FRAUD ALERT!

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I have a Rohrbaugh R9 listed on Armslist. I did NOT post pictures or mention condition. I get a E-Mail from a guy in Colorado, Mike Jensen, who wanted the gun sent to a 1117 Industries, they are probably just a innocent FFL. Anyway my ad, as do ALL the firearms listed, "POSTAL MONEY ORDERS ONLY." Buyer offered to pay asking price WITHOUT knowing condition or seeing pictures.

He said he didn't want to 'hassle' with Postal M.O.'s so he wanted me take a Certified Check.

About that time the smoke alarm in my ass went off from all the smoke he was blowing.

I countered by offering to take his Check and when it clears I would ship. Three days later and not a word back.

Sound like a scam? For $1000+ I thought so.
 
A buddy few years ago deposited a cashiers check and a week or two later it came back bad. He was out the money.

It was the old "ill send you more, just send me back the extra cash". Idiot. Hey, at least he still had his old camero!
 
Some banks don't do certified checks anymore. Only cashiers checks.

The one and only time I did a certified check was about 35 years ago. Called bank. They said I had to come in to get check certified. I went in, wrote a normal check out. They took a red stamp and stamped it certified. Then they took a paper punch and punched a hole in the middle of the check. The teller said the hole was to stop the check from being automatically processed. I asked the teller what all this meant. He said it just meant there was money to cover the check at the time it was written. Could still stop payment if needed.
 
milemaker13 said:
A buddy few years ago deposited a cashiers check and a week or two later it came back bad. He was out the money.

It was the old "ill send you more, just send me back the extra cash". Idiot. Hey, at least he still had his old camero!
Click to expand...
there was a rash of fake cashier's checks for real estate deals a while back. title companies now call the bank to verify them.
 
A "certified check" is a personal check guaranteed by a bank.

If he's got the time to deal with the "hassle" of getting a personal check certified, he has the time to deal with getting a postal money order.

After all, he's mailing you the payment, right? I don't know about you, but if I'M going to send a frickin' $1,000 through the mail, I'm going to do it directly from the Post Office and I'm going to do Certified Mail or Registered Mail, return receipt requested, and I'm going to insure it, too.

You made a good call, in my opinion.
 
Any time someone buys a gun and you're going to be shipping it to another state, it must be sent to an FFL in the buyer's state. Everyone pretty much knows, or should know, that.
When you receive the FFL, it's a real good idea to go here: https://fflezcheck.atf.gov/fflezcheck/ to verify the validity of the FFL. There have been scams where the FFL's address on ezcheck does not match the address on the copy of the FFL the seller received. Bad poo poo. If that's the case, you know it's a scam.

Postal money orders are probably the best funds to accept 'cause the PO gives you the cash unless it's a fake.
 
Check Postal Money Orders on their website. There are excellent quality fakes. I was in the printing industry all my life and it was obvious someone spent a lot of time and money making these two fake Postal Money Orders that were sent to my ex for a job on Craigslist. So always double check Postal Money Orders too. They did a near perfect job on those forgeries.
 
That's just one of the good reasons why over 99% of the WTS ads I've seen on Armslist state "Shipping: No".

The only scam somebody tried with me (my ads always state "Local/FTF only") was to ask no questions, ask nothing about matching numbers or any extra photo of my WW2 Mauser Hsc handgun, and wanted it shipped to a supposed "FFL" in Florida. The request appeared to be done in haste, implying impatience.

All of my other 12 gun deals on Armslist TN involved very normal, clear communication, meeting people in quiet corners or edges of fairly busy parking lots. Both buying and selling.
 
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This type of scam was super common on Armslist (and craigslist for other stuff) a few years ago. Seems to have tappered off of late, tho they still pop up.

I've never gotten a bumb deal on any of my internet b/s/t, tho I've only done ftf transactions thru Armslist.
My way of looking at any offer is that if it sounds even the slightest bit fishy it probably is.....heck the names on the emails are usually a dead giveaway.
 
As for postal money orders, they can be fake too. In 2006 I sold a piece of electronic diagnostic equipment on eBay for $750.
I received a postal money order for $750, took it to my bank and they would not take it. My bank told me to take it to the post office.
I did , they looked it up and verified it was good . They cashed it for me.
 
I have purchased several muzzleloaders from out of state sellers on Armlist and the transactions went very smoothly. For centerfire guns it is always a FTF transaction unless I'm buying from a vendor.
 
Elkins45 said:
There have been increasingly good fakes of postal money orders reported.

I will repeat this for the umpteenth time: anything that is arranged through Armslist other than a face-to-face transaction IN CASH is a scam until proven otherwise.
Click to expand...
I have had too many of my guns show up on Armslist that I listed on GunBroker. Usually for half price. I would never do anything with Armslist unless it was Face-to-Face and cash only.
 
GAF said:
As for postal money orders, they can be fake too. In 2006 I sold a piece of electronic diagnostic equipment on eBay for $750.
I received a postal money order for $750, took it to my bank and they would not take it. My bank told me to take it to the post office.
I did , they looked it up and verified it was good . They cashed it for me.
Click to expand...


To check Postal M.O.'s call 866-459-7822. it takes 24-48 hours, the answering machine there can say exact time for them to clear.

Come to think of it I checked the FFL the 'buyer' e-mailed me. It just didn't look right. Like the address was 'different' type of lettering.
 
Any purchase of a water heater on Craigslist will always get you in hot water (sorry, I had a weak moment). Today’s internet marketplace is always buyer beware - always retain a healthy caution.
 
I just checked the gunshop on Google. THEY DON'T EXIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like 'buyer' got ahold of a FFL copy ind changed the info. Probably his address.
 
Just saw this thread. Fake. Your gut instinct serves you well.
 
The scammers are still out there. I currently have a rifle listed on Armslist. I have had two different ones contact me about it. One name was Donald James Tatone. You can actually find him on a google search due to armslist scams. The other was a James Williams. Both went through the certified check bit, with extra funds, no matter the shipping cost, blah blah. I've wondered if I did ship it, who would be the one who actually picked it up? The FFL they send is real but the buyer is obviously fake.
 
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