Responding to suspicious and highly irregular inquiries?

[heypete]

I recently put a firearm up for sale on GunsAmerica, and mentioned it on THR and a few other gun-related sites.

I received several inquiries from potential buyers and have concluded the sale satisfactorily. There are no irregularities with the actual buyer, and he has presented me with a copy of his dealer's FFL which verifies with the ATF FFL EZ Check.

However, there is another potential buyer who has made several highly suspicious inquiries, and I believe them to be highly irregular and possibly indicative of illegal activity.

A small snippet of one of the messages follows:

thanks for the reply. i will like you to know that i have a shipping company that is coming to your place to pick up the gun and dey have the licence of ffl.so i will like you to give me your full name,contact address including your phone number.so that the payment can be send to you place in time.

I composed a brief list of the things which seemed suspicious:
1. Buyer does not mention what state he lives in.
2. Buyer wishes to pay by cashiers check (forged cashier's checks are
becoming more common for online transactions, unfortunately).
3. Buyer seems to have difficulty writing proper English. (While I
hardly expect the Queen's English to be used in email, this
nonetheless raised a flag.)
4. Buyer does not seem to be interested in the type of gun, and makes
no reference to the make or model being sold, nor asks any specific questions. He asks for details on the condition of the gun, when the condition is listed in great detail on the auction page. (I replied to him and said that everything was on the auction page, and that if he desired any specific details not listed, he need but ask I would be glad to provide them.)
5. Buyer does not address me by name, even though my name is listed on
the auction page. Rather his "dear seller" salutation and lack of
details about the item being listed suggest that the buyer is using a
template.
6. The buyer mentions that he would be sending a shipping company
directly to my location to collect the firearm, and that the shipping
company would have a copy of the FFL for the buyer's dealer.

Any comments? Would I be justified in contacting the ATF by email and inquiring if I could submit the emailed conversations for them to examine?

I generally dislike the ATF and their heavy-handed behavior in relation to legitimate gun owners, but I fear that this individual may not be completely legitimate.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Seriously man, with spelling and grammar like that?

This is the Nigerian lawyer scam.

If you go along with all of this eventually you will get to a place where he tells you he would prefer to wire you the money.
You'll need to give him a few things and he'll send your money.

Problem is he needs some money first to get things set up. He'll ask for a small amount, but he will refund that with your payment.

Nothing new here.

As for giving it to ATF, they probably don't care. He's not likely in the US, and he certainly isn't actually trying to buy a gun.

For some real entertainment, google "scambaiter" and "**** Laptops". A guy strung one of these scams along for literally years.
Hilarious reading.

 

[tank mechanic]

a shipping company directly to my location to collect the firearm,

Most likely through the window at night while you are sleeping. I would not trust the person sending you those messages.

 

[heypete]

I was thinking something along the same lines, and I generally report such messages to the spam filters at my mail provider. (I used to work in the anti-junk-email business, and have seen every scam under the sun, or so it seems.)

However, since this involves firearms, it concerns me more.

Similar scams have existed at Craigslist where the "buyer" pays the person with a bum cashiers check that's over the amount being paid, sends the item and a check for the difference, and ends up losing their item and that money as the check was fake.

The legitimate buyer had no problem paying with a US Postal Service money order in the exact amount, which I can cash at the post office prior to shipping the gun next week. They can verify its authenticity on the spot (and once they accept it, I have no further responsibility in regards to it, unlike if I cash a bum check at the bank) and I wouldn't be out anything.

I've not revealed any personal information, like address or anything, though the IP address he's using tracks back to a BellSouth IP, which makes me suspect he's not out of the country.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Found the scambaiter thing.

It's VERY funny......

http://thescambaiter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109

 

[tmajors]

Scam the scammer

Hilarious read, scammer wants to buy a Mac Power book, seller calls him on the scam and sells him a P-P-P-PowerBook!

 

[cloudedice]

Why not give him the address to a police station in a random town in your state. Your name could be the name of a detective at that department. Wouldn't they be surprised when they went to collect your firearm for shipping.

(Obviously that guy did not care if he won the auction, just that he had your name and address.)

 

[Soybomb]

If you post anything of value for sale on public sites you can expect to be contacted by tons of scammers. I don't know how many times I had to relist a broken laptop on ebay before scammers stopped bidding on it or sending me email trying to lure me in. You can usually pick it out, just delete the email and don't waste your time.

If you're really bored though email him and ask him for his mailling address and you'll get it shipped tomorrow and see what foreign country he's in.

 

[heypete]

Obviously that guy did not care if he won the auction, just that he had your name and address.

Indeed. If someone were to be at my apartment all the time, I might have taken him up on the offer...and had whoever would be here equipped with a shotgun, just in case.

Still, that's not something I wish to worry about, and simply didn't provide the address.

Sadly, I think I may have blown the opportunity to "scam the scammer" by questioning the propriety of them sending the shipping company with the FFL and mentioning that the gun has already been sold. Maybe if I convince him I have other guns to sell, but never really reveal my address? Nothing like scammer-baiting.

 

[redbearde]

I had fun with a few of them. This was my first semi-successful harassment. See if any of the messages look familiar.

http://ydna.freeshell.org/mugupaul.html

in short, if it sounds weird to you, it probably is.

 

[Strings]

Ahh... yall have seen the fun that was Cole II.

Some of the photoshops were DEFINATELY not work safe (and certainly not high road. Heck... some of 'em wouldn't have cut it on the low road!). But there's just something about a scammer getting hit for over $50K in shipping fees...

There were several broken (and "modified") laptops, garbage, a stove, a washer, a dryer. We discussed sending a water-heater, fridge, commode, and I forget what-all...

One day, I'll start baiting again. I can only DREAM of pulling off something as wonderful as what TF did to Cole II!

 

[TexasRifleman]

One day, I'll start baiting again. I can only DREAM of pulling off something as wonderful as what TF did to Cole II!

I don't know if that whole story is true or not, but it's one of my all time favorite "Internet Sagas"

The clique mob will dedded you tonight!!!!!

 

[CletusFudd]

Great story

I read the website and that was great. The scammer got bitch-slapped big-time.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Just be careful if you decide to string them along. The clique mob and govner might dead you. They know about your house with 2 doors and you have a table and lamp.

 

[frostbiker]

Tell this yahoo you recently moved to D.C. and your address is 1600 Pennsylvania. Better yet, give him Carolyn McCarthy's New York addy.

 

[heypete]

Just be careful if you decide to string them along. The clique mob and govner might dead you. They know about your house with 2 doors and you have a table and lamp.

*snerk*

Nah, that's my neighbor. I have an apartment with one door, a desk, a table, but there's no lamp on the table!

Still, I am very a-feared of the clique mob. I surely don't want to end up deaded by the wood of dead.

 

[physics]

LOL! Tell your family the govornor is coming! This was soooooo funny!

 

[heypete]

Should I vacuum the house and have my girlfriend cook up some nice food for the governor? Is this going to be a fancy get together, or just a regular old deading?

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Any comments? Would I be justified in contacting the ATF by email and inquiring if I could submit the emailed conversations for them to examine?

Skip the BATFE. This is typical of the counterfeit money order scam, and it has nothing to do with firearms. You would have received the same message if you were selling pedigreed goldfish.