WARNING: International Auto Trading Scam!

[HappyFace]

My sister has her car posted for sale on AutoTrader.com, she received a response several days ago. Here's a copy/paste of the conversation, minus personal information. It has to be a scam!


From Him:
***VEHICLE LEAD***

The following lead was generated from AutoTrader.com's web site at http://www.autotrader.com.

VEHICLE INFORMATION
Make: Mazda
Model: Protege
Year: 1992
Price: 2300
Mileage: 142070
Body Style: Sedan
Color: Red
Cylinders: 4 Cylinder Gasoline
Transmission: Automatic
Doors: Four Door
Stereo: Unavailable
VIN: JM1BG2242N0415067
Description: Red 1992 Mazda Protege. Tinted windows, Kenwood KDC-516S cd player, Kenwood speakers, exhaust upgrades. Brakes replaced 6 months ago, newer battery (lifetime warranty), new tires, runs great! Oil changed every 3000 miles, very well maintained. Call xxxxxx (555)555-5555. Asking $2300 or best offer.

BUYER INFO
Name: XXXX XXXXX
E-Mail Address: XXX_XXXX@yahoo.com
Comments: Hi ,am interested in buying your 1992 Mazda Protege DX .which is offered for $2300 as you posted.but am willing to pay $2100 for it.hope you dont mind.how well is its condition.though it looks okay in the pics.

Her Response:

Hi, thanks for your response. I'm a female and don't know that much about cars, but it gets me where I want to go. You are welcome to test drive it and check it out. Call or e-mail if you want to see the car. XXXXXX

555-555-5555

Him:

Hi XXXXX,
i understand thing been the way they are.all that matter most in a car really is to you here you want in comfort. i wont be able to view or test drive.cos am presently in Africa.all i want to do is to buy a car in a bearable condition and have it shipped down here.i will be handling shipping anyway.so all that matter is for you to assure me that its in very good condition and tell me you best offer .i will make payment and have it picked up from you by my private shipper .get back to me.

XXXXXX

Her response:

Hi, thanks for writing back. I'd be willing to take your offer of $2100. Yes, the car is in good condition. If you were to buy the car, what form of payment would you use? Why are you planning to have it shipped out to Africa? Just curious. Your quick reply is appreciated.

Thanks!
XXXXXX

Him: (as if it weren't an obvious scam already)

Hi XXXXXX,
Am very okay with the condition as you said,and I agreed with the offered $2100.so i will buy your vehicle.i will make the purchase as quick as possible.as you have known,i will handle the pick ups.thats i will instruct my private shipper(whom takes care of international shipping) to come over to pick up the vehicle from you,inorder to make the shipping arrangement once payment is made.also he will be collecting every paper regarding to the purchase and ownership of the vehicle.payment will be made in cashier's check. i have a client oweing me a sum of ($4500).and i will be paying for the vehicle by using the my money with him.so all i will do is to instruct him to issue out and send you a cashier's check of the money in your name.When the check is received by you,you will deduct your payment for the vehicle($2100) and send the balance to me($2400) via money gram immediately.so therefore,
so give me your
full name............
contact adress............
phone number............
once the datas are provided,it will be forwarded to my client to send over the check(payment) immediately.
note that once the payment as been made ,shipping arrangement will commence. hope i can trust you with
the transaction.get back to me.

XXXXXX

End Of Emails

Are people really idiotic enough to be fooled by this guy?! It wouldn't hurt him to take a few grammer school courses in english grammer and writing! :Q :|

 

[Miramonti]

hahaha

 

[Fausto]

That's just pathetic, but I'm sure some moron will fall for it.

 

[ThaGrandCow]

I'd heard there are parts of africa that this kind of scam is the highest form of revenue generation in the area.

 

Send it to the FTC, and autotrader too.

 

[dexvx]

My response:

International checks will have to wait approximately 6-8 weeks to be cleared.

 

[Double Trouble]

That's rather funny.... someone would buy an 11 year old vehicle to have it shipped to Africa. Riiiiiiiight. And, surprise surprise, the payment involves some weird mechanism because the money is owed by someone else blah blah blah. Riiiiiiight.

I'm sorry, if someone falls for this kind of idiotic scam, they deserve it

 

[yukichigai]

Took me a minute to figure out how the scam worked since this guy's grammer is so bad. Wrecks havoc with my normal reading style. (I read in phrases, not letters)

 

[fastz28]

Scam him back. Just take the check, cash it, and keep all of it.

Which isn't much, since all of $0 is still $0.

 

[notfred]

I'm a female and don't know that much about cars, but it gets me where I want to go.

Wow, your sister is a fantastic car salesman.

 

[V00DOO]

Wasn't there a similiar Ebay scam which a winning bidder will give the seller a fake cashier check with the amount greater than the actual winning bid and ask the seller to give back the differences. I read some people were scam over 5K. I quess there is a sucker born every minute.

 

[Sluggo]

You would think a quality scammer would just offer asking price, not haggle.

 

[Double Trouble]

Originally posted by: fastz28
Scam him back. Just take the check, cash it, and keep all of it.

Which isn't much, since all of $0 is still $0.

Nope, that's not a good idea because the bank will charge you a 'bounced check' fee when it turns out that the cashier's check he gave you is no good. People just automatically assume that a cashiers check is always 'good'. That's simply not the case, they can bounce just like any other check.....

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: tagej

Originally posted by: fastz28
Scam him back. Just take the check, cash it, and keep all of it.

Which isn't much, since all of $0 is still $0.

Nope, that's not a good idea because the bank will charge you a 'bounced check' fee when it turns out that the cashier's check he gave you is no good. People just automatically assume that a cashiers check is always 'good'. That's simply not the case, they can bounce just like any other check.....

Bounced Check fees usually only apply when it's one you wrote. If you cash someone else's bad check they aren't supposed to penalize you.

 

[fatkorean]

If you haggle a bit it makes it seem like you are more interested in buying the car. Also if you cash a bad check, like NSF, or closed account, you will get charged a fee for it. Why do you think you see places that accepts checks have a $35 charge for bad checks?

-fk

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: yukichigai

Originally posted by: tagej

Originally posted by: fastz28
Scam him back. Just take the check, cash it, and keep all of it.

Which isn't much, since all of $0 is still $0.

Nope, that's not a good idea because the bank will charge you a 'bounced check' fee when it turns out that the cashier's check he gave you is no good. People just automatically assume that a cashiers check is always 'good'. That's simply not the case, they can bounce just like any other check.....

Bounced Check fees usually only apply when it's one you wrote. If you cash someone else's bad check they aren't supposed to penalize you.

Bwahahahahah!
Bwahahahahahhahaha!
Ahwehehehehehehehehee!

Oh, sorry... The idea of a bank doing something LOGICAL was just too funny!

Yeah, they charge both parties. :|