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I have my '79 Caddy limo for sale and recently advertised it on line in Classic Car Trader. I've had 2 inquiries so far, the second of which I think is a scam. I responded to his first e-mail and provided the additional pictures that he requested. Here's what I got back from him this morning:

From: Blunt autos <bluntautos@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: bluntautos@yahoo.com
Subject: Payment and Shipping info
To: cbriggs@mchsi.com

Hello,
I have just spoken with my client, I am delighted to tell you that he has recommended your vehicle and hope to pay $3000, he has instructed me to carry on with this transaction and he also instructed me to inform you that payment will get to you in a Cashier check of $8000, which is a refund payment of a canceled order earlier made by my client. Due to company policy this cashier check has to be made out in this amount to you,because company policy only allows a refund payment on one cashier check. So you are required to deduct the cost of your vehicle ($3000) when payment gets to you and refund $5000 balance to the shipper for him to be able to offset shipping and other tax charges. After payment has reached you and balance sent to shipper, the shipper's agent will come for inspection, pick up & signing of papers and take to a prepaid shipper to be shipped to my customer. Confirm this and forward your Name, Address and Phone number for payment to be made to you as soon as possible.
Regards
Joseph

I replied with an apology and said that the car had been sold (may God forgive me for lying to the man).

this is a classic scam, beware, seriously!

I know exactly what it is! Just putting out a warning that the scam artists are everywhere these days. They aren't all from Nigeria or confining their activities to e-Bay any more.

sorry Lifer, didn't mean to imply you didn't know it was a scam!
I usually write back with an even more elaborate fake scam just to piss them off.....

I'd like to meet the guy that falls for such a stupid ploy! These criminals must think the public at large is really stupid to even think someone would fall for such a ridiculous scam. But then again I guess it must work sometimes or they wouldn't keep trying it.

BTW - Don't feel bad for lying to this person, do you think he feels bad for trying to rip you off?

I listed a cedar strip canoe for sale on a canoeing website last year. I got responses like crazy, all bogus. One trick is to check the time the email arived, usually after 3:00AM. Always same scam they send a fake money order for too much. you'er supposed to refund overage, thats what they get. I tried to get them to send the payment then refuse to send overge and god help the guy who came to pick up the canoe. I guess they realized I wasn't falling for it and never followed through. I also got swamped with "I and the daughter of an assasinated african diplomat who had a bizillion dollars that I want to put in your bank account" scams too. I think they prey on the desperate who even though they suspect somthing need the money so bad they are willing to try anything. I finally gave up and informed the web site. I still have the canoe.

Wanna buy another canoe, Wes? I have two of them for sale, too. One is a 1970 Sears aluminum 16 footer. The other is a 1932 Shell Lake 17 foot (originally) wood and canvas, (now) fiberglass over wood, that's in major need of restoration.

For anyone who really might be interested, I'll let the Sears job go for 500 bucks. Considering all the work it needs, I'll let the antique go for a measly 100 bucks. Both canoes are currently located at my daughter's place in Lavonia, GA.

A guy was on the local news a while ago, having gotten stung selling a classic truck but with a nasty twist on the scam. It seems the "buyer" didn't try the bait and switch; he simply asked a few normal questions and then decided to pay full price for the truck. None of this "I give you 2 dollah for 1 dollah" BS...instead, a car-hauler truck showed up with the driver carrying a cashier's check for the full amount, so the owner signed over the title and loaded the truck onto the hauler. Everything was fine until he deposited the check and found out it was totally bogus with entirely fake account and routing numbers. He tried tracking the car-hauler and the buyer, but the whole outfit has disappeared from the face of the earth. Some months go by and he sees the truck show up on Ebay so he gets the sheriff and sets up a sting. IIRC, they busted the thief and he got the truck returned but moral of the story, is that he was no greedy fool answering a Nigerian scumbag - and still got stung.

HWooldridge wrote:A guy was on the local news a while ago, having gotten stung selling a classic truck but with a nasty twist on the scam. It seems the "buyer" didn't try the bait and switch; he simply asked a few normal questions and then decided to pay full price for the truck. None of this "I give you 2 dollah for 1 dollah" BS...instead, a car-hauler truck showed up with the driver carrying a cashier's check for the full amount, so the owner signed over the title and loaded the truck onto the hauler. Everything was fine until he deposited the check and found out it was totally bogus with entirely fake account and routing numbers. He tried tracking the car-hauler and the buyer, but the whole outfit has disappeared from the face of the earth. Some months go by and he sees the truck show up on Ebay so he gets the sheriff and sets up a sting. IIRC, they busted the thief and he got the truck returned but moral of the story, is that he was no greedy fool answering a Nigerian scumbag - and still got stung.

He should have done what my neighbor did whe she sold her motorcycle. The man came, looked at the bike, made an offer which was agreeable to my neighbor, then proceeded to write a check. Che stopped him amid penstrokes and said, uh uh, sorry, cash or cashier's check only. The guy says "I don't have that much cas havailable, so it'll have to be a cashier's check. She says fine. Next day he comes back with a cashier's check in hand, gives it to her, then proceeds to load the bike onto his truck, she again stops him and says, "uh uh, you can pick up the bike, after the cashier's check clears, and I will turn over the title then as well". Guy got a little torqued but followed through. When my neighbor was informed that indeed the check had cleared, then and only then did she hand over the bike.

No offense but your buddy was foolish to simply hand the truck over without first making sure things were legal. Even a cashier's check can't be counted on these days until verified.

I like all the spoof emails from credit unions I never heard of or fake "PayPal" sites claiming my account has been "compromised" and I must immediatley fork over my name and SS# BTW, I just bought a tropical island in the Pacific and a Townhouse in Aruba with all that money you guys passed up from the fellow in Nigeria LOL