winchester21 Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 One of the guys at work had this tricked out Acura. All of the go fast goodies. Nice ride. He puts a post on E-bay. He gets a response from a guy in Tenn. Middle aged white guy- claimed to be a tuner/colector of Acuras. Wanted to buy the car today. No bank loan. cash sale. First wanted to pay with a certified check. Mike asked me about it- I told him no way in h---. Tons of fake bank check scams. friend of mine got nailed on a Wells Fargo bank for a 5k rolex recently. Bank- first citizens- looked at the check- said that it was good- then back charged my friend when it turned out to be a fake 2 weeks later- fooled everyone.bank not responsible. So now the guy is bringing cash. He comes down ot our office. Younger girlfriend with him. They always park on the far end of the lot and back into the parking space. The guy has this funny looking shirt on and appears to be packing a gun.Driving this older beat up suv that does not look like a car guy. He drives the car and likes it and wants to do the deal. The cash is in the suv at the end of the lot. I pull mike off to one side and tell him that I dont like this- meet him at the bank and have the bills checked. So he tells the guy that his wife is meeting him at the bank where they will notarize the title signature and run the cash into his account. The guy gets this deer in the headlights look and hauls @ss. says that he and his wife are going to eat lunch and that he will be back in 30 mins to go to the bank. Cell phone is blocked. Further check reveals no such address. This was either an outright robbery attempt or fake money. This deal seemed very normal right up to the last minute. My co - worker took the right precautions and avioded losing his car. Be very very careful with local pickups on e-bay. This could have turned real ugly. Really scary now that it is over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsman Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 this can happen with any listing, it is not only ebay it can be craigslist, local paper, you name it there are scammers wherever you go look at bernie madoff, biggest scammer eva Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 winchester, good instincts. glad you were there to support your friend. scary scenario, indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelA Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Winchester, from some of your recent posts, you sure know how to draw out the "seedy" folks.[] TSA, ebay scammers etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winchester21 Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 Personally- I never thought cars and e -bay were a good mix- Just my opinion I have bought audio equip- gun parts- knives-clothes- luggage- on e- bay- never a problem except for attempted paypal hackers Kel- innocent bystander on this one- I said this was a bad idea from the getgo because of the type of vehicle and the potential buyers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 When I bought our Mustang the seller had it up on eBay but it didn't meet his reserve. We worked out a deal off eBay and agreed to meet in Madison, Wisconsin to purchase the car. I brought $10,000 cash with me. We were going to meet at a McDonald's but decided to meet at a rundown gas station on the freeway instead. I wasn't nervous about the transaction until we were on the way home. I thought "Man, this guy could have hired someone to be waiting there and when I went to get the cash from our car the guy could have just bopped me over the head, took the cash and ran!" I did make him sign the title over and complete all the necessary paperwork before I gave him the cash, though, so I guess I still would have owned the car. The thing is the guy knew I had $10k in cash with me and it could have ended up pretty messy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winchester21 Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 Like a complete idiot- I bought and sold Rolex watches to complete strangers out of the newspaper for cash. I never let anyone come to my house and we would meet in a public place. the transactions were always in the thousands. I did this for years an dfinally decided that it was not worth the risk vs reward. Wuzzers story sacres me and reminds how dumb I was with my deals. People are much more violent and crazy nowadays regardless of what numbers indicate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplummer Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Last year, I sold a 2007 Yukon Denali XL on Ebay, to the tune of $42.5K to a fellow in texas. I was cautioned by my sister (a bank teller by trade), not to take a cashier's check without giving yourself at least 2 weeks for it to clear before handing over the vehicle and/or title. I spoke to the buyer about the incident and we came up with a "agreeable solution" one that benifited both parties. He wanted to save on shipping charges, I wanted to guarantee funds. He didn't want to bring cash, for obvious reasons. We agreed for him to go to a bank in his area that also had a bank in my area, and write HIMSELF a cashier's check for the exact amount of the amount due. He hopped on a Southwest flight to STL. I picked him up at the airport, we drove to the bank branch that the check was written on and cashed it (that took about an hour for the bank to verify), Then purchased another cashier's check in MY name. We drove to my wife's work (where her car was waiting), got out of the vehicle, shook hands, and I pointed him back to Texas. This is about the only way to sever any possibility for fraud, that I can think of. We are both VERY happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 The only way I can think of to avoid bad checks is to avoid checks. Wire transfers are a good way to go, their BANK sends the money to your BANK, thus avoiding the whole check thing. Another way to go is for the deal to be done at the buyers bank, the funds can be withdrawn or transfered on the spot in the bank, a safe place for both of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplummer Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 The only way I can think of to avoid bad checks is to avoid checks. Wire transfers are a good way to go, their BANK sends the money to your BANK, thus avoiding the whole check thing. Another way to go is for the deal to be done at the buyers bank, the funds can be withdrawn or transfered on the spot in the bank, a safe place for both of you. According to my sister, you'd think that'd be the most efficient way to transfer money, but, not so. Bank to bank transfers can be recalled. The only way to ensure a clean break is a cash transfer, and the safest way to do so is to write yourself a check, personal if you have an account with that bank, or a cashier's check from the same bank as your destination bank. The reason it took an hour to cash the cashier's check was this. The bank in STL would not even take their own check without first guaranteeing the funds and the validity of the check. This is usually done at huge clearing houses, but since the demand was immediate, the clearing house had to stop and handle this one check and verify it's validity. I've done bank to bank transfers and their not as efficient as the cashier check method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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