(Sarcasm on) No this isn't a scam)

[Kingson]

I got this e-mail and it must be a scam. Trying to challage my manhood at the end, found it qutie amusing. Might send him back some kind of e-mail just to mess with him.

A message has been sent to you by a user of GunBroker.com, please scroll
down to the MESSAGE FROM USER section below to read the text.

REGARDING ITEM #: 39280073
ITEM TITLE: New England Firearms Co Pardner Model SB1
http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=39280073

THE "FROM" NAME ON THIS EMAIL IS THE SENDING USER'S GUNBROKER.COM USERNAME.

--- BEGIN MESSAGE FROM USER ---

HELLO SELLER
I'M AN AGENT PARTICULARLY,AND MY CLIENT IS INTERESTED IN BUYING YOUR ITEM
.AND HE WILL BE PAYING YOU WITH A CASHIER CHECK ,I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF
YOU WOULD BE ACCEPTING THIS MODE OF PAYMENT AS A PAYMENT METHOD.IF SO,PLS
CONTACT ME WITH YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS,PHONE NUMBER AND EMAIL ADDRESS
IN ORDER TO FORWARD IT TO MY CLIENT SO THAT HE CAN GET THE CHECK ISSUED IN
YOUR NAME.AND I'LL LIKE YOU TO UNDERSTAND THAT THECHECK THAT WILL BE SENT
TO YOU WILL INCLUDE THE SHIPPING COST TO AFRICA,SO AFTER CASHING THE
MONEY,YOU'LL HAVE TO DEDUCT THE MONEY FOR THE ITEM AND AFTER YOU MIGHT HAVE
DONE THAT I'LL LIKE YOU TO TRANSFER THE EXCESS FUNDS TO ME VIA WESTERN
UNION MONEY TRANSFER . TO MY CLIENT IN UNITED KINDGOM SO HE CAN ARRANGE FOR
THE PICK UP OF THE ITEM
QUESTION FOR YOU
1) SO CAN WE TRUST YOU ON THE EXCESS FUNDS WHICH IS TO
BE WIRED.
2) ARE YOU A MAN OF YOUR WORDS.
GET BACK TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.ON THIS EMAIL ADDRESS.
[email protected]

-- END MESSAGE FROM USER ---

________________________________________________________________

 

[hkmp5g17]

Sounds like a scam!

We have had similar emails for our Porshe and BMW. In one case the US postal inspectors got involved.

I also get similar emails from Africa promising to send me millions.... if I'll send money first.

Too bad there's no way to go after these people... maybe I can call some friends at Blackwater...

Anthony

 

[jamz]

No way to go after these people? Obviously you haven't been schooled in the fine art of scam baiting.

Right click and save this audio file of a scammer profusely apologising to me over the phone.

Barrister Mendy Apologises



-James

 

[Standing Wolf]

Does anything honest ever come out of Africa?

 

[Oleg Volk]

Kim Du Toit?

 

[Freeze N]

It is a scam. This is what they do. They pay on a fake cashiers check, and want the excess funds sent western union??????? WTH.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

Yep...

Classic scam - the cashier's check they give you is paid by your bank and then you wire the scammer the extra funds, only to find out in about a week or so that the cashier's check is NO GOOD, and now the bank wants it money back.

Bummer for you if you fall for it.

 

[Kingson]

Shouldn't I be like most people and blindly trust everything that I read, especially things that come from e-mails? Must not fall out of step with most everybody else. Isn't everybody honest? Wow I think that I need to go and get a towel, because this is driping with sarcasm.

 

[Devonai]

Just tell him to meet you at City Steam in downtown Hartford so that you can do the deal in person, then direct him to Travelocity.com so he can browse airline ticket prices.

 

[cracked butt]

Its either a scam or the guy is a complete tool, my bet is that its both.

 

[Bigreno]

You need to go to 419eater or TheScamBaiter. This looks like a classic 419 scam. I spent a little time baiting a few of these scum bags. Usually, they will send you a forged check or M/O for an ammount in excess of the price of the item. They ask you to send the "extra" cash back with the item to pay for some permit or tax stamp, etc. It may take up to a month or more before your financial instiution figures out that the M/O is a fake, but when they do the victim in the deal is responsible for cashing the forged M/O (Felony in most places) and is out their property.

One tell tale sign is the all caps. I don't know why but their initial form letters they send will often be in all caps.

1) SO CAN WE TRUST YOU ON THE EXCESS FUNDS WHICH IS TO
BE WIRED.
2) ARE YOU A MAN OF YOUR WORDS.

Almost every 419 scam letter I have recieved has contained wording like this.

If they mention Western Union for anything you know it is a fraud. In Africa Western Union in the Mecca of scam artists.

Here is one of my audio trophies I am quite pleased with. This is a recording of a scammer singing Frank Sinatra to my elderly wife... Right Click and Save As

FYI - "419" is the section of nigerian penal code dealing with fraud.

 

[ckyllo]

www.thescambaiter.com

check out this site. they turn the tables on the scammer. the death threats are funnier then anything i have seen from ticked off scammers.

that is a classic nigerian scam. do what they did to one guy they named COLE tell them the bank wont release the funds, but if they want to still do the deal, have them arrange to pick up the package and pay for shipping. than take a box fill it with heavy junk, declair on customs that it is a high value. than he has to pay alot of money to get a box of junk that isnt worth anything.

 

[Bigreno]

ckyllo^^

do what they did to one guy they named COLE tell them the bank wont release the funds, but if they want to still do the deal, have them arrange to pick up the package and pay for shipping.

Bad idea. First rule of scambaiting is bait safe. Never bait a scammer from a personal email address. If you want to mess with these guys always set up an email that hides your IP address like gmail or fastmailand never give out any personal info. The odds of you pissing them off and them finding you are extremely slim, but these are criminal gangs that run these operations and many of them do have contacts in countries other than Africa.

 

[HarryB]

Long but classic story of turning the tables...

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

 

[TexasRifleman]

Dont' sell them the gun, that will give the clique mod something to make you ded with besides the hammer of ded.

(gotta read on scambaiter.com to get all that, read the laptop thread)

 

[waterhouse]

I'm starting to get about one of these a week concerning guns I have up on gunsamerica. Usually they even offer to pay me about twice the asking price

 

[AnthonyRSS]

This happened to a friend of mine who had a miata for sale on Ebay. A nigerian sent him a cashiers check for three times what the car was on sale for several weeks after it sold. Told him to cash the check and keep some money for the trouble and just wire him the funds via Western Union. Luckily he figured out the scam before he wired the funds. What losers.

 

[20cows]

Somebody out of Canada who responded to a classified ad I ran for a used car tried to use the same ploy. He sent me a "cashier's cheque" from a bank in San Fransisco (with a North Carolina zip code )that his "secretary made a mistake on. I was supposed to deposit the check in my account and via a "money gram" send the excess to someone else. Fortunately I smelled the rat in time. I called him back and asked for a check in the proper amount. He said he would send it, but I never heard from him again.

The guy used Federal Express, (no mail fraud),was in Canada (not a local or state matter) and basically had no fear of being caught!

 

[Brad Johnson]

Scam

Classic scam. To see the tables turned, go here....

http://www.419eater.com/

Brad

 

[thereisnospoon]

I called the ATF and FBI when I got this same message regarding something I was selling on Gunsamerica.com.

Basically they told me it happened all the time and there was no way to get to them. I took the check they sent me to the Postmaster General and he said, in so many words hope you didn't buy into that...