Fraud! Don’t Be Too Eager
By: Joanne Reid
Tags: Self-awareness, Fraud, Money, Life Lessons, Phishing

Fraud! Don’t Be Too Eager

Why do they bother?

Photo by G. McNeill

A 1989 Ford Crown Victoria is a classic car. It’s a dream to ride in. In Arizona, rust does not eat up vehicles like it does in places where you have to salt the roads.

Nevertheless, we had to sell ours. It’s a long story but the bottom line is, we’re going back to Prince Edward Island and it’s not a drive we want to make with the lovely old car.

What does a person do? Go to Craigslist. We’ve listed things there before and it was always reasonable.

Then the bullshit began

First, we get a message expressing great interest. The person had been looking for just this model of car but did not want to be disappointed as he had been before so asked that we get a car report. He ever so kindly included a car report website where we could order one for a good price.

The site itself might be decent but when I Googled it, I found a scam site where everyone listed the same complaint. This is one of the variations of the complaints.

Just as everyone described already, same exact text thread as the photos some of you showed.

A guy saying “I looked at a similar car in San Diego and it had a bunch of problems. Would you mind doing a background check on this instantbg.com website”… Once I texted the person back that I didn’t feel comfortable with the website, but would gladly send him a carfax report, he stopped responding. ~ MarisaB

If you offer them a Carfax report or something like that, they disappear. In our case, the email provided in the message was rejected. While I was writing this, and email came in:

Do you have a current vehicle history report? If not, I suggest getting one at this website: AutoAdviceBlog.com The report is really inexpensive, only $19. Alot cheaper than a Carfax, which is $40. The report will show any major accidents, title issues, if it was stolen, if it was flooded, etc. ~ Email from “Ken”

This is one form of the fraud. The other one is a variation on this:

I’ve been working really long weeks at work so I won’t be able to meet with you before purchase, but am ok with the price and condition as shown on the advert, I’ll proceed in issuing a check to you and when you receive the payment and it clears, I will make arrangement for pickup. So get back to me with below details asap. Name to be on the payment ………..

Address to mail the check to ……..

City, state and Zip code …………

Last Asking price……………….

Phone number to text you on ……… As soon as this is provided, payment will be overnight to you through UPS next day delivery and I will let you know then tracking number of the package. I will also add an additional $50 for keeping other buyers off till my check gets to you, also please delete the posting or mark as sold. Thanks and I hope we handle this in good faith while waiting to hearing from you. ~ Email from Darcy

Overnight I got six more very similar emails. One woman offered an additional $70 for marking it sold. And it wasn’t work that was preventing her from coming to see it. She was busy with her daughter’s wedding.

I’m naive

I had to get the second email from someone “too busy” to see the car but willing to buy it sight unseen and pay a small gratitude fee before I caught on that this was actually a fraud in the making.

There was no way I was going to go through the process anyway because I was not comfortable with the idea of someone buying the car without looking at it first. When the second similar request came in, I took a look online again to see how this scam works.

The most common variation would involve me accepting the offer and they would overnight me a check. The check would be for an amount over what it should have been. Oh dear, they made a mistake. Could I just send them a check for the overage amount? It would be more efficient than returning their check and them reissuing another one to me.

It’s based on greed. Maybe on need. Or speed. If a person was desperate for the money and needed it now, one of these offers might appeal to them. The sad part is, the check would turn out to be worthless and they would be out the money they used to pay back the overpayment.

If something looks too good to be true, it likely is.