Re: [T3] Buyer scams?

[Jim Adney <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

On 2 Aug 2007 at 20:44, james.candace wrote:

> I was sent this email yesterday, and it bugged me a bit. Just wondering if
> anyone else out there has had one of these? 

This is a standard scam. Let's examine it

> Hey,

They don't know your name. It's generic and can be sent out to thousands of 
email addresses.

>     I saw the as for the sale of your Item and am interested in making the
>     purchase. If true to how it was described, I will appreciatw if you can send
>     pics to my email. I am currently out of State.

"Your item." They don't know what you're selling. Again completely generic.

> I had already paid an associate of mine to help get another one but it was sold
> before he could meet up with the seller. I will ask him to make a cheque which
> will be sent to you for payment. The amount on the cheque will be more than you
> are offering becaus the other one my associate was to help me get was more
> expensive than your's.

This is the kicker. He wants to overpay and let you refund the difference. This 
is the scam. The check will come from a bank in some distant place, that just 
happens to take a LONG time to clear. You won't have any idea that it will take 
this long to clear. Nigeria is common for this. Sometimes the checks are 
forged; sometimes they are just written on stolen blanks.  

They expect you to deposit the check, wait a couple of weeks to make sure 
everything is in order, then write them a check for the difference. In a few 
more weeks their original check bounces back to you and your bank deducts that 
amount from your account. You are out the amount of the refund you wrote. If 
you actually sold something, it's gone, too. They often buy cars and then never 
bother to pick them up. The car was never the point, and the car would be hard 
to hide and would likely lead the police to them.  

A good bank will often recognize these checks and contact you before accepting 
the deposit. They know all about these scams, and they just produce bad will 
between the banks and their customers.

I get LOTs of spam, most of which I can recognize by the silly names that they 
seem to come from and the large size of the email. My email program allows me 
to examine the headers of everything in my mailbox before I download it, so I 
can decide if I just want to delete if from the server without even reading it. 
I try to do this, just to keep the network traffic down, and to limit the 
possibility of picking up something noxious that I really didn't want or need.

I use and recommend Pegasus Mail for email. It's free and it's an excellent 
program. It requires a little more understanding to set it up, but the help 
files are excellent and actually do help. And, BTW, you might like the fact 
that it's written in New Zealand, by a fellow named David Harris!  ;-)

-- 
Jim Adney
jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, WI USA

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