am i being had??

[guitarsark]

some dude from russia is interested in buying my sugar for $1250.
he is in the process of sending me a cashiers check for $4880.00 for the bike and to ship thru his contact at western union. he is also including $300 for my trouble.
should i buy into this or what? $4880??? that seems awefully high.
wait and see if i get the check and it clears?
i sent him my adress and phone. i hope he's not a serial killer or something. what should i do?

[joe]

Don't do the deal. It's a scam.

You cash the check and wire him the money. Several days later the bank that supposedly issued the check rejects it since it is counterfeit and you're out however much money you wired to him.

[joe]

This page has some good info on these scams:

http://boston.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

[guitarsark]

you guys are right. check out the email he sent me:

I got your mail safely and also thanks for the pics just too lovely its really my choice.so Right now you know I'm going to ask the company to issue the check of $4,880 in your name and you'll send the excess funds to my shipper via western union,for him to come for the pick up at your location,I ll give you my shipping agent's datas as soon as the check gets to you,He's handles my shipping arrangement. I will be giving $300 for your (efforts) I'll be very grateful if really you can do everything the same day you recieve the check for a faster transaction and bcos i am really eager o see it....
I'll need your datas for the check to get to you soonest..
NAME..
ADDRESS..
ZIP CODE..
CITY..
STATE...
COUNTRY..
PHONE NUMBER
(HOME,OFFICE,CELL)
Pls mail me today,to let me know what's good.
I know I can trust you,
Best Regard.

[C.P.]

Whoa! Karen! Your selling the bike after all the $$ you just put into it! Did you find a better fitting bike that has simply replaced this one? Do tell!

[fvh420]

A friend of mine got scammed the exact same way - she ended up breaking even after some help from a cop/police report and the bank. In this case he wanted to overpay for the bike by several thousand and have the "change" be sent to a different account. I don't recall the exact details but that is a basic summary.

Nice job avoiding the scam
FVH

[guitarsark]

HI CP.
i cant get my mind off that fisher cake!!!

[Big Game]

Yep...someone tried to scam a bud of mine this way. The check will certainly arrive. And it will take about 3 months to bounce. But I guarantee you, it will bounce.

[guitarsark]

so what should i do now?
I already emailed the guy back accusing him of the scam and have not heard back yet. Three months to bounce!! how is that possible?

[bdee]

Isn't this covered in money laundering 101 at Criminal U? That has to be the shadiest thing I've ever seen related to bike purchases. One guy did want to send me some future dated checks for a bike once, he said he was going to wait for some stock prices to rise before he sold his shares - then I could cash the checks. MTBR also has some info this exact type of scam - just click on an ad then the Scam Alert link. The examples of some email correspondence looks an awful lot like what this guy sent you.

[Big Game]

so what should i do now?
I already emailed the guy back accusing him of the scam and have not heard back yet. Three months to bounce!! how is that possible?



This guy probably won't bother contacting you...he'll just move on to an easier target. I'm not sure exactly why it takes three months to bounce...he's my thoughts... I think the check you' get would even be certified. But the drawer's bank (which will be overseas) will eventually refuse to honor its initial payment to your depsoit bank, and will see the funds back. You bank will send them back as part of internatinal banking agreements, you bank will then take the funds back from your account. If you already withdrew the funds, the bank would likely sue you for any deficiency.

What my friend did is as soon as he got the check he went to the cops and fbi...both really didn't want to get involved with an investigaiton...they advised him to deposit it and NOT send out the bike. This is what my friend did. He deposited it, held on to the bike and never heard from the "buyer" again. He was told to wait 6 months for the check to actually clear. His hopes were getting pretty high, until, just about the 3 month period, it bounced. Luckily my bud, who was only 17 at the time, learned a valuable lesson without any cost to him.

[guitarsark]

cops are too busy giving out speeding tickets and busting kids for smoking pot to investigate something that might be a challenge. no offense to any cops on the site but it's a shame that nothing can get done.

[Richie Rich]

I used to be in international air freight. There's a chance the "check" you got is some type of forged International Letter of Credit. By the time the 2 banks talk and your bank here realizes the one overseas doesn't exist you've been taken. Since the amount of $$$ isn't large enough to hurt anyone (except you) nothing is really done about the lost funds and this guy can move on to the next sucker - no offense.

On another note, if your heart is set on more travel I'll have to admit that I like my Sugar +. The only time its not better is when I want go fast. It even climbs better than my 2001 Sugar 3. Maybe a hardtail should be in my future for those occasions.

[guitarsark]

yeah maybe the sugar plus...
not getting much interest as far as selling my sugar 2, maybe keep it another season and get the cake next year.

[nhiker]

Quote from fisher Cat " yeah maybe the sugar plus...
not getting much interest as far as selling my sugar 2, maybe keep it another season and get the cake next year. "

Ebay it with a buy now price and a reserve. I have done several items this way and done OK.
NH