WARNING, WARNING, WARNING!!! SCAMMERS OUT THERE

[79 speedster 11]

I want to warn all of our fellow antique car enthusiasts that scammers are using our forums to try and rip us off. I have a classified ad posted and a guy from TX contacted me to purchase my goods. We agreed on the price and the shipping costs. The check was supposed to be coming my way. Then I get a text that his secretary issued a check for double the sales price. His story was he was in the hospital caring for his sick mother and his gal screwed up and sent the wrong amount. 

THIS IS A OVER PAYMENT SCAM. I called him on it and amazingly the check that was supposed to on its way hasn't landed in my mailbox. This dirtbag goes by JAMES EDWARDS and his phone number is 774-247-0675. Apparently the 774 area code is famous for these scammers to use. Be careful my friends. 

[MCHinson 2,325]

Did the scammer contact you through the Forum PM system? If so, please give me his forum user name so I can ban the scammer.

 

If you posted your phone number or email address in your ad, anybody with internet access can see it and you are opening yourself up to any scammer in the world. I strongly urge you to remove your phone number or email address from any ads that you have posted on this site or any other internet discussion forum. 

[Grizz 9]

Tell him he can send his over payment checks to my house....I’m amazed at the work people go through to hustle a few dollars for nothing. I always found it much more rewarding to do actual work.

[John_S_in_Penna 1,482]

I realize there's a risk to posting ads on the internet,

but I'm just the opposite:  I want to SEE a phone number

and location of the person offering goods for sale.

I'll telephone the seller, ask questions, and assess him--

that is, if I don't know him already from a club or forum.

Ads without a location or contact information are more

suspicious to me.

 

Most ads on the Hemmings website list phone numbers,

and they always give locations.  Thank goodness!

 

Thank you for the warning, Speedster.  There's one less

Nigerian goat-herder with a windfall because of you.

Edited January 9 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[JustDave 64]

Hello everyone,  This jackass answered my ad a couple months ago using the name Edwin,said his father had just passed and he had just sold the house in Reno and he lived in New Mexico,said his father had parted out a devaux and he had all these parts for 300.00 he wouLdeven put them on a pallet and had a friend at a trucking co and would ship them for an extra 55.00.ill tell you he really had me going until he said he had a continental kit and a trunk rack I’ve never seen a devaux with a rear mounted spare and trunk rack,finally the light came on and I knew he was scamming me,everyone be careful,    Dave

[79 speedster 11]

No, I have my email on the ad and he originally emailed me. I probably should only rely on PM responses and should edit my ad. Honest people forget that there are bad elements everywhere.   

[Matt Harwood 3,104]

Very, very common scam. I have maybe 9 or 10 fake certified checks on my desk from guys running this scam. It's fun to take their money and listen to them howl and whine about the rebate they're owed and how they're going to call the police and sue me and put me out of business. I usually just say, "OK." Nothing ever happens. It's all bogus. Not much to be done about it other than being smart and don't refund any money even if he uses FedEx to send you a really genuine certified check with a lot of zeros on it. 

 

And as a reminder, Western Union is ALWAYS a scam. ALWAYS.

 

If it's too good to be true, it is. Be smart out there, boys.

[hidden_hunter 84]

And because of scammers like that, it makes things very difficult for us overseas people who need to try and get parts from the states. Forums like the AACA does help build a relationship with people so that you can transact with a reasonable level of confidence, e.g someone with thousands of posts and others endorsing them is unlikely to be a ripoff merchant.

 

Thankfully cheques have also nearly totally died out here, so it's generally a bit easier/faster to see if someones trying to scam you. For some reason my work still issues cheques for refunds....

[John_S_in_Penna 1,482]

Hunter, unlike in your area, checks are very common here.

They are the main method for sending money through the mail.

The typical individual seller isn't set up for credit cards or computer commerce.

 

Electronic transfers from one person's account to the other

are possible, of course, but are fairly involved, require a trip

to the bank, and I've done one once in my life.

 

It's interesting to see how practices vary among regions.

Edited January 11 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Bush Mechanic 72]

18 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

Electronic transfers from one person's account to the other

are possible, of course, but are fairly involved, require a trip

to the bank, and I've done one once in my life.

 

It's interesting to see how practices vary among regions.

 

Electronic funds transfer using your phone or computer is very common between individuals in Aus. The one to three days it takes to appear in your account is a bit of a pain though, depending on the banks involved. (I forget what the inside of a bank looks like).

 

But any transaction involves some level of trust, if you aren't facing the person, holding the money with one hand and the goods with the other!

[hidden_hunter 84]

13 hours ago, Bush Mechanic said:

Electronic funds transfer using your phone or computer is very common between individuals in Aus. The one to three days it takes to appear in your account is a bit of a pain though, depending on the banks involved. (I forget what the inside of a bank looks like).

 

More and more banks seem to be doing that PayID stuff now - I get instant transfer between my two non associated banks.

 

The only time I even remember signing for a card purchase in the last 10 years was in the US, so things are a bit different. Even apple pay and google wallet have been a bit of a fizzer here because pretty much all of regular cards and readers already have the ability to tap without messing around in an app

[MochetVelo 76]

The scammers are always recent joiners to the Forum with very few (like zero) posts. That should be your first clue. The "over-payment" method is the classic scam, usually accompanied by a long-winded explanation. Some of these scams are pretty well done.

[DB26 44]

On 1/8/2019 at 8:45 PM, JustDave said:

Hello everyone,  This jackass answered my ad a couple months ago using the name Edwin,said his father had just passed and he had just sold the house in Reno and he lived in New Mexico,said his father had parted out a devaux and he had all these parts for 300.00 he wouLdeven put them on a pallet and had a friend at a trucking co and would ship them for an extra 55.00.ill tell you he really had me going until he said he had a continental kit and a trunk rack I’ve never seen a devaux with a rear mounted spare and trunk rack,finally the light came on and I knew he was scamming me,everyone be careful,    Dave

“Edwin” got me a few months ago as well. Same story about his dad. I didn’t have info posted here on the forum, but had my number posted elsewhere online with a wanted ad.