talkmagic.co.uk

Hi. Recently I put up some effects for sale & today I received an email about the El Duco ring flight. I replied with a photo & link to reviews. He has now replied in broken English telling he'll pay by cheque & asked for name, address & phone number. I know that I shouldn't judge but I get lots of spam & scam emails & just wanted to double check. I've googled his email address but the results are all in what looks to be Spanish raul.job2004@gmail.com if anyone can help I'd be very grateful. His response was:

"Hello,
Thanks for the quick response about the product am buying from
you,anyway the price is OK by me but i will like you to know that
payment will be made by Cheque.
If this mode of payment is OK by you. Kindly send your information
which you will like to receive the payment from the post man, so that
i can instruct my secretary to issued it immediately

Name to be on Cheque:.....
Address where Cheque will be received by you:.......
Phone Number's such as Mobile,Land line and Office number:....
Asking Price.........

Never mind about the pick up, it will be after you must have cleared
the payment from your Bank Account.
Await your Quick Response so that i can arrange for the payment immediately.

Thanks and Get back"


Cheers, Russ

If he's not asking you for any of your bank details, and doesn't want you to send him the item until his cheque has cleared then I'm hard pressed to see how it could be a scam. I can see how you'd be cautious but it cools just be the person doesn't have any online way of sending money?

If the cheque is for more than the total price 'by mistake' and he asks you to send the surplus back to him then it's a scam. The cheque will be stolen or forged, it will clear OK but the first you'll know is when your bank advises you that they've taken the money back out of your account. On that basis you will have lost the item, the money received for it and also lost the surplus you sent back. You might even be questioned about receiving and handling stolen cheques.

OK, this is an extreme scenario and your Spanish chap could be perfectly genuine but this situation has been mentioned several times in the past by TM members. It's a case of seller beware in such circumstances.

CAUTION!

For your own peace of mind, I would advise that you NEVER accept International cheques - PayPal, yes, cheques, NEVER!

Without going into too much detail I have a good knowledge of Internet scamming. (Not as a criminal)

I'm not suggesting the gentleman isn't genuine, however, why can't he use PayPal?? If he can email you, he can paypal you, simple as that. If you're looking for a motive, just assume I have fraudulent cheques made up, or stolen cheques. I want to spend them but want someone else to shoulder the risk. This would be one way if doing it. You cash the fraudulent cheque, you bare all the risk.

It's quite common for people to get job offers driving for someone abroad. They say they're arriving in the UK next week and want you to drive them around, they send you a cheque for £2000 and ask you to cash it. That will be your weeks wages, car hire and to pay for a hotel. The cheque is fraudulent. If it works, happy days, if it doesn't go to plan, guess who gets nicked????? It's all cheque fraud.

Avoid this person at all costs!!

If he does send you a cheque, don't be surprised if there's an extra zero at the end. When you find he's written a cheque for £1000 instead of £100 you may find he rather honestly asks you to cash it anyway and send him the difference!!

K

I don't know if this guy is scamming you, but my advice is always to beware. Surely, you could keep hold of the item and sell it to someone else.

Ok, thanks for the advice. I've asked him firstly if he can pay by PayPal & secondly for the address to send it to for posting reasons. I think I'm right to be weary, surely Paypal is easy enough.

Paypal is easy enough. If in doubt get the hell out.

Can you get a post office box so he can send the check to that. As has been mentioned if the check is larger than the asking price and he wants money back then it is a scam. Here is the thing most do not realize about check's and banking. Legally a bank can hold a check for 10 days then they have to relelease the money or deny the check. A check within the footstamp of the bank usually takes about 4 days to clear, 7 if it is outside the banks footstep, 14 to 17 if it is international. Most banks will clear a check for you within three business days because that is how long it takes to clear their own system. International checks they may take the entire 10 days because at that point they have too.

Here is the rub, banks don't lose. Let us say they clear the check and you are in the clear and you take that money. On the 11th day that check acutally hits the account from the issuer and receives an insuficient funds reply, or it is a forgery whatever. Your bank is now going to charge you and they have every legal right to do so.

Many scamers are aware that the bank has to clear the bank within 10 days so they tell you that before you send them the excess money they sent you by accident wait for the check to clear. 11 days later you send them money. 2 days after that they have thier money, the check bounces and you are out the funds.

I am not saying that is what is happening here. Just procceed with caution.

Sorry for spelling and grammer, hurt my hip, lots of pain.

I say proceed with caution because you are on here asking for advice which tells me that in your gut you simply don't like the smell of the entire transaction. I will always side with my gut. Abort! is it really worth it?

UPDATE: Someone saw my post & kindly emailed me regarding a similar situation, see below;

Hello Russ,

I hope you don't mind me contacting you but your details showed up on talkmagic and I managed through that to get your contact details. I was searching through the internet concerning a person allegedly called Raul Job as they contacted me concerning some items I had on magicweek for sale. He was after a few bits and asked about postage, I gathered from his name that he was not from the UK but I played daft and gave him a high quote for overseas postage and said if he was in the UK it would be lower he made no issue of it and accepted the price - strange I thought, but the following email is what prompted me to do a bit of searching:

"Hello,

I will forwarded your information to the secretary. And she confirm
to me that payment will be sent to you as soon as possible. Anyway, I
will assume the product has been sold to me. Also i will appreciate it
if you can get the advert off the website, so you don't get contacted
by another buyer. Anyway, payment will be sent to your Address soon.

Note: The secretary will issue an excess money on the payment which
would cover both the payment and shipment alongside with shipments of
my other goods i bought down from other locations.

All you need to do, Once you cash the payment, you are to deduct your
payment, afterward send the remaining funds to my shipping agent who
will be coming down to your location for the pick up....the rest of my
funds is meant for the shipment of all my consignment including yours
I will send the shipping agent details when the payment delivers.

Thanks and Get back"

He has also emailed me using 2 different email addresses - 1 of which bounces when I reply. I have told him the sale is cancelled and I advise you strongly to do the same.

Kind regards,
Stuart
---
Definitely a scammer, please beware, it seems like he's using Magicweek to target people.

Wow, I had no idea this sort of thing went on!

Excellent. And see, always trust your gut.

Have you advised Magicweek? Duncan Trillo would appreciate knowing about this situation.

Over the past decade, I've written a lot for the computer press about online scams and have advised in a number of Watchdog investigations.

Cashing stolen cheques for overpayments and sending the residue back is a simple method of cashing stolen cheques.

NEVER leave PayPal if your transaction is via eBay.
NEVER accept or send money using a wire service.
NEVER pay in a cheque for too much and send the rest back.

If you receive any dodgy requests, PUBLICISE THEM. Don't just move on.

Mandrake wrote:Have you advised Magicweek? Duncan Trillo would appreciate knowing about this situation.

Yes I emailed him straight away but he says there's already warnings on the site & we can't do anything more than that.