contacted about my car for sale - scam or no

P

peteb

Registered User
Messages
1,785
Hi guys, need a second opinion. It smells like a scam but the fact that he says he will wait till the draft clears before payment throws me off so see below and let me have your opinions! Top is the most recent!

Hello,
Thanks for the mail.I really like the car and i am interested in buying it, i like to pay you in cash at hands but right now I'm not within your reach that i could easily come for the payment and pick-up the car myself, so we need to talk better on another means of payment which is by (Cheque/Bank Draft),which is more secured and better than any other means of payment.

Your car is what i have been searching for in the last 2 months.Thanks for everything. Please help me take good proper care of it because i know by now its mine.But right now the month and year is drawing down to an END and i can see that i finally got one.

Really i want you to please send more pictures if available and if not its okay.
I'm from London,England,UK. But i live by the sea side in The Republic of Denmark cos am a SAILOR. I always come home (London) every 4 Months to see my wife and kids and travel back to my place of work in Porto. I'm purchasing your car for my wife and kids.

kindly get back to me, So i may know if you prefer my means of payment for your car. Thanks for the mail...The payment will be in advance and i will need the following info:

1)Get back with the name to be written on the Cheque.

2)Your address where it is to be deliver.

3)Your phone contacts (home/office/mobile) for an effective communication.


Also,I have forward your mail to my Associate to send you the payment and also instruct him to include the shipping fee to your payment,because he has arrange for the shipping.
I am really glad that you want me to get the item and i will be happy also when i actually get it.Please email me back today.

PLEASE NOTE: That the Banker's Draft will be cleared first before releasing the car.

Hope to read from you soonest, Please kindly get back to me fast. you can also call me on *************
Regards,
Richard Williams.
--- On Sat, 6/13/09, XXXXX XXXXXX wrote:

From: XXXXX XXXXXX
Subject: Re: Classified Enquiry
To: unitedunited
Date: Saturday, June 13, 2009, 3:57 PM

I note that your number is an English number. Surely it would be cheaper to buy one over there! €6,000 is the price.

2009/6/13 *********@rocketmail.com

Name: Richard Williams
Phone No: 004475************
Email Address : ********@rocketmail.com
Ref/URL: [broken link removed]
Comments: Hello, I just came across your car on carzone.ie that you want to sell and i would like to know the conditions of it. Pls let me know, How long have you own the car? What's your last selling offer? I'm very much interested in it and i would be glad to hear back from you. Thank's
 
Jus the way that he was worded the email would make me think straight away thats it's a scam. They do kind of stand out.

He seems a bit to keen to tell you that the payment will be cleared.

All that waffle after what you sent him, seems very OTT to me.

Better safe than sorry!
 
screams scam to me. Celica is a pretty popular car in the UK (but maybe your is a particular model).

What genuine person would buy a car without seeing it?? There are different angles to these scams - could be to get your bank details, car registration infor or straight out cash!!! Tell him you will provide your bank details (a new & empty one of course) and he can transfer the cash straight in....see what he says
 
Pure scam. He will send you the cheque or probably more likely draft for more than the car is worth and then it will appear to clear and you will have sent him the money back by Western Union, blah, blah, blah.

The draft will initially appear to clear and the person sends back the money, because it takes up to about six weeks to clear but by then the sailor has sailed away with the money.


Cant believe people still fall for these scams.
 
SCAM.

It's all a load of BS. If they ever say they live abroad, scam.
If they ever use full caps such as 'SAILOR', scam.
If they are really OTT and formal, and not one bit 'idiomatic' as you may say. Scam.

I've heard of these things. The draft clears and one month later your bank calls you saying theres a problem and that the money is gone. You have no money or car now. Somehow it isn't the bank's fault, I don't know why.
In some cases they send you way too much and ask you to send them the excess in cash or Western Union so they get a free car AND cash.

AVOID!!
 
My son has been trying to sell a car on car zone for about three weeks now and the amount of these scam emails he has had is unreal.

Don't be fooled by them.
 
Either way, the emails will always:

1) Be very long-winded with tons of waffle

2) Be templates. They just send the same template off to everyone so it will be very broad so that it answers many questions and will have little/no mention of the actualy car itself, eg. BMW 520d. They will usually just refer to it as the car or the vehicle in order to lessen the work and make less mistakes

3) They are always abroad. Be it a nasty divorce causing them to move to Germany with their Range Rover, or having a new job in Malta. They are always unavailable to meet in person.

4) They are unable to pay in cash due to them being abroad. When selling they often ask for cash so that they know you will go to the meeting point, be it dock, airport or space centre!

5) They will never bargain you down on price, they are more than happy to pay all or more than the price.

6) When selling, they sell cars that are always top spec and for unbelievably low prices. Do not get carried away because you WANT to believe its true!
 
I can't understand why you need to post on this topic. It's glaringly obvious that this is an age-old scam, as pointed out by mathepac.
 
How would people suggest we deal with these frequent posts about people asking if a certain email is a scam, when it is obviously a scam?

Maybe its better overall for for people to repeat the same old question to inform new users and to remind old users of these scams.

In this case peteB did not have to reproduce the entire letter. He could have simply mentioned the bit about the cheque clearing. Someone could have answered this and the thread would die.

I would prefer to see the forum not getting cluttered up with the same question time and time again.

Or maybe it's a good idea to see it coming up from time to time as a reminder to people who have not been active on askaboutmoney.

Would someone like to write a Key Post called something like

"Scams to watch out for if you are selling your car"?

It could link to the many threads here already. Then if anyone does start a new thread, the first person to read it would reply linking it to the Key Post. If they then report the post, the mods will close the thread.

Any volunteers?
 


Brendan, think both high lighted suggestions are a fantastic idea. I think a lot of Irish people can trust a little too much and take people at face value.
It would be a great service to provide to members of ask about money. I know I have learned so much about many things since becoming a member and am very grateful.
However I am not very computer literate and would not be of help in starting a key post.
 
peteb said:
I'm from London,England,UK.
************
Regards,
Richard Williams.
Click to expand...

Richard Williams from London and he writes like that!!!!!!

He will decide that either he or his mate can pick up the car at your place after all so would you mind sending him a cheque for the delivery charge he has already paid you.
 
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