Sellers Beware
Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,681
Likes: 233
From:
Beware of the Scam on Crags List. Seen it 3 times now. You list a vehicle. You get this really interesting person asking a lot of questions. After three or four emails, he will then say his mechanic wants to see a VEN check and will say he is on the way shortly to pick it up. Gives you a shortcut to the VIN check outfit and says he is at mechanics office and needs you to do it for him. Sure he works for them.. It's $40.
I have also found i am getting calls and texts from someone that says they are interested in my bike, please call them at (random number here) i call that number and its someone that wants to help me sell my bike.
This is a great point and was going to make the same one. I sold a nice car on Craigslist The buyer was coming up to give me a certified check. I did a little research and found that those checks are faked sometimes. Well when the buyer arrived and she looked legit and trust worthy I told her the only way I will do this is if we go to the bank the check was drawn on and I got cash for it. We did, it was a bit of a hassle but no way I was gonna get screwed out of +20,000...
Say you accept 5K in cash for your bike, great now this guy knows you have 5K in cash sitting at your house. He tells a friend who robs you that night. If they have cash great....we go to my bank and the teller counts it out in front of both of us and into the bank account it goes right there. Safe for both of us that a 3rd party counts out the money. If they have a cahiers check, great then we go to where its drawn on and i get cash from the teller then go and directly deposit it into my bank. If someone objects to any of that then they arent serious buyer or are planning on ripping you off period.
i got scammed once buying a toyota. Looking back though i went against everything i ever knew to be good and honest all because this truck is hard to find and i wanted it. In the end yes i had the title and the truck, but the truck was advertised as having only 90K miles and no accidents. This is what it did have:
1. 290K miles (they had rolled back the odometer to 90K)
2. Had been in an accident that completely bent the frame and tore the bed off the truck (was totaled, they just never turned it into insurance so the title was clean)
3. Had a huge oil leak and i think a blown head gasket and god only knows what else was wrong.
This all because i failed to run a Carfax, failed to have it taken to a mechanics, failed to see the warning signs of a scammer.
1. Would only meet me in a parking lot, not at his house,
2. Had a throw away flip phone.
3. Would not go inside of the bank to do the transaction. Wanted me to go in and get the 7K in cash, and give it to him and he would sign the title over to me. Even the teller told me i should bring him in, and if he refused i should not buy the car....he was a scammer and didnt want to be on camera. I waved her off saying i knew what i was doing.
Fail on my part big time. I even tried to get the cops involved for mileage fraud but i had no real contact info for this person since his cell phone when called was of course disconnected and that was not his real name on the title (no one knew his real name, he showed me a fake id). He had had an ID made up just for that purpose of selling that truck and it was an ID that matched the name and address on the pink slip. He even had fake receipts made up that looked like real receipts from a local auto shop that showed how he had 2K worth of maintenance work recently done. I never trust anyone now. If im selling the transaction is done at the bank. If im buying its carfax, mechanics check up and deal done at the bank.
Last edited by ChickinOnaChain; Aug 7, 2018 at 06:25 PM. Reason: Multiple posts
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,447
Likes: 163
From: Northern VA
I've bought four bikes and sold two on E-Bay over the years with no issues on getting ripped off. Make sure they have good feedback, the VIN is valid, and they didn't just join a week ago. You're covered under Ebay's Buyers and Sellers protection. If you see an obvious scam ad on Craigslist, click the "prohibited" button and it deletes the ad immediately.
Club Member
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 4,549
Likes: 5,890
From: Syracuse NY
I bought my 16 Ultra Limited off eBay. I wired the guy $21k for bike & taxes. I flew to Long Island a week later. Urber drops me at his address. Its an abandoned bld. Uh-oh! I called him and his shop was across the street. Phew! I rode it home.
There were several tells that flagged the deal as legit.
I just tonite sold my hand air pump off Craigslist. I put it in my front door and told him to leave the cash. He did.
I probably wouldnt do that selling a bike though....
There were several tells that flagged the deal as legit.
I just tonite sold my hand air pump off Craigslist. I put it in my front door and told him to leave the cash. He did.
I probably wouldnt do that selling a bike though....
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 2,284
Likes: 2,948
From: Outta ways, IL
If it sounds too good to be true...
.I always ask them to send a pic of the motor VIN. usually they won't reply. Other times they have some BS excuse. I actually had someone tell me they couldn't because it was already crated for shipment I tell them they are scammers and c*cks*ckers and I hope someone catches them and guts them like a deer.
Last edited by b bop n bob; Jul 30, 2018 at 08:41 PM. Reason: grammar
HDF Community Team
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,949
Likes: 601
From: The 1980's
Those are bid blockers, fake user accounts just kill or derail auctions for items that the originator of the bogus account may have competing merchandise for, used to get a lot of those azzhats when I sold old shovelhead stuff on ebay, exact same scenario soon as the auction ended they were a no show. Some of the pro's with web stores play this game with bid bots. Ebay knows but does little unless the offended party jump's through all the hoops to complain. Tried to give negative feedback to someone yet ? that's a friggin endless merry go round to nowhere.
As far as negative feedback for buyers, from what I've seen on the eBay forums that isn't an option. So a buyer can screw you over all day and you have no way to publicize this with a bad feedback.
Last edited by 2goldens; Jul 31, 2018 at 06:20 AM.
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 289
Likes: 79
From: Nashville, Tennessee
Actually what they are after is the personal information that you are requested to provide. Which they will re-sell on. Note that it is still a very "generic" response from them.
So here is what I got in today's e-mail
Hello,
Thanks for the response, I am okay with the item as listed on the
website. I am out of your area and so much interested in the item, I
will be paying you via check or money order.Kindly state the one you
prefer.And also don't worry about the shipping as I have a cargo firm
that will come for the pick up after the payment clears to your
account.
I will need the following information from you to mail out the payment to
you:
Full Names: As to be on the payment
Address:
State and Zip code:
Cell phone number:
and the final asking price.
Once I have this information, I will mail out the payment to you via
USPS overnight.
Kindly get back to me with the requested information asap.
Thanks.
Hello,
Thanks for the response, I am okay with the item as listed on the
website. I am out of your area and so much interested in the item, I
will be paying you via check or money order.Kindly state the one you
prefer.And also don't worry about the shipping as I have a cargo firm
that will come for the pick up after the payment clears to your
account.
I will need the following information from you to mail out the payment to
you:
Full Names: As to be on the payment
Address:
State and Zip code:
Cell phone number:
and the final asking price.
Once I have this information, I will mail out the payment to you via
USPS overnight.
Kindly get back to me with the requested information asap.
Thanks.
Intermediate
Joined: May 2018
Posts: 49
Likes: 3
From: Union KY
Sold on eBay for many years never a problem
many years ago when I 1started selling stuff on eBay I would only accept a us postal money order...would not ship till I got mo and went to post office and cashed it needless to say this system was flawless...the cool thing bout postal mo is they will cash them and once you walk out of the post office its on them was never a problem...then eBay started to require using PayPal at first I was really Leary of using them but I have to say it is way more convenient and never had a problem over the years I have used PayPaI many hundreds of times never an issue...just never use friends on PayPal unless u know the person....ohh by the way I always allow local pickup for cash and carry
Last edited by Hmarkant; Jul 31, 2018 at 04:08 PM.
Club Member
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 784
Likes: 317
From: NE Ohio
I have had mostly good experiences on ebay and craigslist both as a buyer and seller I recently sold my 78 Corvette on ebay. In the very last seconds of the auction the winning bid comes out of nowhere from a guy with zero feedback and had just joined. Thankfully everything went well. Paid the paypal deposit immediately and showed up with cash a coiple days later.
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Cruiser
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 134
Likes: 145
From: Florida
Over the years I've bought and sold a lot of bikes, cars, and trucks. Back in the day classified adds, then Auto Trader, now there's a local internet sight that allows a free listing - with a few offers to upgrade for $$.
The past 2 years as soon as I list something I'll get a text from PA or NY, asking condition, bottom price. Yes they are SCAMS. I got burned buying on Ebay, for a Night Train, but eventually got my money back.
I don't sell on Ebay and to date haven't shipped anything. I have to have CASH in hand or a Certified check that has cleared before property and titles swap hands.
Have any of you seen the same, been scammed, or busted a scammer?
The past 2 years as soon as I list something I'll get a text from PA or NY, asking condition, bottom price. Yes they are SCAMS. I got burned buying on Ebay, for a Night Train, but eventually got my money back.
I don't sell on Ebay and to date haven't shipped anything. I have to have CASH in hand or a Certified check that has cleared before property and titles swap hands.
Have any of you seen the same, been scammed, or busted a scammer?
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 4,355
Likes: 1,967
From: PA
At work I am an Information Technology Administrator, and IT security is one of my areas of responsibility. On a daily basis users forward me every kind of scam email imaginable, asking me if it's real. Recently, someone sent an email to one of our customers asking for a wire payment (not unusual). The customer sent the payment, $3,000. That's actually not very much considering what it could have been. The email the customer received wasn't from us, even though it had been crafted using various user names and emails of people at our company. It's really ridiculous how much fraud there is. Organized crime is behind much of the ransomware. I guess it's harder to track and less risk for them than drugs, prostitution, etc. It's a sick, sick world folks.