Is This a Scam?

Black Bear · Post by **Black Bear** » Mon May 17, 2004 5:22 pm

I hate to be skeptical, but I just got what seems to be a suspect offer to purchase an instrument from a supposed Swedish broker who sent the message below. Sounds fishy to me...any thoughts?

i will go about payment by instructing my client in the states to issue you a certified bank check of $5,000 and this should take care of all expences in this transaction, what you will do once you have recieved it is to cash it, deduct your own money($1500) and the wiring charges and wire the balance to my international shipping agent through Western Union Transfer, once he recieves the balance will come over to your location the very next day for pick up, now the money wired to the shipper is his fees for his services, transportation to your location and back to me, also for all charges that may arise along this transaction cos i will want it to be delivered to me safe and sound without problems, i shall send you my shipper address as soon as i contact him, al l i need of you now is to mail me your full name and contact address as well as phone number

John

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Mon May 17, 2004 5:32 pm

P.T. Barnum is in the house......

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Mon May 17, 2004 5:41 pm

Sounds a little strange but I can't say.

kkrell · Post by **kkrell** » Mon May 17, 2004 6:00 pm

Typical fraudulent cashier's check scam. You receive check, deposit, bank claims it clears, you send balance to scammer, bank eventually catches on in about 2 weeks to bad deposit, you're out good money. Western Union in foreign countries is often involved, as there appears to be poor security or "inside" help to the scammer.

Kevin Krell

Black Bear · Post by **Black Bear** » Mon May 17, 2004 6:06 pm

Thanks everyone, that's what I suspected.

John

RedFox · Post by **RedFox** » Mon May 17, 2004 6:27 pm

It is a scam. Beware everyone of these scams. They usually originate in Ghana or Nigeria. If it sounds too good to be true, it is!

timgreenwood · Post by **timgreenwood** » Mon May 17, 2004 7:21 pm

RedFox wrote:It is a scam. Beware everyone of these scams. They usually originate in Ghana or Nigeria. If it sounds too good to be true, it is!

\\

very true...my mother just got offered $4m...the legacy of the dying wife of an arab oil millionaire...a scam, needless to say, which originated in...(drumroll) Nigeria!

djm · Post by **djm** » Mon May 17, 2004 7:49 pm

I'm not so sure. This one is from Sweden. What if the "shipping agent" is a tall blond Scandinavian beauty and she shows up at your door. Wouldn't you feel obliged to give her the money anyway.

djm

andrew · Post by **andrew** » Tue May 18, 2004 12:56 am

You should only give the blonde Swede a small deposit .

Björn · Post by **Björn** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:04 am

Sounds dodgy. A Swedish scammer probably wouldn´t write English that well.

KateG · Post by **KateG** » Tue May 18, 2004 6:33 am

As said above, it's a scam. Forward the message to the Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov, they collect such things....and theoretically go after the perpetrators (at least when the full moon falls on Friday the 13th in a leap year

)

David Levine · Post by **David Levine** » Tue May 18, 2004 6:42 am

Andrew, be nice.

beowulf573 · Post by **beowulf573** » Tue May 18, 2004 8:26 am

I was almost on a jury for a Nigerian scam case a few months ago. I was looking forward to it; after getting the email for years I wanted to see what the folks were like, it was federal jury so they gave you $60 a day, plus I really could have used the break from work.

Alas, I wasn't picked.

Eddie

andrew · Post by **andrew** » Tue May 18, 2004 11:40 am

I am always nice to beautiful blonde Swedish delivery girls , David ! (If nobody else ! )

Hip O'Potamus · Post by **Hip O'Potamus** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:09 pm

This scam is frequently used on AutoTrader.com. I suppose the perpetrators are looking for more fertile ground.