Selling a car to the scammers.

I advertised my SS1 for sale on the Practical Classics and Classic Car Weekly sites last night.

This morning, two email enquiries in my box. One is reproduced below so that others may recognise this type of scam.

Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:35:18 +0100 From: mike thomas Subject: Response to your advert 'Reliant Scimitar SS1 1600 XR3 engine, 5 speed' To: Andrew Luckman Resent-from: snipped-for-privacy@mail.pc-gamereview.com Resent-Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 01:34:13 -0700

The following response was sent by 'mike thomas' in response to your the advert you placed on the Motorbase website titled:

'Reliant Scimitar SS1 1600 XR3 engine, 5 speed'

The response was as follows:

Hello,i saw your (Reliant Scimitar SS1 1600 XR3 engine, 5 speed) for sale.i am very much interested in purchase it.i will like to know the condition and last asking price for the product you can also send me the pics if possible.moreover i will be taking care of the shipping myself,so you have noting to worry about.looking forward to hear from you ASAP. Best Regards, Mr Mike

Should you wish to respond to this advert simply reply to this email.

**** SAFE TRADING TIPS ****

Please be aware of people responding offering to pay by cheque or bankers draft, particuarly if they offer to overpay on the condition that you return the balance. These fraudsters will send you payment which will initially appear to clear in your bank account but will subsequently bounce leaving you potentially heavily out of pocket.

Reply to
Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)
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I'm not quite sure why this particular email indicates a scam, as opposed to any other email enquiry?

Reply to
R. Murphy

The phraseology and general style all point to it being a scam.

The next bit is 'we will send a cheque for 2000 pounds more to cover your trouble and please give the balance to blah blah'

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

The car is entered verbatim between brackets and then referred to as "product". The grammar says a lot as well. Almost shrieks "auto response".

Reply to
Peter Hill

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Reply to
Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)

It is a scam because I received an identical email a few weeks ago. I wasn't even advertising a car for sale and it said "car" inside the brackets. I replied asking what car he was enquiring about and got a load of waffle back about "we have lots of people with lots of money wanting your car today" and similar nonsense.

Reply to
Malcolm

Sounds like the Cardata bollocks.

Reply to
Sleeker GT Phwoar

Well, now I know about the scam recognition side of things, but I'm not sure what point Mr Luckman is trying to make ..

Reply to
R. Murphy

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His point is that (as you may notice, from this example) it is easier to understand a series of connected statements ina message if they can be read from top of the page to bottom, rather like most writing really.

mrcheerful

(stage 2 is cutting unnecessary text)

Reply to
mrcheerful

If you don't like what I have to say, or the way I say it - that's up to you, and is no problem to me.

Reply to
R. Murphy

Perhaps because you didn't bother to read the link? You feel free to post anyway you like, but it seems counter productive to make your posts incoherent. At best, you will be ignored and probably appear in many killfiles. Hardly seems worth posting if you don't want relevant responses?

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Reply to
Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)

Are you this selfish in other fields too?

*plonk*
Reply to
Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)

They are usually easier to spot, since they are usually generated automatically from the title of posts:

Dear sir,

I am interested to buy your "Reliant Scimitar SS1 1600 XR3 engine, 5 speed" for a client, please can you tell me the price for your "Reliant Scimitar SS1 1600 XR3 engine, 5 speed" and my client wants to but your "Reliant Scimitar SS1 1600 XR3 engine, 5 speed". Please write to me about your "Reliant Scimitar SS1 1600 XR3 engine, 5 speed" and maximum price for your "Reliant Scimitar SS1 1600 XR3 engine, 5 speed" and I will buy your "Reliant Scimitar SS1 1600 XR3 engine, 5 speed".

And so on :-)

They will then pay the £5000 asking price, but send you a cheque for £7000 asking to pay "someone they owe money to". of course, the cheque is a fake and bounces back at a later date leaving you £2000 out of pocket.

Reply to
Howard Rose

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