What to do with fraud replies when trying to sell a boat?

[Matt76]

Hi all,

I put my tinnie on boatsales last night and straight away got the old "buying this for my dad, cant inspect it, give me your paypal account details' reply.

The person sms'd me (at freaking 1am mind you) asking me to email them when I could, so I have an email and a mobile number, are the authorities even interested or do you reckon they have got more scam artists than they can ever hope to chase?

Cheers
Matt

[lethal098]

Nah, i had the same when i sold my car on car sales, got heaps of them, but told the site owners and talked to a mate that was a cop and he said that there is nothing they can do as most of the times the person was not in there juristiction.
its painful.

cheers Lee

[Marlin_Mike]

Ignore and delete them. Thats what I did.

Mike

[Lancair]

I strung one guy along for a few emails. Got him all excited that I was going to sell it to him. Then told him thanks for his participation in a fraud investigation and that we now know all about him through email tag and trace, we will be in touch soon.
I didnt hear from him again.

[kinrosed]

This is so common, it makes you think that a lot of (dumb) people must be getting caught with this scam for the crooks to continue with it.

[Matt76]

Thanks guys, I thought delete and ignore was the best option.

Bloody scumbags they are.

[MyEscape]

I think it's a numbers game for them. They keep trying until they get a naive person who gives them their details etc.

Might only be one in a hundred that falls for it.

Steve

[Coontakinta]

Excuse the ignorance, but how does the scam work

[TimiBoy]

I've strung a couple along. When they think they're about to get you, go all racist on their a$$. It's very satisfying...

Cheers,

Tim

[Matt76]

Excuse the ignorance, but how does the scam work

Basically they give you a bulldust story "I am buying this for my dad, am working offshore at the moment so cant inspect it, will get freight company to pick it up etc' and then "just give me your paypal details or bank details and I will transfer the money' You give them the details and then they clean you out. Im not sure how but have been told most definately NOT to give out these details.

Some others say they need you to pay the freight of a few hundred bucks and they will add it to the price, there goes your few hundred bucks.

[Lovey80]

I fail to understand how someone could clean someone out with just someones Paypall or account details.

Seriously how does someone clean out a paypall account without your authorisation>?

[NTMID8]

Hi all,

I put my tinnie on boatsales last night and straight away got the old "buying this for my dad, cant inspect it, give me your paypal account details' reply.

The person sms'd me (at freaking 1am mind you) asking me to email them when I could, so I have an email and a mobile number, are the authorities even interested or do you reckon they have got more scam artists than they can ever hope to chase?

Cheers
Matt

Matt,

The people who cinduct these scams use false IP accounts and are nearly always from o/seas, the sad fact of the matter is they arent commiting an offence until they take your money (the taking is the "last act test" or legally known as the Actus Reas)

By trying to scam you they are conducting the Mens Rae (losely meaning the attempt/planning)

Hope that wasnt to much jargon

[ashh]

lol nah thats not what they do....

ok, they say they cant pick it up in person for whatever reason, working offshore yada yada yada whatever, and they say they will get their pick up agent to come and collect the goods your selling.
They ask for your paypal details (which is completely safe to give them) and they then deposit your asking price + $1000 into your paypal account and they hope that you see it and get all excited about it, now these funds look like they are there but they aren't cleared funds, it clearly says so too.
They then say that their pick up agent wont collect the goods untill they recieve their payment for collecting the goods, and if you can help by paying the pickup agent the $1000 out of your own pocket because they cant pay the collecting agent because they are offshore and dont have credit card access, and the extra $1000 in your paypal account is to reimburse you for that cost.
They then give you a western union account details to deposit the $1000 into, and if you do, thats it, scam over, you just lost $1000.
Suprisingly it still happens everyday and there are people that do this kind of scam day in and dayout and usually from a free email account such as g-mail.
I have a high end race bike for sale on a website and have recieved 3 like this so far.....

[Plumb-Ezy74]

Thanks for raising this issue Mat, i have used carsales.com 3 times recently and have not yet struck it. But will be wary in the future.
Cheers Scott

[-spiro-]

mate there are scammers all over the place.
The carsguide in Brisbane paper is a place they hit even had them try over the phone last week saying they where from windows operateing systems. To top it of it was the same bloke, mabe he found it hard to understand my aussie lingo.