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Beware of 419 scams and their results

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aerog

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This comes up a lot on car forums. Someone is trying to sell a car, or car parts. A "buyer" contacts the seller and offers to buy and sends a check. Sometimes the "buyer" sends too much money and part of the deal is you send some back. There are variations on this whole scheme - but the point is the checks are fake and you get stuck.

Sometimes the results are far worse apparently. This article is a frightening example of what happened to someone selling a couple of bikes online. He got stuck with a bad check, and more.

Amazing.
 
Well that was scary. Almost enough to make me quit selling on ebay. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonod.gif
 
That's incredible, and the victim was trying to be careful about it, too.

If there's ANYTHING out of the ordinary about these transactions all sorts of warning bells should go off.

Frankly, I think e-bay and that ilk have more of a duty to warn buyers and sellers of these scams....
 
I have been watching scams now for over a decade. Perhaps I am too aware but I still can not believe people fall for selling something for $600 and getting a "tip" for $1400 for "the trouble caused". A tip of perhaps $20 yes but $1400? Someone just is not thinking.

Bottom line is though the victim should never have been arrested. It could have been looked into first by the police.
 
Yup. We see it here all the time. In a way I'd like to think it's just people having a "senior moment", but usually it's just plain greed.

If people didn't fall for this stuff the scammers (spammers too for that matter) would dry up /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
...and "greed" is the number one word.
 
[ QUOTE ]
...and "greed" is the number one word.

[/ QUOTE ]

Followed closely by "stupidity!"
 
Would that be greedily stupid or stupidly greedy? You are right though. Stupidity may even be number one.
 
[ QUOTE ]
...and "greed" is the number one word.

[/ QUOTE ]

As the old saying goes... "You can't cheat an honest man...."

The scammers often just take advantage of the victim's greed blinding their common sense that should warn them off....
 
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