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Overpayment Scam

Chris Carter2019-10-17 08:52:51

I just wanted to warn Sellers in particular about an approach I recieved last night for my tandem which is on sale on this site. After an initial enquiry I received the following from preboisp482@gmail.com. 

"Hello,
      I am okay with the Terms and Condition of sale as seen on the
advert including Your Final asking Price as Stated.I have gone through
the content of the advert once again am very satisfy.Payment will be
made out via a Cheque which will be issue to you for the payment and
pick up will be arrange after the Cheque is Fully Cleared by your
Bank.I will not be able to come over to view it because im always busy
at work but i believe that all the details of the advert are
right.You don't have to worry yourself about the shipment, My Shipper
will take care of pick up as soon as you confirm the payment is
Cleared by your Bank.Transportation and maintenance cost will be added
to the Total amount that will be issued on the Cheque. it will be used
By My shipper who will be coming for the Pick Up at your location
after your bank confirms cash available for use.My shipper is the one
that will act on my behalf regards the documentation.So any signation
will be sign by my shipper pick up and other all
necessary detail information will be fill by shipper so don't worry
yourself about the pick-up cos it will be taken care by my shipper.Get
Back to me with information listed below in order to make out the
Cheque and payment will be issued and send from via mail.

Name to Be Write on The Cheque

Home Address

Your Phone Numbers.

Regards.."

This seemed to be too good to be true and the offer to overpay in particular was suspicious. Google revealed the following...

How this scam works

If you are selling something online, as a business or through classifieds ads, you may be targeted by an overpayment scam.

The scammer will contact you, make you an offer—often quite generous—then make payment through credit card or cheque. They will be for an amount that is greater than the agreed price.

The scammer will contact you with an apology for the overpayment, offering a fake excuse. The scammer might tell you that the extra money was included to cover agent's fees or extra shipping costs. Or they may just say they simply made a mistake when writing the cheque.

The scammer will then ask you to refund the excess amount or they will ask for you to forward the amount through to a third party. They will ask for this to  through an online banking transfer, pre-loaded money card, or a wire transfer such as Western Union. You then discover that their cheque has bounced or the credit card had been a stolen or fake card.

A newer variation on this scam involves online sales, usually through classified sites, where the scammer pretends to have made a payment for a larger than agreed amount through services such as PayPal by sending a fake receipt of payment. The scammer will claim that the money is being held until you forward on the extra money.

If you send any money, you will not get it back. If you have already sent the 'sold' item you will lose this as well. At the very least, the scammer will have wasted your time and prevented you from accepting any legitimate offers on your sale.

I just wanted other Sellers to be careful as I see some valuable machines for sale here. 

 

John Saunders2020-03-03 11:43:51

I have an item on the for sale site and have been approached with terminology similar to the previous thread, there is no mention of overpayments as yet !!

No visit needed and no further photos requested but collection by "shipper " but is requesting name, address, phone numbers.

David Jenkins2020-03-03 13:20:57

Beware. I "sold" my tandem to an Alistair Miller last year. I spoke to him on the phone, agreed a price and made arrangements for collection via courier. The courier arrived earlier than planned, collected the bike while I was away, and (perhaps not surprisingly), the promised bank transfer never occurred. I tried to chase this up with e-mails, phone calls and texts, to no avail. Very disappointing.

Terry Barnaby2020-03-04 20:22:48

There are quite a few scams about for almost anything these day. Please note our help info at: https://tandem-club.org.uk/files/help/forSale.html and if anything seems to good to be true it most likely is. If you see anything happening that is not in our help info let us know and we will add it to that info for others to note.