BEWARE ANOTHER FERRARI BUYER SCAM

Have some fun with 'em

 

give them to Bruce

 

I own a few vacation rentals, this is the same scam I run into several times a year, they offer to send you more money than is required, but you have to send a portion of it back, what are the odds their check is good.




Bill

 

Maybe you are too paranoid about scammers. You inferred that I was a scammer a couple of months ago and that couldn't be further from the truth. I ended up buying a GT4, one in more pristine condition at nearly the same price. Perhaps it would have been your car had you not been so rude to me.

Let me make a suggestion. Tell them to send the check but let them know that you will not disburse funds until your bank has confirmed their funds. Do not give them depository account numbers; they may suggest a wire of funds simply to get your account number. I would let your bank know what you are doing and why and have them put a watch on your account as this is happening. Once / if you have confirmed funds then follow subsequent instructions. I would be clear with the seller how you are going to handle this transaction including the strict requirement that they don't get the car until funds are confirmed and in the bank. I agree that it sounds suspicious and they likely will never send the funds...who would under these circumstances, but given your car hasn't sold after many months on the market what do you have to lose? Being cautious is one thing but you may be missing a sale too. Also, show some respect toward the seller and you might actually sell the car.

And before you suggest it I'll answer the question, no, I do not work for the seller, I have no idea who they are. I am simply the buyer that got away because of your poor attitude toward possible buyers of your car. The GT4 is great by the way, quite different from my modern Ferraris...and I can take it to the grocery store and not worry about what might happen to it in the parking lot!

 

lol - that phone number is the "Audio Comments Line" for Dreadful Snake Radio http://dreadfulsnake.libsyn.com/

doody.

 

Good advice there.

 

H00kem - just fyi - anytime someone offers to send you more money than you're asking and wants you to 'forward' money to someone else, IT'S A SCAM! They send a bad cashiers check, which they hope won't be noticed right away, you send out $4k, and guess what - less than a week later, you're out $4k. I don't know what your particular situation was, but telling someone to 'loosen up' means you haven't paid attention like every dealer in the country has to what the common scams are. These are known to every dealer at this point and he's not being too paranoid, he's making sure he doesn't lose money. Even the $15-$30 your bank charges for the bounced cashiers check (and it can take weeks to get bounced) isn't worth the headache. Telling them you have to wait for funds to clear doesn't work either, since the bank can bounce the check weeks or months after they clear it when the initiating bank returns it as bogus.

 

Jason makes some good points. Why waste any of your time? You're not going to "play" these guys. As soon as they smell a rat, they will disappear and move on to the next mark. The best thing to do is ignore them and look for a reputable purchaser. You are not going to outsmart them, trick them or catch them. Unless you're a professional investigator or a cop, you'll get nothing out of it, you won't hurt these guys, and you could potentially trip up yourself and make more problems that could end up costing you money.

Just walk away. You have every right to be paranoid. I've seen that same letter multiple times while trying to sell things, including cars, on the internet. No question it's a scam.

 

Just forward the e mail message to "[email protected]" and let them take care of it.

 

I agree that this smells pretty fishy. My point is that if these guys are legitimate the transaction can be managed, if one is willing to spend the time managing it, so that you are not financially exposed. In this situation the seller is asking a premium price for the car. I say premium because last month I bought a Gt4 in "like new" condition with all receipts and documentation for nearly the same price he is asking. I think I got a good deal but not a steal. To sell the car at a premium price the seller should assume that it will take more work than selling a car at FMV. I personally would drop the price and try to attrach less needy buyers.

 

yep...just walk away. A serious buyer will find a payment method that you will be happy to accept. If the buyer shows up with a GT?, then he should have no problem to pay you in all cash. Tell him you want $15000 in cash only.

 

Send the email to these guys. They have fun with these scammers.
http://www.419eater.com/

 

Seattle phone number....set up a meeting, I'm sure the local Seattle F-chatters will turn out and ensure he is behind bars.

 

h00kem - you're not getting it. There is no fishy smell - it's a straight up ape-rape. This is not a maybe, and it's not a "manageable" situation...perhaps I wasn't clear enough - ANYTIME SOMEONE WANTS TO SEND YOU MORE THAN THE COST OF THE CAR IT IS A SCAM. Is that clear? It is of no concern what Michael is asking for his car, and you seem to have a bit of an ulterior motive as far as wanting him to drop his price for some reason, but that is not the point here - the point is that anytime someone wants to send you more money and have you remit it back to them, or to a 'shipper' or anything else, it's not "smelling fishy" it's a SCAM! There is no "time management" that would ever make this sensible. Period.

 

Hey, I have my car so I really could care less what he does with the price. Just trying to help a guy realize the facts of what it may take to sell a car...best of luck.

 

Holy cow! If I read this correctly, you are only interested in the buyer who is crawling on his/her hands and knees with his cash held out in front...begging to buy your used car... because you are too busy working on somebody else's airplane?????!! And you justify that attitude because you embrace it as your own?
Spare me!
K

 

What is wrong with that? If the buyer has no cash budget to buy a car, then he should not be buying one. If he has problem that has to send funds from third party, that is his problem. The car seller is to sell car, not a cash check company. Maybe the buyer should fix his cash flow problem before looking into a Ferrari.

 

Hi Michael,
Your cars are beautiful!
What the con artist is trying to pull is commonly known as a Nigerian Scam. Just use the term with him and he'll know you are on to him and scram.
Regards.

 

Uh, have you EVER tried to sell an expensive car? It's not about someone crawling on their hands and knees, it's about protecting yourself. Cashiers checks are frequently forged these days, and scams like the one described above are perpetrated daily. There are also a huge number of joy riders who want to check it out now, pay later, and expect some guarantee that nothing will go wrong on a 20-30 year old car when they are 200 miles down the road. bottom line is this is not the way it's done, period. The only reason, as I read it, that he mentioned what he did was to explain that he doesn't have time to play BS interceptor by spending all day on the phone with his bank, the other persons' bank, etc trying to make sure that it's not a bunk deal.

BTW - Michael, be careful about Bank wires as well - often times I've seen these scammers claim they are doing a 'bank wire' but they actually do a counter deposit by mailing/fedex'ing the cashiers' check to the bank, where it gets deposited and looks like an immediate credit like a wire would be. Make sure they actually refer it as a wire transfer or telegraphic transfer in your online statement, otherwise you're in the same boat. I almost missed this once, won't happen again.

 

I got this one from Craigslist after I put my GTO up for sale.
"Hi Seller,
May i know the condition of this item,because a client of mine that lives in europe is very interested in buying your item whom just place a quote for your item and authorise me to handle the sale, so if interested to sell, let me know so that payment can be send in the tune of amount you are asking for the item . through a USA CERTIFIED CHECK as for the shipping we have shipping company that would handel the shipment, But before check would be send i would like to make things clear to you, because my client would be adding EXTRA FEE to the check which is meant for shipping,friegth,and documentation.so as soon as you cash check you can send the extra fee to shipping company .so that shipment can be made easily.SO I WOULD ADVICE YOU TO GET BACK TO ME WITH YOUR FULL NAME, ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER SO THAT THE PAYMENT CAN BE ISSUED. Thanks and Reply now."
PAUL

Regarding payment on a car. Many people don't like to carry $$$ on a plane. I know I don't. If someone demanded that I bring cash only, I wouldn't do it. I just sold my GTO last week and accepted a bank check. I told the buyer that when they get it, I want the phone number of the banker that issued the check and the # on the check so I can call and verify the withdrawl of funds.

 

It seems every time I hear about or read about a scam on this site it has an email like this. .....yahoo.com

I always get suspicious when I see that.