing address to send the check to. Include your phone # as well so I will be able to contact you about the transaction. Thanks”



Initial msg from “Brown Jeff@

Message from: [email protected]

Message regarding: Ruger AR556
Is the Gun still in your possession ? i want to buy it.

cslinger said:

Postal money order. Once I have cash in hand I will ship. Funny how many “buyers” that runs off.

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This is the best. The only problem with Postal Money orders that large is getting them cashed at the post office. A Western Union cash transfer is the good also

Honestly I am wary about giving out my address to a stranger on Armslist. Maybe I am paranoid. For all you know they are using a burner phone with an out of state area code. Might be in your town just waiting to get your address because the know you have guns

Fast responses to ads are a huge red flag for me. Only second to any offer of Overpayment. That's the oldest and most reliable sign of fraud.

Scam. The last guy who tried it with me didn’t even bother to spoof a real FFL. I played along and the “FFL” info he provided was a singlwide trailer out in the hinterlands according to Google maps.

Should you decide to go along then:

1) verify the FFL info
2) sit on the payment for a couple of weeks to make sure it’s good before you ship

I recently had one of those "doesn't smell right" responses. It resembled the one in post #11. I took it to an pro I.T. friend , he said that it appeared to be a scam run out of Nigeria.

OP EH1 - reread the reply. Chances are you will detect word usage that is ... odd somehow.
Your "buyer" seems too eager to you...? Willing to pay above the asking price? And you felt inclined to come here for feedback ...
Question : What is the common denominator here?
Answer : YOUR RADAR IS WARNING YOU!

Trust your radar. Ignore the hinky sounding "buyer".

KansasSasquatch said:

It's either:
1. A scam
Or
2. They really want the rifle and they're offering extra so you aren't turned off by doing the extra work of taking it to an FFL and having to wait for a check to clear.

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This. I've had people offer a little over asking to secure the sale. An extra $50 on a $650 item doesn't strike me as a scam in and of itself, especially since insured shipping of a long gun is gonna probably cost you more than the $40 he offered there.

However, the only form of payment I'd accept in this circumstance is Cash. Even postal money orders can be forged.

That being said, shipping to CA is sketchy. Too many pitfalls. I won't do it, period.

I think it's most likely some poor dude that lives in California and really digs your rifle. Be honest with him. Tell him it's your first internet sale and you are wary. Offer him the rifle for a USPS money order and 7 days clearance. Explain your concern. Best is to talk on the phone as you will get a good read just talking to him. If he seems sketch, walk away. But remember, our oppressed brothers in CA are used to "won't ship to CA", so he's probably on the level.

Could be legit, since everything is so expensive in CA, your $650 rifle may be worth $800 out there, so he could be offering extra $50 to guarantee that he gets your good deal.

Post #11 was definitely not burglars trying to case the place. I would expect burglars to maybe have bad spelling and grammar as in short and sloppy, not wordy and odd. That was clearly a foreigner scammer. I have received several texts with similar grammar from foreign scammers replying to Craigslist ads for cars. I once played along with a scammer and he actually paid to ship a fake money order to the local sheriffs office, cuz that's the address I gave him lol.

I'm still waitign to every see a non-suspicious reply from armslist.

It’s a scam. Walk away and don’t look back.

EH1 said:

I just posted a rifle for sale...

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...and to get it over with, just post it here at THR

100% that's a scam. It's almost identical to emails I've received posting bicycles and canoes for sale on Craigslist. Delete it and wait for a legitimate offer locally.

Also, shipping guns into California isn't something FFL dealers generally do easily. As I understand it, as an individual, you probably can't ship to an FFL dealer in California. All inbound firearms must be entered with one of the CA agencies. The name of which escapes me before coffee.

Another thought about shipping to CA... could this be a new entrapment scam by the gun grabbers in that state? A bit of a strech, most likely a Nigerian prince attempting to arm his nation, but the " hurry up and ship to CA" got me thinking.... I'm not a fan of CA..

You're selling a Remington 700 right?

It's possible he saw the 700 and got it mixed up with the price, believing you are asking $700.

Proceed with caution- apply the advice already given.

IF the FFL is a fake or it's a scam, contact the LEO agency for that area as soon as you realize it. They may want you to play along so they can go collect the guy. That will definitely help our side.