Scam Watch

Some emails you receive may not look like scams, but may lead to an unhappy ending. When doing business on the internet, you must take your time and be very cautious.

Here is the most common scam we see:

The scammer offers to pay by check (cashier's check/money order) for more then the item is worth, then they will ask you to send them back the difference in money (usually Western Union). A couple weeks later you find out the check was fake and the bank will take it out of your account. This scam can be set up several ways. Some scammers have even gone as far as setting up their own websites.

Some key points for pointing out a scammer:

1. They don't care much about the item, just the transaction.

2. They say they will use their own shipper.

3. 95% of the scammers are from overseas (Nigeria, London, Israel, South Africa, Netherlands).

4. They pay you more then the item is worth and then ask you for the difference in funds sent back to them.

Please take some time to familiarize yourself with some of the common scams on the internet today.

Hello,
I saw ur ad placed on the net and a contemporary of mine recommended it to me.I will like to know if the above item is available,the last price and if possible with pics to know the present condition.I would like to solicit your total sincerity and honesty in this transaction.Payment will be made by a US Certified cheque and shippment would be at my cost because i have a private shipper so shipping should not be a problem,I
stay in Southport in the Uk.
Sincerely urs,
Bishop

Hello Seller.

I saw the advertisment of your bike stated for sell on the Ads and am okay with the condition commented about the bike and the last asking price .I will like to know if the bike is still available for sell.If so kindly get back to me regarding these bike and also i will like to know your mode of payment (certified check or money order).

Goodday Seller,
 

i am interested in your Bike for my Vacation ,i would need to know the running condition and your last asking price?payment would be sent via a Certified Cashier Check,i would need the deal be concluded with the shortest period so it could be shipped before my vacation start,you can as well send to me your full name and contact address with a number to negotiate about the price,payment would be sent as soon as i have the requested info,i would aslo prepare a pick-up with a shipping company to do the pick-up from your home to my preffared destination Thanks.

I look up doing business with you!

REGARDS
RAYMOND.

dear seller,

how are you? i ran across this item, it would serve good as a present to my cousin. Due to distance, i can only pay you with check. If you agree to this i will let you know that i will be adding an extra sum on the check so that once you recieve the check you can send the excess to my shipping agent so that they can be preparing to come and pick the bike up that also means that i will be taking care of shipping.please do get back to me with your name,Address and phone number so we can proceed with this transaction.

Regards.

The one thing you will notice is that they usually prefer to pay by certified check and many times the grammar in the correspondence is terrible.  If it seems to good to be true it probably is.  If you suspect that you received a solicitation from a scammer please make us aware of it immediately by e-mailing us the correspondence.