Scam Like Responses To Universal Player Ad

[anamorphic96]

Hello All,

Thought I would post this and get some feedback on my DVD player I have for sale.

Day before last I put my Integra - Universal Player up for sale. Today I received some very odd responses that seem like scams. I recently had read somwhere about responses like this and wanted to see what you guys thought. Please be aware I have only sold 3 other things previous to this online and all of those went smooth as silk. So im still a little green on selling things online.

Here are the two respones I received. One is from the UK which seems strange. The other thing is neither person can spell worth a damn.

Good day, i found this DPS 6.5 Universal Player ....$380.I need to know if really it's still for sale,the last asking for it and the current condition..Please let me know your method of payment.I preffer paying via a (money order cashier's check/US DRAWN CHECK ).Is this your personal property? In term of shipping i have an shipping agent that take good care of my GOODS, will be coming for the pickup in your location.Let me know whats on your mind concerning this enquiry..So i want you to give your last asking price.
Thanks

Hii,
As luck woul have it,i came across what i and my wife have been looking for for sometime now in ur ads placement while i was off duty.
I want to know if it is still available,why u want it sold bcos i ok with the present condition.And pls do not hold back any vital information u deem necessary for me to know before i make my choice.
I want to know if u are willing to take a certified cashier's check bcos it is the only mode of pay ment convinient for me at the moment.
Pls reply me soonest.
Looking forward to hearing from u.
Thanks.

Here is my repsone I wrote back.

Hello,

The player is still available and in perfect cosmetic
and working condition. All original manuals, box and
original bill of sale will be included.

I prefer using PayPal. However I will except a US
money order that can be purchased from any US Post
Office.

Items will be shipped by Fed Ex any way you would
like. I can have the unit double boxed and insured for
shipment as well.

I will not release or except a pick up from anyone. I
will be the one who ships the product.

The player will not be shipped until funds have been
received and the money order has been cleared.

These are my terms of sale and are not negotiable.

Thanks for the interest.

Glenn

 

[racquetman]

From selling a few things on Ebay I have been sent a few emails that sounded similar to the 2 you received. I guess I never really gave it a thought that they might be scams. I just thought I was dealing with totally incompetent people that could barely read or spell. Most of these asked for information that I clearly already stated (for example my description will say where I will ship to and the form of payments that I will accept, and they will send an email saying stuff like "how much to ship to here?" and "can I send you this type of payment?"). They would also ask if I would accept a certain price for the item when the item was already in an auction format. Like I said, I just thought they were stupid.

The 2nd one might be legitimate, but the 1st one saying that they have a "shipping agent" who will pick it up sounds a little fishy.

My advice for anyone who gets replies like that is delete them immediately and don't waste your time. If the person is legitimate but can't take the time to read your description and respond in a legible manner, then they don't deserve any more of your time or effort. Those are my thoughts anyway.

It sounded like you sent a very professional and informative response to each. My guess is that you will never hear from these people again. That is what happened to me when I had approached these type of inquiries in the same manner as you. It's almost as if they want to set up the transaction on their terms, not yours. Like I said, I wouldn't waste your time even giving them a well thought out response if they want to try and dictate the negotiations.

 

[furrycute]

SCAM ALERT.


I have dealt with a few of these scams myself in my online buying/selling experience. Most of these so called "buyers" are actually located in Nigeria. They are notorious for these online frauds. They will send fake money orders, checks, and before these bounce, you will have already shipped your DVD player to them.

And sometimes they even go further by sending an extra couple thousand dollars, and asking you to "refund" them the difference. That way they'll con you out of a few thousand dollars in addition to your electronics.



Always look out for letters of inquiry that has poor English grammar, misspellings, because the Enlighs grammar commonly in use in Nigeria is very different than the one we are used to here.


I would just trash those letters without even bothering to reply to them.

 

[furrycute]

One way to verify where the interested "buyer" is located is by asking them for their phone numbers, and state that you want to speak to them over the phone.

A lot of these scammers would avoid giving out their African phone numbers. And sometimes they'll make up stories that they are on business trip in Africa. I once had a guy that claimed that he was in England, and when he gave me his phone number, turned out that he was located in Nigeria.


Of course these kinds of scams can also originate in other countries that include former easter bloc countries. Romania and Russia are well know for these kinds of scams.

 

[anamorphic96]

Well what you guys stated has happend. He told me he wanted to send 3000.00 cahiers check/money order and wanted me to send back the rest. It was like he did not even read my e-mail. I knew something was fishy here. My gut rarely lies me. The funny thing is they talk about me being honest and forthright.

I repsonded again but do not plan on selling to them. More curious to see how he replies.

Here is his reply :

Dear ,GLENN CONATSER
Thank you for your mail .Inorder to conclude our arrangement
concerning your ( DPS 6.5 Universal Player ....$380 ) my client want to purchase,i've
forwared your mail contents to him and he agreed on the price you are
selling and he will be looking forward to receive the picture of the (
DPS 6.5 Universal Player ....$380 ),while we proceed with the payment
information,also all he need is you been honest and truthfull with the
present condition of the ( DPS 6.5 Universal Player ....$380 ) and if this
is done,the picture may not be needed anymore,but said you are going to
get the payment inform of a certisfied cashier's check / Money Order in
the amount of $3,000.This amount,he explained to me will come to you in
that form,based on order he made from a state but did not work out because
there was delay in the shipment of the goods.So he has propose to you that if you agree to his term of payment,you should forward to him your name,address and
phone number so that he can forward it to the company to write the check on
you name,and when you cash the check you are to send $2620 to his shipper
so that he can arrange for shipping on time.Confirm this and provide
information for payment to get to you.Looking forward to hearing from
you soon.
Thank you and God bless
GET BACK TO ASAP.........
HELLO PLEASE I NEED YOUR ?
FULL NAME......................
HOME ADDRESS..............
CITY.......................
PHONE NUMBER................
ZIPCODE............

 

[furrycute]

This con artist is quite greedy. I think you should get his address, phone number, e-mail, and then forward them to the FBI. Afterwards send him an e-mail that his contact information has ben forwarded to the "international fraud prevention department" of FBI (I don't even if such a division exists).

This should at least scare him/her a little.


And oh, I would suggest that you should start using a different email address from now on. Your existing email address with which you have been using to communicate with this con artist will probably be flooded with junk mail from now on.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I'm surprised he didn't come right out and ask for your social security number. He's part of the multi-billion dollar fraud that goes on daily.

It took your gut feeling to ask us if this was legit or not. Imagine a newbie on ebay wanting to dump some junk. They fall for this all the time.

And don't think these guys are from Nigeria. I've tracked some down to Dallas who've said they were in Europe. They'll typically ask for Western Union funds.

STAY AWAY FROM THESE CON ARTISTS. YOU CANNOT TRACE THEM. TRUST ME. THEY ARE TOO SMART FOR THE FBI. YOU'LL NEVER CATCH THEM.

 

[anamorphic96]

Well I have not heard back from the second e-mail so I think he got the picture.

I will be changing my e-mail address for online sales when this item sells. I have a pretty good spam filter and dont get to much junk mail. It's diverted to another folder I empty on a regular basis.

I knew something was wrong when I received these e-mails but was interested in other peoples thoughts, stories and words of advice.

If anyone else has some interesting stories, im all ears.

Thanks Again

 

[brian32672]

Thats funny..LOL...
I have sold about 500 items on eBay, including a $5,000 (USD) waverunner.
I have also sold about 5 items here at Audioholics. Most sales go fine..
But there are always some exceptions.. However it is rare.
I have only had 1 person, try that scam with me and I had laughed about it.

 

[Buckle-meister]

I will not release or accept a pick up from anyone. I
will be the one who ships the product.

Just out of curiosity, why, if a person had the funds there and then, or had come to collect after allowing a cheque to clear, wouldn't you accept a pickup from anyone?

Regards

 

[anamorphic96]

Just out of curiosity, why, if a person had the funds there and then, or had come to collect after allowing a cheque to clear, wouldn't you accept a pickup from anyone?

Regards

Possibly. But it seems very strange to do something that way.

It would not be released to anyone as well. If they used a private shipping firm or something of that nature I would definitely consider it. But only after everything had cleared at the bank.

But in this case something was off. So I was trying to be very clear with that e-mail. Im not completely inflexible about things. But I think those responses would have made anyone cautious.