Woohoo - Scammer sending me a check :/

Mr Magnolia

I'm selling the wife's car at the minute, have it advertised on a couple of irish websites.

I recieved a mail 'enquiring' about the car. I've since exchanged a couple of mails and hey-presto, the check's in the post.

him wrote:

HELLO,
THANKS FOR YOUR RESPONSE THAT YOU STILL HAVE THE CAR FOR SALE.I WILL LIKE YOU TO KNOW THAT I AM GETTING THE CAR FOR MY FATHER AND WE ARE SERIOUS IN BUYING THE CAR FROM YOU.

I WOULD HAVE LOVE TO COME AND HAVE A LOOK AT THE CAR MY SELF,BUT I WILL PREFER MY ENGINEER TO COME AND DO THE INSPECTION OF THE CAR ON MY BEHALF.

BUT FOR NOW, I WILL LIKE YOU TO TELL ME

1,WHEN WILL THE NCT EXPIRE?

2,WORKING CONDITION OF THE CAR?

3,WHAT IS THE LAST ASKING PRICE(ROCK BOTTOM)?

4,REASON FOR SALE?

I WAIT TO HEAR FROM YOU.

REGARDS.

me wrote:

The NCT is up after March this year. If I get time I will be putting
the car through the NCT myself.

The car is perfect and in mint condition. It drives very well.

The asking price is on the advert. If I do not have time to NCT the
car I will let it go for €5000

him wrote:

Thanks for your mail.

I called my Father and told him about the car and he has decided to buy the car and he will be contacting his bank manager for the payment of the car. We would be sending you a bank draft for the payment of the car,which will be sent to you by this week.
You will need to urgently send me your Full Names, Address and telephone number where the draft would be sent to. As soon as the draft clears into your account, then My father and the Mechanic would come down for inspection to certify the car and take it to Belfast immediately.

Thanks and reply today.

I then sent him my address.

Now the car's for sale with an asking price of 5k. I'm aware of the scam, I've heard it discussed in the media - I'll get a check for maybe 9k and then get asked to wire the balance back to them.

All I have is the fcukers mail addresss and a home address in the UK that is no doubt, false. I know the scam is pretty much bullet proof from their point of view, just thought I'd put it up. Any suggestions?

Cabaal

Wait till they send you the draft, them e-mail them tell them your bank won't accept it without a signature from the person the draft is from due to no "security messures", say you'll be more then happy to wait for the mechanic and the father to come down to inspect the car and also sign for the draft.

If you really want to add to it, say that the draft must come with the newly required cert from the bank that issued the draft to prove its authentic or something to that affect


Basically try and waste as much time as you can, oh and as always give them fake address details etc

griffdaddy

cheque your spelling there mate

CantGetNoSleep

My friend got an almost identical e-mail to you

Someone in England claimed to be offering €2,500 for a '97 Corsa, worth around 1,000 over there, and sending over a mechanic and truck to ship it home

Sent him a cheque for GBP£4,800 - he stuck it up on his wall

muffler

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

I'm selling the wife's car at the minute

What did she do on you?

I would insist on cash. End of.

testicle

This is a known scam

The man will send you a cheque for more than the amount, and ask you for the balance in return. The original cheque will then bounce.

watna

testicle wrote: »

This is a known scam

The man will send you a cheque for more than the amount, and ask you for the balance in return. The original cheque will then bounce.

I can never understand how these scams work. For startes how can people be so stupid, but more importantly. Any time I've lodged a cheque i haven't had acess to the funds until the cheque clears (I know this specificaly because I remember the poverty of college and waiting for cheques to clear so I could afford train fare!). If that's the case, how do these stupid people have enough money just lying around in their bank account (especially if it's figures like €4,000) that they can just send off without a thought?

The mind boggles!

Jack Bauer999

watna wrote: »

I can never understand how these scams work. For startes how can people be so stupid, but more importantly. Any time I've lodged a cheque i haven't had acess to the funds until the cheque clears (I know this specificaly because I remember the poverty of college and waiting for cheques to clear so I could afford train fare!). If that's the case, how do these stupid people have enough money just lying around in their bank account (especially if it's figures like €4,000) that they can just send off without a thought?

The mind boggles!

maybe it depends on the bank i dunno but yes the cheque will clear,
the money will be lodged into ur account by the bank after a day or
whatever, the person sees the money in thier account and
think happy days, then a cuple of days later the cheque will bounce
and the bank will take the money back out,

this is why the scammers tried to get you to send the money as
fast as possible when you lodge it before the cheque bounces.

probally a part fault of the bank as well for putting the money in your
account before the cheque has been fully processed.

TheDriver

This was in another thread a while back. The bank will clear it alright but then a month later can turn around and say its stolen and recoup the money from you and your the one stuck. So the banks checking system is in some respects useless!!

Sully

I always thought it took 3 days if the bank your lodging it to is the same as the cheque, else its about 5-7. I was always under the impression this was to validate the cheque.. The funds are listed in the account but you never have access until it clears..

Del2005

Sully wrote: »

I always thought it took 3 days if the bank your lodging it to is the same as the cheque, else its about 5-7. I was always under the impression this was to validate the cheque.. The funds are listed in the account but you never have access until it clears..

That is correct. But when the cheque is from a 3rd party bank your bank will lodge it and credit your account. About a month later the cheque will be returned to the issuing bank, where they spot the fake, and they will inform your bank that the cheque is useless and won't release the funds to cover your bank. Your bank will then take the money back from you.

John R

The reason it works is because they are (fake) bank drafts not personal cheques.

Banks wait until the issuing bank cleares a cheque before it is cleared in the lodger's account. Drafts are (supposed to be) as good as cash, a real draft cannot bounce as it is drawn on the issuing bank's funds not an account holder's so they clear instantly. It is only when they are found out to be fakes that the banks take back the funds from the lodger's account.

The complacency of banks is central to this scam, if they cleaned up their acts and only payed out on drafts once they are verified real this would not be a problem. They do not want to do that as it would make them no better than cheques and they would lose a great deal of business.

The other solution is to force banks to honour all drafts accepted and take the loss from any fakes themselves, if this were the law they would quickly tighten up the security and verification measures.

As it is now drafts are worse than cheques for customers as you just can't tell when a draft you have lodged has actually been verified or not.

suzi-suz

yea that happened to my husband he had a car for sale and an english guy called about it said he would send a cheque for more than the asking price he was to take his costs and send the rest back.....when the cheque arrived it looked real doggy and it was an NTL cheque so he rang them and asked them he gave them the cheque number and as he suspected it was a scam they are now looking into it as my husband supplied them with his email addy and contact no they then got my husband to meet this guy and when it was all aganged they cops swooped in and caught him...just be weary of things like that i mean who is gonna send you a cheque for more than the asking price??

sunnysoutheast

The scam works as follows, with many variations:
- you get somebody, usually in broken English which is a clue, who agrees to buy a car or another high-value item, sight unseen
- you get sent a bank draft for more than the agreed amount, to cover "expenses", plus a request to send any excess money back to the buyer via an untraceable service
- the seller, thinking the draft is valid, banks it and the money is credited to their account
- the seller, thus reassured, sends the excess money back to the buyer
- the buyer is usually uncontactable after this point
- after some time, the draft is sent back to the seller's bank as a fake
- the seller's bank then withdraws the money from the seller's account

SSE

here.from.day.1

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

The scam works as follows, with many variations:
- you get somebody, usually in broken English which is a clue, who agrees to buy a car or another high-value item, sight unseen
- you get sent a bank draft for more than the agreed amount, to cover "expenses", plus a request to send any excess money back to the buyer via an untraceable service
- the seller, thinking the draft is valid, banks it and the money is credited to their account
- the seller, thus reassured, sends the excess money back to the buyer
- the buyer is usually uncontactable after this point
- after some time, the draft is sent back to the seller's bank as a fake
- the seller's bank then withdraws the money from the seller's account

SSE

God if people put the same amount of thought and effort into good causes the world would be a lot better place..

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

here.from.day.1 wrote: »

God if people put the same amount of thought and effort into good causes the world would be a lot better place..

+1

mike65

Scammer baiting shouyld be an olympic sport. Certainly wacking an ad onto a free car site and seeing what happens can pass the time.

Mike.

seamus

John R wrote: »

The complacency of banks is central to this scam, if they cleaned up their acts and only payed out on drafts once they are verified real this would not be a problem. They do not want to do that as it would make them no better than cheques and they would lose a great deal of business.

The other solution is to force banks to honour all drafts accepted and take the loss from any fakes themselves, if this were the law they would quickly tighten up the security and verification measures.

The solution to the problem is actually very simple. You make sure every draft has is barcoded - SWIFT of the issuer, a bigish identifier code and a checksum. When the draft is issued, the teller scans the barcode and enters the details of the drawer as well as the value and the date and so forth.

When the receiving bank gets it, they scan it, directly query the issuing bank to verify that everything matches up (and that the draft hasn't already been paid), and then authorise it. Presto, both banks have verified and cleared the draft.

You could even set up an international database so if you receive a draft you simply go online, type in the barcode and the details pop back to you to confirm that the draft is genuine. Then you can release your car/house/whatever, happy that the draft is good.

faceman

Why not do the aul faker baker, "Im going to be in the UK [insert location 100 miles from them] on x date. You can take the car and give me a draft then" trick?

faceman

Oh yeah forgot to mention, its illegal to write a cheque knowing its going to bounce.

Guy:Incognito

John R wrote: »

Banks wait until the issuing bank cleares a cheque before it is cleared in the lodger's account. Drafts are (supposed to be) as good as cash, a real draft cannot bounce as it is drawn on the issuing bank's funds not an account holder's so they clear instantly. It is only when they are found out to be fakes that the banks take back the funds from the lodger's account.
.

What if you take it out as soon as they put the funds in, then close the account?

seamus

Stekelly wrote: »

What if you take it out as soon as they put the funds in, then close the account?

They'll have your details.

And they probably have a mechanism in place which prevents the account from being closed before outstanding drafts and cheques have cleared.

And they'll just start court proceedings and have you jailed/sued/etc. So unless it's a draft for €100m, then it's not worth it. Plus, a draft for that amount probably wouldn't be lodged immediately. Nor could you withdraw it all immediately.

sunnysoutheast

There is actually a fast-growing internet sport wasting the time of these people, see www.419eater.com and others.

SSE