scam alert!

[amber]

I just wanted to alert everyone to a scam that is currently going on and could mean arrest and jail time for any potential victims. :shock:

Some people are currently selling their gear online on Ebay and other sites. There are people that will offer to buy the gear. Then, after a price has been agreed upon, the buyer will ask the seller to do a small favor. They say that they will send a check/money order for the price of the gear plus some 3-4 thousand dollars. They ask that you cash the check, keep the fee for the gear, and forward the rest of the cash onto a third party.

This is money laundering!!! Money laundering consists of taking fraudulant money that could be from terrorist funding, etc. and "washing it" by placing it into the economy through legitimate means. If you become the third party in a scheme like this, you are at risk for charges taken very seriously since 9/11 and the Patriot Act of 2001. I have actually participated in the arrest of some people involved in this type of activity. Sometimes, they are innocent victims that are conned into participating in a situation like this. Other times, the are very involved and aware of the fraudulant activity. Many times the purchaser will send large postal money orders that many times end up being counterfeit. (I've caught this twice at Amscot).

Anyway, be very cautious when dealing with online purchasers. They are out there looking for an inlet to wash money into the economy from terrorist and drug trade. DO NOT agree to become a third party in a situation like this. (they may try to validate themselves by providing a letter with what looks like legitimate info).

If you have any questions or think you may have been targeted as a victim...be careful and if necessary, contact the police. let us know if you have been contacted to participate in a situation like this... 8)

[toby wilson]

Yeah, remember when I said that my 25.5M Machine sold for $900 when I was only asking for $800? Sound too good to be true? It was.

The guy wanted to send me $4,900, have me keep the $900 toward the cost of the kite, forward the $4,000 to a third party for "shipping and other 'electronics' items that were being shipped along with the kite" and the deal would be done. I may be somewhat gullible, but not THAT gullible so I questioned it and told the person that the transaction was a sale between 2 parties, him and I and 2 parties ONLY. I never heard from him again.

SOOOOO, I didn't sell the kite but have received 3 similar offers since. These replies were off of the buy/sell section of ikitesurf.com. Looks like not only their sensors don't work, but they have criminals all over their site as well!!! :shock: :roll:

Be careful...

[A-Bomb]

I had similar offers on my '67 Dodge Coronet recently. There's not only the money laundering thing... I've heard that the cashiers checks or money orders are usually counterfeit and just because your bank accepts it, that doesn't mean you're in the clear. The check could prove to be counterfeit up to 30 days lateer and the bank will hold you financially responsible.

Yeah, I ran into the same thing a month ago selling kites on iKitesurf. A potential buyer, purportedly from England, wanted to send by his "agent" to pick up a kite and deliver a cashier's check. I asked if the buyer (whose email address was a Yahoo account, of course) if had a paypal account, of course he said no.

I told this buyer to kiss my ass--if someone has the time and clout to send his agent over, the agent can stop at an ATM.

Cash or true cash equivalent, screw everything else. The scammers are all over kites on eBay and ikitesurf so be suspicious of anything unusual when selling a kite to someone you don't know. All those jackasses have led me to conclude that's it's better to simply sell gear to your friends at a steep discount so you don't have to deal with the bullshit.

[toby wilson]

Yup, all of these dudes were from "England" too and had yahoo e-mail addresses...

Nope, not money laundering. They send you a FAKE cashier's check. You can buy cashier check paper btw at office depot. You cash their check and then it bounces a week or two later, and your account goes negative. By then you've already wired the money or sent it western union. I have a fake money order here from one of those guys. I went back and forth with him for 2 months making excuses and generally giving him the runaround trying to waste his time. I'd tell him I wired the money then the next day I'd tell him I lost the info and need it again... it was fun. Maybe someday I'll post the emails, they are freaking hillarious.

[Optionryder420]

Currently going on?

This has been going on for a LONG time...

[JoshTaylor]

this happen to me too, but with Ikitesurf, the guy "accidently" sent me 5,000 and wanted me to send him 4,500 asap.

[mermaid]

I read about this somewhere which led me to the 419 scam baiters website. I think that was called 419eater or 419scambaiter.com There's other links that give names and emails of scammers too. The people post the email exchanges etc.

Most of the ones on 419eater are about trying to get people to send advanced fees, but the ones that send fake checks or whatever also usually involved in this.

The term is MUGU!

I had two of these scammers going at once...

I would take the email from the first guy, and paste the payment into the reply to the second guy and claim that the money was sent. Naturally he'd freak out and want it fixed immediately. It was a good laugh. I had both of them calling me 3x a day trying to get me to correct the mistake so they could pick the cash up at western union.

Everytime they called I'd say "Who? Who? No wrong number". The confusion and frustration in their voices was worth it.

Just looked and I must have 100 emails over 3 month period.

Finally they asked me "What are we to do now that you send my money to the wrong person?"

To which I responded

"Could you send me another fake cashiers check so we can start over? It's been so much fun wasting your time for the past 3 months! I can't wait to do it again!"

Naturally he didn't respond and I haven't heard from him since.

The interesting part was that the 2nd guy also disappeared...so I suspect they were working together or knew each other.