[FC] Classified ad: 1961 Eight Door Van SCAM

[RoboMan91324 at aol.com]

Mike,
 
There is no doubt it is a scam for the following  reasons.
 
1.  Any proposed deal where they send you a "cashier's  check" for more 
than the price/deposit and then expect you to send a "third  party" the balance 
is a scam.  They prey on people who believe that a  cashier's check or 
money order is as good as cash.  These forms of payment  are definitely not as 
secure as people think, especially if they are issued from  a foreign source. 
 In reality, they are actually issued from the con  man's home printer.  
What will happen is your bank will probably take  the check and release funds 
on the assumption the check is good.  If it was  issued on a USA bank, the 
bad check would bounce in a few days but a foreign  check could take weeks to 
return.  Of course, the check or, more  likely, wire transfer they request 
from you will have cleared before you  know you have been scammed.  You will 
then need to pay the bank back in  full including fees and penalties.
 
2.  Just in general, for someone to say that you are  asking a fair price 
for something sight-unseen, is a big clue that there is a  scam.  When was 
the last time someone bought an $11,000 vehicle from you  without dickering 
only after viewing the vehicle?
 
3.  The grammar and word usage in the message is often a  clue.  Your 
scammer has better usage than most but there are still a few  clues.  These clues 
include the consistent use of double periods at the end  of each sentence.  
This is not normal US punctuation.   Next, "cos" instead of "because" is 
often used by African scammers.   Next, awkward usage such as "all arrangement 
could be intact.." and "its  guaranteed and shall be easily cashed.." are 
not common US English usage.   Also, the use of "shall" instead if "will" 
several places is a clue that the  scammer is not a born USA English speaker.  
Of course, nothing says that an  honest individual couldn't use this kind of 
English especially if he was not  born here but you need to look at the 
accumulated clues and be suspicious as  they add up.
 
You can either ignore the scammer or have some fun with  him.  You could 
tell him that you are also a marine and ask where he  trained.  He will need 
to do a little research but then you could claim to  have trained at the same 
camp and ask who his DI was, etc.  You could go  ahead and have the guy 
send you the "cashier's check" but obviously not cash  it.  Keep it as a 
souvenir.  If you do not want to share your address  with the scumbag, give him a 
fictitious address.  When he contacts you in a  week or so to see why you 
did not forward the overpayment, you can discover that  your dyslexia caused 
you to transpose the numbers in your address.  At that  point, give him a 
second fictitious address.  This will at least cost him  time and postage.  If 
he is persistent enough to contact you again, you can  suggest that he send 
you a wire transfer.  Obviously, do not ask for a  direct transfer to your 
bank account.  Suggest a Western Union  transfer.  At this point, he will not 
contact you again.
 
Be wary,
 
Doc
 
1960 Corvette, 1961 Rampside, 1962 Rampside, 1964 Spyder  coupe, 1965 
Greenbrier, 1966 Canadian Corsa turbo coupe, 1967 Nova SS, 1968  Camaro ragtop

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
 
In a message dated 3/25/2011 4:00:25 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
corvanatics-request at corvair.org writes:

Message:  5
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:23:51 -0400
From: Michael Emanuele  <rampside1 at roadrunner.com>
Subject: [FC] Fwd: Re: Classified ad: 1961  Eight Door Van
To: "corvanatics at corvair.org"  <corvanatics at corvair.org>,
VirtualVairs at corvair.org,    "virtualvairs-request at corvair.org"
<virtualvairs-request at corvair.org>
Message-ID:  <4D8CF9D7.6090908 at roadrunner.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;  charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Okay guys and  gals,

I need your help with this. I have my Eight Door for  sale and 
received an e-mail after sending pictures to him at his request.  My 
issue is does this sound like a SCAM to you. It does to me. What if any  
are your thoughts and how should I proceed with this. The van is  
advertised on the CORSA site, so I guess that is where he acquired the  
info.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, Mike  Emanuele

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:     Re: Classified ad: 1961 Eight Door Van
Date:   Fri, 25 Mar 2011  08:34:53 +0000
From:   Smith Lodge Paul  <slpaul7 at gmail.com>
To:     Michael Emanuele  <rampside1 at roadrunner.com>



Hello Michael,

Thanks  for the update e-mail i do appreciate it..I'm a Marine engineer 
from GA  but 'm off shore at present
Your asking $11,000 is fair which i will like  to make an initial deposit 
so you can be sure i'm very much  interested..
I shall contact an agency to come over and inspect since i'm  off-shore 
as i do not know its present condition before i can send your  
balance..As for the deposit payment,my preferred is a US cashiers  
check..its guaranteed and shall be easily cashed..Being off-shore,the  
agency owns the balance to the deposit check so you keep $1,100 for the  
deposit,the fund left on the check is for the agency you send it out so  
that they can be in your location for inspection cos they making other  
vital inspections and deliveries for me..
You provide me your full  name,address and phone # so that the check can 
be mailed to you..
I  shall be back in 3 weeks,but then my regiment will be deployed to Iraq 
and  I shall stay there for a while.
You would have all your money in your hand  after inspection is completed 
before title is released and shipped  okay..I'll give you a call once i 
get onshore like wise the agent so that  all arrangement could be 
intact..The best way to contact me is via email  as I'm always running 
around with things..

Lodge Paul
US Marine  Corps
2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II  Marine
Expeditionary  Force