whell Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 I'm such a trusting soul sometimes. I placed my Marantz HT receiver on a number of different internet classified boards, as I am looking to go exclusively back to two channel. A couple months have gone by and no interest shown, until a week and a half ago. I received an email from a gentleman who identified himself as Robert Olson, an sound engineer in Vancouver, who had a client who was interested in acquiring a receiver like mine. He described a somewhat unusual set of circumstances where a sale fell through on another receiver he had purchased, but he already sent payment to the seller. He stated that the seller agreed to resend payment to me, and then I would forward my receiver to him when payment was received. Since his last deal was for a receiver that cost more than mine, I was to wire him the balance via Western Union. Well, a Cashier's Check showed up here yesterday, drawn on St Martin Bank and Trust, in St Martinville, Louisiana. I must say that I've felt a little funny about this deal, so I located the number for the back, and called to see if they could verify the validity of the check. They asked me to fax a copy over so they could authenticate the check. Well, you guessed it: I received the bank's response, and they stated that the check was not valid. Of course, the check amount was for $4500, of which I was to "keep" $1200, and send to the "buyer" the balance: $3300. So, I'm guessing the aim of this scam was to get both a receiver, plus a nice chunk of $$$$ from me. None of what I received came though the U.S. Mail, so mail fraud is not an option. The check came through FedEx, and I can certainly let them know. Not sure though if they are interested in pursuing this since they did not incur an losses. Meanwhile, I'm P.O.'d, but I'm a bit relieved that I dodged a bullet here. There truly are some real scumbags out there. I'm sharing this here to serve as a warning for you. Some of you have been screwed as buyers, receiving junk in return for send your hard earned cash to an unscrupulous seller. Here's a case where an unsuspecting seller could have gotten ripped off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 It is really sad some people out there so bad for sure.. Be careful. IMO you spend say over 500 dollars on ebay.,. and do not get a correct phone number/ address from someone forget the deal. I have bought some stuff and sold some stuff off of ebay so far no problems. But makes you wonder how low people will go for a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars... That might make them end up in jail a long time??? Amazing scumbaggs!! I still say the pic in your avatar is wayyy sexy and would love to see a larger file of that one!! hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 I can't make out what's in the center of the avatar. All I see is some flesh resembles an eight. I think the avatar came from an ad on Audiogon for "Sexy Cables". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 just lean to the right about 90 degrees and it looks about right. Looks like screen capture from TV though, not the high quality of colter avatars!! wwoooohhhooooo I got a million of em for you guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good2BHome Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 whell, Check with the Post Office. The use of FedEx may still constitute Mail fraud. I think, but am not positive that crimes or attempted crimes via FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. stil qualify as Mail fraud by law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whell Posted September 9, 2004 Author Share Posted September 9, 2004 Thanks. I've reported this to FedEx's Security Dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki Choi Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Six years and 15 days ago, I sold a set of Krell preamp and power amp to a guy in NJ on a COD term. UPS forwarded me two Chase Manhattan bank cashier's checks for $7,800. I deposited them into my saving and I was happy. Three weeks later, I received a call asking me to come the bank... They were counterfiet checks, processed through my bank, went to Chase and they were discoverd to be bad. The sadest part of my saga was that I had him identified through his ongoing fraud activities and altered all possible law enforcement agencies in NJ and WI including FBI...they informed me the amount wasn't bigt enough to assign anybody... There were three other indiviuals who got scammed by the same guy at the time. Even all four of us getting together, nothing could be done other one of us getting on the airplane with a baseball bat or something similar... I was able to retrieve $1500 from my homeowners insurance under counterfiet currency protection claues but I was a sad puppy for a long time. Ki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Its hard to believe the balls on some people It really makes you wonder what happened to make them this way. Sure glad you played it smart and checked things out. Some people get blinded by the cash and find out the sting hurts real bad later. Good for you. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose R Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 This is a notorious scam that has been going around. See here: Scams Scams-part deux Too much preambling bulls*t from a party-of-interest is a red-flag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtaylor Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 ---------------- On 9/9/2004 2:26:19 PM colterphoto1 wrote: just lean to the right about 90 degrees and it looks about right. Looks like screen capture from TV though, not the high quality of colter avatars!! wwoooohhhooooo I got a million of em for you guys! ---------------- Well, where are they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myhamish Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Thanks for the great information, Jose R. You may just have saved someone a lot of grief. And welcome to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Here is another variation on this same theme. I got four of these last week as "Questions for Seller" on different Ebay auctions. All were newly registered on Ebay and were in Singapore. Ebay was notified and kicked all four of them (or one of them four times) off Ebay. See below. Bob Dear bobcrites, I am an auto agent interested in immediate purchase of your item.After several consideration over the advert placed on the website,my client has really shown interest in it and would really want to issue the payment in form of Cashiers Check.Will you be accepting a Cashiers Check? The cashiers check that will be drawn by my client would include the cost for shipping this item to my client and my commission would be included on the same Cashiers Check.We shall solely be responsible for the shippment of the item. Please contact me asap via email for futher questions as regards this transaction or call me on 2348023858032 if you really show willingness in selling this item asap.Thank You and I am expecting your response asap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Someone tried this same scam on my 12 year old son who was selling his paint ball gun on Ebay. He brought the offer made to my attention. Same old scam. He was to be overpaid and return some of the money. Needless to say now my son knows a little more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Whell, Glad your sense of smell was working for you on this one. If there is to be no pursuit by law enforcement, you could at least send them three grand in monopoly money! Let them think you have fallen for it, until they get your payment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Be careful and honest. Many years ago I got a notice of deposit from my bank. I had not made such a deposit and called them, saying it was a mistake. They said, nope, this is your signature, certainly looks like it. I thought I might have been going nuts. Later the same day, the bank showed me the very recent microfilm of a check by a construction company which had a forged endorsement over to me and my forged endorsement into my account. And there was just a little bit of pressure from the bank to get me to say it was okay ("Now do you remember this transaction?"). I suppose some less idealistic person would have thought they could profit from the circumstances. I said there was something terribly wrong and I wanted nothing to do with it. But the bank was fishing. The plan, evidently was that the "wiseguys" would then forge a wire transfer out of my account into an offshore account. So I was being used to wash the theft of the check. Except for my denials, there could have been a lot of questions from the feds to answer. "Be careful out there." Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 ---------------- On 9/9/2004 4:22:41 PM Jose R wrote: This is a notorious scam that has been going around. ---------------- Yup... I had a similar offer several years ago on some car parts I was selling. At the time, the scam wasn't well published, but many red flags popped up in my mind when I received the offer. Most people inquiring about car parts usually begin their email in stating the car they own themselves. This email had none of that and contained none of the other typical questions you'd expect about condition, part compatibility between models, additional photos, etc. Just a large check offer... in exchange for the parts plus returning the "change". I actually replied in inquiring very detailed info about his vehicle... but never got a response. Several months later, I came across the scam details on the internet. It's almost an evolution of the Algerian Money Scam. Glad for those who dodged it... and feel bad for those who didn't. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louis Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 I HAD CAR FOR SALE ON AUTOTRADER HE WANTED TO SEND BANK CHECK FOR EXTRA MONEY FOR SHIPPING OVERSEAS I KNEW FROM START THOUGHT WAS PHONEY BANK GOT 500 CALLS A DAY ALSO IN A MAGAZINE LIKE NEWSWEEK THAT DID SAME THING WITH VACATION HOMES ITS THE NEW NIGERIAN SCAM LIKE NEED TO GET MONEY OUT OF COUNTRY GOVERMENT HAS WEBSITE TO POST PROBLEM ITS A HOME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 I used to have a link to a woman that selles horses, she gets these scams on a regular basis. she had started to take the scam back to the scammer. She would (knowing in advance it was a scam) reply to these people then request the money quickly as she had a medical emergence or some other lie. The scammers would fedex over night the "cashiers check" then she would drag it out for as long as possible, weeks or months until the scammer either got ticked at her or gave up, some even threatened to report HER to the FBI! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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