Saved co-worker from "I want to buy your car" scam

[97prizm]

Hi All,

So a fellow coworker who.is a retired postal worker has an early Chevy Nova with an inline six engine and three-on-the-tree transmission. He bought it from an older guy on his postal route many years ago. He decided to put it up for sale and recieved a text message from someone interested in purchasing the vehicle. At first all seemed ok. Then he received a second text from the buyer saying that due to him being in Washington State he doesn't have any time to arrange for the pick-up of the vehicle, and that he'll send extra money. My coworker negotiated $10k but the check came from a well knownbank for $15k. I immediately told him it's an overage money scam, which he apparently hasn't heard of. He had planned on depositing the check at his credit union then telling the buyer tough Turkey and keeping the additional. His daughter told him to take the check to the bank listed on the check. He showed me a picture of the check didn't look right as I bank with the same bank, I didn't see any watermarks or anything. Sure enough when he went into the bank on the check they ran it and it was a fake account and routing number. So the bank did paperwork and notified law enforcement.
BITOGERS just be weary of text messages to buy your car for sale. From posts online the thing that the scammers ask is for you to take your vehicle post down as they definitely want it.

 

[demarpaint]

What amazes me is there are people stupid enough to fall for this. Sad.

 

[97prizm]

My coworker isn't a dummy but had never heard of this. He though it was odd but why alarm bells didn't start going off I'll never know.

 

[Nukeman7]

Can you explain how the "overage scam" is supposed to work? I don't comprehend how the scammer can benefit if the seller deposits the check and subsequently discovers from his bank that it is fraudulent. I doubt anyone would send the overage back or release the vehicle and title until the funds cleared. And how does the scammer benefit if the seller takes down the ad?

 

[demarpaint]

My coworker isn't a dummy but had never heard of this. He though it was odd but why alarm bells didn't start going off I'll never know.

What I find odd is that "alarm bells didn't start going off." I had some loser pretending to be a cop call me on my cell last week telling me my son was involved in an accident. Funny thing was I just hung up with my son about ten seconds prior. I said really? What's his name? He said Michael. I said nice try, then told him where to go and what to do when he got there.

 

[Kruse]

Can you explain how the "overage scam" is supposed to work? I don't comprehend how the scammer can benefit if the seller deposits the check and subsequently discovers from his bank that it is fraudulent. I doubt anyone would send the overage back or release the vehicle and title until the funds cleared. And how does the scammer benefit if the seller takes down the ad?

The scammer tells the seller to keep the $10K, but send the extra $5k back to him. So the seller deposits the check thinking he has $10K in the bank for himself. He then sends the $5K back to the scammer and later realizes that he is out of his deposit money, PLUS the $5K he sent to the scammer.

 

[Nukeman7]

The scammer tells the seller to keep the $10K, but send the extra $5k back to him. So the seller deposits the check thinking he has $10K in the bank for himself. He then sends the $5K back to the scammer and later realizes that he is out of his deposit money, PLUS the $5K he sent to the scammer.

That tactic wouldn't work with 99.9% of the population. I guess the scammer counts on the 0.1% of the population to be gullible.

 

[Kruse]

That tactic wouldn't work with 99.9% of the population. I guess the scammer counts on the 0.1% of the population to be gullible.

You've got to remember that the scammer sits at his computer and probably has software that does this 24 hours a day.
About a year ago, I posted an ad on Craigslist for an item that would only be wanted for this area. Within minutes of posting the ad, I was hit with "I want it NOW" replies that had non-local phone numbers. I knew immediately that they were scammers.

 

[Kruse]

I'm going to repeat something that I've posted on this site before.
About 10 years ago (maybe longer), my brother was dating a lady who ran a UPS shipping store. In other words, you bring in a package and she would attach a UPS shipping label to be picked up later in the day. One day, a local man came in and wanted a package shipped. She asked him: "How much value does this package have?" He replied: "$10K". A little bit taken back, her next question was: "What is in this package?" Again, he replied: "$10K". As in......hard, cold cash.
So after a little bit of questioning, this guy admitted that he had gone down to his local bank, withdrew $10K in cash and was going to ship it to a scammer. She admitted that it took several minutes of telling him that he was being scammed before he realized that she was right. The scammers are very good at their work and law enforcement will really do nothing to punish them.

 

[Kira]

Just out of curiosity, what item "would only be wanted for this area"?

A pass to a local business (car wash, town swimming pool) is the only thing I can think of.

 

[zzyzzx]

He though it was odd

If you think it's odd do some internet searching and find out it's a scam.

 

[slo town]

Forget the overage part. Who in their right mind would take a check and part with their car before making certain the buyer's check cleared?

Scott

 

[MasterSolenoid]

Forget the overage part. Who in their right mind would take a check and part with their car before making certain the buyer's check cleared?

Scott

That's true .... but a lot of people would assume that if a bank excepts the check, that's it's good.
Not knowing that the check actually needs to clear.
Clearing is the process of the 'receiving' bank confirming there are funds to back up the check.
This can take several days.

 

[Nukeman7]

Two famous proverbs come to mind in this thread:

"A fool and his money are soon parted." - Thomas Tusser

"There is a sucker born every minute." - P.T. Barnam

 

[97prizm]

I didn't want my co-worker to get hosed on the deal. Plus since you don't truly know where the person lives if you ship the car to "their address " they can say that they never received the vehicle. Apparently he sold his Aston Martin Vantage (Not sure how retired Army and then postal worker can afford an Aston Martin) to a guy in Hawaii but that person took care of all of the shipping costs/details and overnighted a check that was legit.

 

[Kruse]

Just out of curiosity, what item "would only be wanted for this area"?
A pass to a local business (car wash, town swimming pool) is the only thing I can think of.

I live in Kansas, but close to Fairbury and Beatrice, Nebraska. When I was growing up, we had a pump-jack that was attached to water our garden. The pump jack was made by Fairbury Windmill Company and is cast iron with the company lettering cast into it. I posted it for sale on Craigslist. It really isn't worth too much except for the people in the Fairbury area that would buy it for yard art. When I was getting replies from people 500 and 1000 miles away saying "Consider it sold, I'll send you a check for it!", I knew they were scammers.

 

[Pablo]

I live in Kansas, but close to Fairbury and Beatrice, Nebraska. When I was growing up, we had a pump-jack that was attached to water our garden. The pump jack was made by Fairbury Windmill Company and is cast iron with the company lettering cast into it. I posted it for sale on Craigslist. It really isn't worth too much except for the people in the Fairbury area that would buy it for yard art. When I was getting replies from people 500 and 1000 miles away saying "Consider it sold, I'll send you a check for it!", I knew they were scammers.

View attachment 280604

View attachment 280605

You received my Paypal QR code. Now ship it. Or I want my money back.

 

[Kira]

I'm not sure what a 'pump jack' is.
A casting of discernable pedigree is frequently a museum piece if it's complete.

 

[Sedin26]

One thing I’ve learned from being involved in IT security is that some people are simply not able to detect scams. They are gullible, accept things at face value, and lack the ability to protect themselves.

You would be surprised. Smart, successful people with no mental illness will, without thinking, act on a text message from the CEO to buy him some gift cards urgently.

They will then do it again. They lack the ability to detect scams and deceit yet function well in other areas of life. Ongoing training will not help. It’s not accurate to call the people (and they are everywhere) stupid. It’s just the way they are.

 

[Astro14]

That tactic wouldn't work with 99.9% of the population. I guess the scammer counts on the 0.1% of the population to be gullible.

Bet it’s closer to 75% on which it wouldn’t work.