A scam I ran into , a FYI

[Johnch]

I am selling and have sold several colectable guns on Guns America
Till the other day I had never had a problem
I have a limmited run 10/22 for sale $ 320 + 25 shipping


A guy tells me he wants it , asks for payment and shipping details
I tell him Postal Money Order and a signed copy of the FFL I am to ship to


He says OK I will send you the $$ Thursday and will forward me the FFL ASAP

Sat evening he emails me that he messed up
Sent me a Certifyed check for $ 2500
He tell me to cash it , send the extra $$ to his buddy

Yea right , I wasn't born yesterday
I contacted Guns America about a posible fraud , emailed them copys of all emails ( have not gotten the check yet )

They got right back to me
Told me it was a clasic scam , normaly the checks are either stolen or fake
A fake check might even have the right bank roughting numbers and acount numbers
But it would be made on a computer and printed out


They closed his acount with them , probely all they could do
I would like a general scam alert sent to sellers


If and when I get the check I plan on contacting the Postal inspectors

If you are selling stuff , watch your self
Hate to have you end up with a fake or stolen check

Johnch

[Linstrum]

Wow! That sure is something to get someone else to cash a bad check! Takes all the risk out of it for them and leaves you, the "Good Samaritan" holding the bag.

If something smells wrong about any transaction like that, do like johnch did and check it out with the hosting service! If or when somebody makes some kind of an error in payment, the transcation simply comes to an immediate halt and the check or money order is sent back. Good business practices never demand that anyone go out of their way to accommodate someone else's errors.

[45nut]

lets hope that scammer has a "A.D." ,preferably with a nice big barrel pointed at his head.

[9.3X62AL]

Well-handled, John. Ya did GOOD.

[enfield]

we saved a $3700.00 cheque that was sent to us for a $500.00 item, from Nigeria. No we did not send what they wanted to buy or the difference in what she said was a typo. I wonder what percentage of their scams are succesful?

[Bigjohn]

I wonder what percentage of their scams are succesful?

They must catch enough to make it worthwhilse seeing how many others they can pull in.

One scam I heard about and of at least one person they caught went along the lines of;
1) You set up a bank account in your name and forward the details to them.

2) They transfer money electronically from another account to your account.

3) You withdraw the money less your 'Commission' and wire the balance to an address overseas.

The problem is the money they transfer is stolen electronically from some unsuspecting persons account and the trail leads right to you.
As you have wired the money overseas, there is no further trail to follow.

John.

[Jon K]

johnch,

Not just Postal authorities, but the FBI. They have a website for reporting such scams.

Jon

[454PB]

My son got involved in a very similar incident a few years ago. In his case, he was selling a motorcycle. Luckily, he called me and I told him it was a scam. Just for SAG's, he followed through. We have the same name, and the certified check arrived by Fedex at my house instead of his. We looked it over thoroughly, and it appeared legitimate. He took it to his bank, and they informed him that it was counterfeit, for $5000.

Forget the FBI and postal service......they will do nothing. It might make you feel better, but thousands of these scams happen everyday, and they have better things to do.

[Johnch]

Well he is persistant
He just emailed me again
I told him 2 times now , I would just return his check .
So he could just send me a postal money order

BTW he is using a Hotmail acount
Free and easy to fake your data , so hard to trace

For the fun of it , I may just post his email address

Johnch

[Sundogg1911]

I had a guy on a gun auction email me and tell me that He'd send a check that was signed to Him and I can sign under His name and keep an extra $500 on a buy it now auction. He said He couldnt cash it Himself because His Wife had overdrawn on the account and what a great deal it would be for me. all I had to do was send Him an AR-15 and His thousand dollars change (in cash) He said that He had an FFL but His copy machine wasnt working, but I could just send it to him anyway. I was laughing too hard to even return the email.
I wonder how many people fall for that kind of crap

[KCSO]

No, these need to be reported to the FBI each and every one. It is not that they do nothing, but that they have so many of these they have to lump them together and when they track them down they prosecute some folks for $100,000 or more at a crack. If you have been suckered you will not get any satisfaction personally but sooner or later someone will go to jail or be deported. The more counts the more likely they will get jail time.