Alert! Scammer reached me through SB trade post

Hey all,

I had a strange experience recently after advertizing a camera on the SB buy/sell/trade section.

I got a response through email. Person asked a few questions about the condition of the camera. I responded. Next mail asked for my phone number so they could call & make arrangements to buy camera. I complied.

Next day I get a call from some sort of telecomunication service. The operator explained that she would be reading text from her computer (from caller) and then typing my responses back to him. She said nothing about any reversed charges, or any costs to me. The conversation was brief (about 5 minutes). The jist of it was that he was sending me a cashiers check, with address to ship the camera to.

All of the emails (and the call) were worded and spelled poorly. I had the impression that it was a foreign person who did not speak good english. The next email I got said that he was sending me a cashiers check. Weird thing is he said the check would be for $5,500.00 (I was selling the camera for $1,200) and that he would let me know where to send the balance. I found this to be very odd (to say the least).

After this I was skeptical that I would receive any money at all, or hear from him again. I did not hear anything again, not did I get a check. No big deal.

Well, now I get my phone bill, open it and say holy #%@* and a couple of other words

There is a charge for over $40 for one call. I look up the international exchange, call came from the UAE.

Living in the US, of course this raised all kinds of questions in my mind. SCUBA gear? Terrorists? Scams? Very strange.

I don't expect too much trouble getting the charges dropped from my bill. We'll see.

I don't get the scam??????? Is this person getting a commission on the phone call? Are they using the connection to somehow make other calls at my expense?

I travel a lot. I use the internet a lot. I'm usually pretty good about protecting myself from scams, but they slid one by me this time.

I certainly don't blame SB in any way. This was the first time I've advertized anything on SB and I'm wondering if anyone else ever experience anything like this??

Anyway, just thought I'd give a heads up.

What they're trying to run is this.

They send you a "cashier's check" for $5,000. You are selling a camera for $1,200. They ask you to "return the difference to them", along with the camera, of course.

The problem is that $5,000 check is bogus. Oh, it looks like a legitimate cashier's check, and of course you'd think that its good immediately - but its not.

Its a complete forgery, with a fake routing number so it takes about two to three weeks to come back at you. Even if you hold it for a week or 10 days, odds are good that it won't have come back yet, because the routing numbers are complete BS and it will go all the way to the remote bank before they throw it back, which will take quite some time.

By the time it comes back, of course, your money is gone and so is the camera. Oh, by the way, your bank WILL debit the bad check from your account; you agreed that this was ok when you opened the account (that all items are accepted subject to final collection.)

Its a cute scam but nothing new - people on eBAY have been running this one for a couple of years.

The only twist is the attempted reversed charges on the phone call. I don't know how they managed to pull that one, but it won't stand up.

thats pretty tricky ..bummer

this one is pretty inventive but not really all that new.

Hang around on eBAY for a while and you'll see just about every scam there is, then a few more.

You guys didn't address issue of the charge on the phone bill...heh

Sounds kinda interesting to me that the receiver of a call is billed $40 for the experience...I'd dispute the call, for sure.

Genesis once bubbled...
What they're trying to run is this.

They send you a "cashier's check" for $5,000. You are selling a camera for $1,200. They ask you to "return the difference to them", along with the camera, of course.

The problem is that $5,000 check is bogus. Oh, it looks like a legitimate cashier's check, and of course you'd think that its good immediately - but its not.

Its a complete forgery, with a fake routing number so it takes about two to three weeks to come back at you. Even if you hold it for a week or 10 days, odds are good that it won't have come back yet, because the routing numbers are complete BS and it will go all the way to the remote bank before they throw it back, which will take quite some time.

By the time it comes back, of course, your money is gone and so is the camera. Oh, by the way, your bank WILL debit the bad check from your account; you agreed that this was ok when you opened the account (that all items are accepted subject to final collection.)

Its a cute scam but nothing new - people on eBAY have been running this one for a couple of years.

The only twist is the attempted reversed charges on the phone call. I don't know how they managed to pull that one, but it won't stand up.

Click to expand...

I don't know....maybe,I doubt that this is the case here as I never received any check, good or bogus. Something else is going on with the phone call thing.
I would hope most people are onto the bogus check thing. Personally I would not deposit it, I'd cash it through a bank. They make you wait til it's verified, but at least you know it's legit before you send the goods.

I've owned a business for 15years and seen some creative scam attempts, something seems different about this one.

Maybe you are right, but why then didn't I get a bogus check in the mail? Any other ideas?

Soooo, anyway I still have an UW video set up for sale.

What is this world coming to?
I recently had a person named Anotli Poverov (or something like that) try to rip me off on a tank that I lost the bid on at ebay.
He said it was still for sale and wanted me to Western Union him money out of the country.
I earn my money.
I must be naive to expect that from others.
Good luck on your phone bill.

and oh yeah...the checks in the mail

Let's see:

(1) The van is on the way!

(2) The check is in the mail!

(3) I won't....

We'll leave the rest of that one alone! Any more? Keep it clean!=-)

I just had a guy who REALLY wanted something I was selling on eBAY, but my policy is no PayPal from unconfirmed addresses, and no international shipping.

He was from PORTUGAL (so he says) and had a "friend" who he wanted me to ship the item to in the US. Uh huh. I told him no exceptions on the payment policy.

Next thing I know, he wins the aucton and western union's me the cash! I didn't believe the transfer was real until I went up to the local office and turned it into dead Presidents.

Ok, it must be real, 'cause WUs can't be recalled once it has been turned into greenbacks, which I did on the spot at the WU terminal.

His item is shipping today, where he wanted it to go.

Frankly, I think the guy is nuts. If I wanted to rob him I could just keep the money, and he'd be out the cash and the item. Good thing I'm honest eh?