Sounds like a scam but wheres the scam?????

[JBomb3000]

Hi guys just after some thoughts on this one.

I work for an Ag machinery company and as one sales tool we advertise our second hand machinery on the web. A few days ago I received an e-mail enquiry on a seed drill from a guy in Queensland (where in Vic). The enquiry sort of read as you would expect with some of the usual questions but just didn't seem quite right. The guy seemed overly keen to buy it given the very brief details he already knew about it, the e mail was also from a yahoo account but did list a phone number. He also wanted to know if we had charges for payment by credit card

I tried the phone number but it rang out so I responded by e-mail answering his questions, he also asked for a no trade price in the first e-mail so I told him I would be prepared to negotiate but went no further than that.

He responded to that saying he would like to go ahead with the purchase but never made any more mention of a no trade price. He proposed a 25% deposit on his credit card and the remainder in cash on pick up and asked me what details of his I needed.

I replied saying it all sounded good but he would have to ring me to discuss details as I still thought he was suss as no one would buy a machine site un seen knowing so little about it. To my surprise he rang a few hours later and explained that he was a reverend from a church in Caloundra and the drill would be sent to a province in Africa where it would be used. He says he searched around in Australia and sent all the pictures to Africa where the said mine would suit their needs best. I told him to send through all his details and I would put the deposit through which I haven't received yet.

So if I receive his CC details and the deposit goes through I can't see any way he can defraud us in this situation. Even if the CC is no good nothing has changed hands yet so I can't really see how I can lose. I don't know this might be a genuine enquiry but it all just seems too easy, yet on the other hand with what he's proposing I can't really see any way he can defraud me.

CC payments/receipts are very easily reversed. Don't get sucked in.

It's too dodgy. Unless you get the cash in your hand, don't do it. The majority of bad phone purchases on eBay are with stolen credit cards. Notice how PayPal doesn't accept Indonesian credit cards and certain ones from Africa.

The cash will go through, but after the card it reported + the transaction flagged, your bank balance will go down.

Just remember, if it's too good to be true, it usually is.

[Grum]

ask for a copy of the credit card and the persons drivers licence to be faxed through to confirm the CC isn't stolen

[nommic]

Originally Posted by JBomb3000

sent to a province in Africa where it would be used

Bet you he will ask if you can use Western Union or some sort of escrow service, next thing you know the machine will have disappeared and so will he.

[RATT]

I get these all the time from people asking to purchase 500 spark plugs and are prepared to put down a deposit etc.
However, if you have spoken to the bloke, maybe just confirm by calling the church itself?

Originally Posted by Grum

ask for a copy of the credit card and the persons drivers licence to be faxed through to confirm the CC isn't stolen

How would anyone know what a real/fake photocopy of a South African D/L is?

At very best they could just scan a normal one, do some simple photo chopping and be done. Or they may even photocopy some other licence.

It's very hard to verify. Like I said before, unless he pays you with cash upfront, ie. Western Union or even SWIFT, don't even think about it.

Unless you love losing money.

--

Just saw that he says he's from Caloundra. The above still applies. Back in year 12 we had someone who could photochop a Vic drivers licence, with anything you wanted. He made fakes that could be used anywhere, very cheaply and easily.

[XR6-VCT-2000]

Imo dealing with unknown people online is 'NO WAY' safe !. I used to use e-bay a few years back , got 70% of my goods , but the other 30% never showed and got ripped !.

I've given up on the whole online purchasing stuff over the last years or so. Even with full firewall , putting details in 128-bit security webpages buying stuff etc etc , eventualy my mastercard got done last year , luckily mastercard informed me of the huge purchase before passing it and cancled it and my card at my request. I just stick to the good old trading post and cash sales/buys these days.

[GUTLES]

Originally Posted by RATT

I get these all the time from people asking to purchase 500 spark plugs and are prepared to put down a deposit etc.
However, if you have spoken to the bloke, maybe just confirm by calling the church itself?

Yep I get these too, from somebody in Nygeruia haha!

[sprjenkins]

I can't see the problem if he is picking it up and paying cash

[JBomb3000]

Originally Posted by Shounak

How would anyone know what a real/fake photocopy of a South African D/L is?

At very best they could just scan a normal one, do some simple photo chopping and be done. Or they may even photocopy some other licence.

It's very hard to verify. Like I said before, unless he pays you with cash upfront, ie. Western Union or even SWIFT, don't even think about it.

Unless you love losing money.

--

Just saw that he says he's from Caloundra. The above still applies. Back in year 12 we had someone who could photochop a Vic drivers licence, with anything you wanted. He made fakes that could be used anywhere, very cheaply and easily.

I think i'll tell him i need a faxed copy of a drivers licence as well as his CC details, name, adress and an ABN and see how he responds to that. Initally he wanted the pay the whole thing on his CC until i told he there would be a 1% fee and he then decided on 25% deposit on the card and the rest in cash on pickup. Apparently our new CFO used to work for the police fraud squad so i might have a chat to him about it today.

[gz1]

Have a look at this site: http://thescambaiter.com/

[3vXT]

When you say 'pickup' you mean someone actually coming to take delivery in person, not you sending it off somewhere? If its a scam, just after he makes the deposit he'll ask if you could save them some money, being a charity and all, by sending the thing direct to the starving children.

Call up the church and make sure he is who he says he is, tell him not to worry about the credit card deposit, agree on a pickup date, and tell him because its for a charity he can pay 100% cash on pickup or whatever you normally do.

He could just be inexperienced at buying things this way (or he could want you to think that )

[Laminge]

Scam

Be carefull. There is a high risk for moto payments, of which if you dont follow some guideliness you will not be covered.

90% of these scam are based on credit cards being skimmed so the customer wont be able to dispute the transaction until either they try to use it next or till they get the statement, so you may think you have the funds the transaction can be disputed upto 6 months

At the end of the day, get id, if your shipping to an address other than what you can locate on the client white pages yellow pages - be prepared to bend over and wear the cost.

If you want to shoot me a pm with your email I will send you a guide for moto payments

[fantasyxr6t]

mate there was a machinery dealer in shepparton vic who recently had the same thing happen. Was a warning in the local paper about, it went something along the lines of the guy paying by credit card no problems then the machinery dealer paying the freight charge for the machinery to be shipped, turned out the credit card was false and dealer got burnt.
pretty vague description but definitely a scam.

[StAndArdAU]

just tell him you've been scammed before so all purcahses must be cash in hand and the item must be picked up. No if's or but's.

[ms33]

This scam has happened before with me , they are definetly from another country , they have tried to do it to us about four times now, the latest time was about two months ago and i played around with him , its all to do with shipping. they act like a problem has occured and they need you to ship it for them instead of picking up the material. You then pay the shipping cost and they will reimburse you the costs after the material arrives. i thought it was going to be a bit more indepth but you would have to be pretty gullible to fall for this.
my topic the first time this happened from last year
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...ighlight=ghana