Scam alert warning

Oldclassiccar - visit the classic cars homepage (C) R. Jones 2008

Please read before accepting offers to buy your vehicle, whether it is genuinely on sale or not, from people emailing you unexpectedly.

Scam Details

I've received a few scam emails recently, from people offering to 'buy' various vehicles from me, even though they are not for sale and never have been.

This is a bogus scam that is doing the rounds on many websites, not just car related.

Example email that I've received in recent days, note the indifferent spelling and punctuation:

Goodday,
Hello sir, greetings from .
I am from U S A and my address is as follows

(US Address given, but probably non-genuine)

let me know if your ( 1956 Thames Steel body pickup ) on the internet for sale is still available.

Moreso, let me know your very last offer,picture, condition of service and other.I am very much keen to purchase this item , so, i will be very happy if you get back to me as fast as possible. l look forward to a fruitfull business relationship from you.
Thanks ,
Don Archgel.

I do not have a truck for sale, so this is a classic example of someone trying it on. If you receive such an email, by all means check it at scamcheck.com (below), and then delete if at all unsure of its legitimacy.

Many of these emails originate from African countries, especially Nigeria. It would seem this is what happens:

The advertiser (or owner) is contacted by someone, often but not exclusively from Nigeria, who state that they wanted to buy their item(s) and send them a fake cashier's cheque.
The crooks send more money than the price of the item, stating that the extra money is to be sent to someone in the US to ship the item to Africa. The amount of money to be used for shipping is close to what the actual shipping cost would be. Once the vehicles owner sends the money to the person who was supposed to do the shipping, they discover that the original cashier check is a fake.
These innocent vehicle owners then lose their own money in this scam. In some cases it can take over three weeks for a bank to realize that a cheque is fake, by which time it can be too late. It is suggested that you contact the issuing bank, and get any verification in writing.

The golden rule here is treat with caution anyone's email that offers to buy your vehicle. Many people are receiving emails for vehicles that are not even for sale, so spotting a scammer is a lot easier in this instance. As with most things, tread warily and if something 'feels' dodgy, it most probably is.

Sadly genuine enquiries about a car for sale may be swept up with the trash emails. There isn't anything that I can do to ward off these idiots, so please treat any such approaches with caution. Many emails for cars that are on sale are genuine, its just a few rotten apples trying to exploit other people. If any approach involves you sending money of your own, or your banking details, for whatever reason (in this case shipping fees), be very very suspicious. A legit buyer should always arrange their own shipping.

You can read more about this kind of thing here:

Scam Victims United

You can vet the email address of potential scammers here:

ScamCheck.com
Scamcheck is an online database where anyone who has received dodgy email approaches can register the emails' details here. You can also do a search to establish whether anyone has already registered the email address you have received contact from, as being a likely scam.

These people are trying to con unsuspecting and innocent people, so its important that the word is spread about this pondlife.

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