The selling process reminded me why I now love ebay: there are no tire kickers and time wasters to contend with. I had all sorts of local responses, mostly trying to lowball me, or offering some convoluted story how they will have money next month, or they want to trade warez software for it. I had a flashback to selling a synthesizer many years ago to a guy from Ham Lake, who came over, apparently all strung out on something with his girlfriend (who was falling out of her clothes) and some friend who appeared to live under a bridge. I honestly thought they were just casing the place, since they only appeared to want to play around with my gear. Musicians can be the oddest lot, and I really don't need to deal with someone's dysfunction at my low asking prices.
But the responses that interested me the most were like this:
"I saw your advert for (MUSCIAL INSTRUMENTS ) over the
web in www.craigslist.com and am much interested in
buying it. I live here in the canada , I will be
responsible for the shippment down to my location, so
please kindly write me back with your last offering
price. I will also need some of its recent pics, and
will like to know its present condition. Note that
payment will be made via postal money order,so pls
mail me too with your details.....ok pls remain
blessed in the lord .
COLE
7a richmond hill
..ottawa canada"
He really didn't need to bless me, but it was a nice thought.
I responded:
"This is not available for shipping. It is too large and heavy."
He persisted:
"Hello ,
I got your mail, thanks for the response, the final price $125 is ok by me.I will like you to remove the advert from the website. You'll be recieving your payment as soon as possible through my associate who's in US. I'll instruct him to issue out a cashiers check in your name the total amount he his oweing me on our last transaction which is closed at $3000, you'll receive it as soon as possible, Immediately you get this cashiers check, i want you to take it to a cashing centre nearest to you, cash it deduct your $300,and the excess is for my shipper for shippment payment every thing is in care of my shipper and you'll wire the remaining balanceto the shipping agent through Western Union MoneyTransfer, for them to comefor the pickup in your place without giving you any stress. They will usethe funds to settle some customs problem and transport their self down toyour place with immediately effect and some hotels
bill and someother feeSo i do hope i can have your trust about the excess which is meant for myshipper.Note that you are not going to give theshipper anything, i am goingto responsible for that. Let me know if this is ok with you....So if its okay with you try to send me the followinginformation for the process ofthe cashiers check from a reputatable bank in thestate.
full name......
home adress......
city.......
state
country
zipcode
phone number both home and mobile I await ur this info so that i can fax it down to my client that will send u
the cashiers or a us postal money order check.
I await your soonest reply.
Regards
Cole"
That's rather funny, since I indicated I wasn't interested. So here we are... this guy trusts me with thousands of dollars- of his money. And, he is willing to toss in a little extra for my trouble. And I don't even need to worry about shipping. It is stress free. Problem solved! Someone will pick it up!
I rewarded his persistency by providing my work address and some bogus phone numbers. I then forgot all about it, since I'd already sold it locally anyway. Several weeks passed. I no longer checked the gmail account I'd used specifically for craig's list (so responses to the ad weren't lost in the morass of spam I receive). When I returned from vacation, I noticed three fake postal money orders had been mailed from the UK from some guy from NYC, each in the amount of $950.
I visited the US Postal site to find that the maximum money order amount is $1000 domestically, and that the fakes were lacking the embedded security strip, the bleeding red ink, and the actual watermark. I also checked my gmail account to find further correspondence:
"Hello,
How are you hope all is well with you and your
family?,i just said i should email to confirm the following details from you.i will like to know how much will be deducted for cashing the check and also what will be the charges for sending the funds via western union to my shipper by coz the check as been sent and it will be delivered to you by any time. I want you to know that am Asking for all this to know how much will be sent to the shipper as soon as you receive the check. I want you to complete the transaction same day you receive the check, by sending the excess funds to my shipper via western union for him to come for the pick up immediately.My shipper will be at your location to do the pick up immediately upon receipt of payment via western union, the shipper will give you a call as soon as he get's to your location to do the pick up, but that will be after he has recieved the funds from you via western union . I want you to find out the total amount that will be deducted to get the check cashed immediately at your bank and in other to have the check cashed for you at your bank easily without any delay or stress,i will like you to double sign at the back of the check and also the western union charges for sending the funds to my shipper immediately the same day , to avoid demorage fee and also delayment on shipping funds.About the shippers information for the wire transfer via western union, i just got off the phone speaking to the shipping company concerning the shipper asgined to do the pick up, but I was told they will send an email to the both of us with the shipper's information before the arrival of the check . i await your soonest reply with all this details as soon as possible.my regards to you and your family.
Regards......"
and:
"Hello ,
I called my client today and he told me you will be recieving payment first thing tomorrow afternoon or today . so as soon as you recieve the check i want you to have the check cashed and deduct your own money and send the balance to my shipper via western union money transfer. The funds sent will be used by my shipper to arrange for the pick up from your location.
I want him to come to your location very soon as time coincides with the shippment of my goods in the states. I called his company (shippers world clearing and forwarding ) and i was told that he just got in to NIGERIA yesterday to handle some export duties on behalf of a firm based there. Here is the shippers information which will be used to get the funds sent to him , via western union money transfer as soon as you receive the check.
Mr Joseph Larson
512 Iceland Avenue
Lekki Victoria Island
Lagos Nigeria 23401.
Cell Phone Number: +2348028862252
Email I.d : SHIPPERWORLD009@YAHOO.COM
After you have sent the money for shippment through western union , i will require the following details from you :
1. Sender's name and address (your full name and address used in wiring the funds)
2. Reciever's name {Joseph Larson}
3. Mtcn (money transfer control number).
4. Test question and answer(what is your favorite color).answer(blue)
5. Amount sent..........
6. A scanned copy of the western union receipt..............
Note: All charges to get the check cashed tomorrow and all western union charges should be deducted from the amount that you will be sending to Mr Joseph Larsonl.
I await your soonest response. this is because my shipper has to be in the states as soon as possible.Remember that he also has my goods to pick up together from your location. he will be at your location in the next 24 hours upon the receipt of the funds via western union by tomorrow. I also want you to deduct $100 for your runing arround to get the transaction completed as soon as you receive the cashier's check tomorrow.
I will ask my shipper to contact you through his private e-mail box ( SHIPPERWORLD009@YAHOO.COM) concerning the shipping funds and all other shipping arrangement. I await the transfer details from you as soon as you have sent the shipping funds to the shipper tomorrow when you receive the cashier's check.
Regards ....."
and finally:
"HELLO
HOW ARE YOU,I WILL LIKE TO NO IF YOU HAVE RECIEED THE PAYMENT THAT I SENT YOU,IF YOU HAVE I WILL LIKE YOU TO GET BACK TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE OKAY"
My question is this: does anyone actually fall for this sort of thing? This is such a widely known scam, and so poorly executed. Weeks ago, the shipper was allegedly to be picking it up within 24 hours. You'd think he'd give up after the deadline was missed. Also, I don't know about you, but I'd be rageful if someone had tied up or taken $2850 of my hard earned money, which presumably I have, if the money orders weren't so fake.
I haven't responded further, and I won't. And finally, what's up with the horrible spelling? I'd expect nothing less, but I work with Nigerians, and they are all above-average spellers.
People like this ruin it for all the Nigerians who actually do have legitmate clients in the US who owe them money... and who actually do have shipping agents who will pick up a purchase, no matter where you live.
5 comments:
No freaking joke! I get those for bikes, seats, pedals, whatever I post on RBR. Do they think that RBR people are that gullible? Insanity. I think I got an offer for $2500 for a set of handlebars.
It happened to me; I was writing to a girl who supposedly lives in New York and she is visiting her sick mother in Nigeria (Africa); she said she would send a money order to me (turns out: 3 money orders for $950 EACH), cash them, and go to western Union to send the money back, since Africa won't cash U.S. Money Orders (sound same?) The envelope arrived at my p.o. box, and opened it at the p.o. and she went to check, and sure enough: they were fake (paper too thick). The post office took the money orders and will contact me; thank God I saved all the Im's and emails from this girl (supposedly she was to use the money to buy a plane ticket back to New York where she lives). She explained the money orders would be sent from England, because it would be faster than from africa, and gave them to a friend to mail; had my address but no return address; yet she gave me her address in Nigeria. The envelope had a UK stamp. That was yesterday. Thanks. Sunday, 19 June 2005 (HAppy Fathers Day!)
This sort of thing is vitually untraceable. They always use Western Union because you can't do a chargeback.
This also happened to us. Bryant Jackson from Canada would be sending cashiers check from city national bank of florida from someone who owed him money. We live in California. Luckily we called the bank and described the check. They told us it was no good. The buyer also had the same shipper in Nigeria and the same emails as in this article. How stupid do they think we Americans are?
i just avoided a scam involving two people interested in purchasing my car. anyway earlier today i recieved 4 calls and no messages from that EXACT same number you posted. i didn't answer cause i knew it was too long to simply be an out of state call as the two people tried to claim they were from. anyway they've been reported to the FBI, and i still have my car and still trying to sell it, but almost a close call, glad i googled the number now.
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