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Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:35 pm
by danceman
I've got my car up for sale at the moment.... and got weird email from a buyer saying they wanted to buy the car at said price.. Which seems fair enough... but wants to pay 10% plus shipping fees upfront into my account and then the rest in cleared funds when the car is inspected buy shipping company.... There is just something weird about the hole thing... Just wondering if anyone on here had anything like this while trying to sell there cars in the past. I am just very careful with email scammers now a days.

Thanks for any help.

Kirk

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:46 pm
by Peter76
Scam!

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:48 pm
by Shug
Kirk - selling the car already???

100% Scam - don't even reply....

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:49 pm
by tut
Common practice and happened with a few of our Group recently when selling their cars.

Do not accept anything other than full payment up front.

tut

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:51 pm
by Andy G
i wouldnt bother even replying - or reply clearly stating your terms
:thumbsup

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:03 pm
by tenkfeet

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:30 pm
by Corranga
Had to laugh at the 'Italian' scammer when I was selling my Punto.

As if I'm going to believe the Italians would want a 9 year old Punto back!

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:37 pm
by danceman
Not really wanting too shug but just went Way over budget on a B&B i am building in hawick so it might be I have to will see what happens.... Thanks for all the replies ... you no what they say.. if it sounds to good.. :)

Thanks

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 5:49 pm
by danceman
Ok This is getting very weird now... Had a return email from the same guy last week all it said was deposit on way and nothing else....Then today I get a cheque in the post from someone I don't even no For £7400. No letter no name or address and just in a plain brown envelope... Name on cheque different to the sender of emails.... And no I am not due that amount of money from anyone else... Now waiting on cheque clearing B4 I go on any further..... Is there a supper cleaver scam I've not heard of.

Thanks for Any help

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 5:53 pm
by neil
I think cheques can be cancelled even after they appear to have cleared. I'd be very careful with this one

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 5:56 pm
by danceman
Totaly agree asked the question when banking it will clear 22nd but could still get returned up to the 29th.... so will be no hand change of goods until full funds are well and truly cleared. :)

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 5:57 pm
by neil
There's a bit of info on cheque scams on here.
The cheque you've been sent could be from a stolen cheque book. How are they planning to pay you the rest of the money?

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 6:20 pm
by danceman
Thanks neil very interesting reading... It was not a personal cheque but what looks like an Abbey business Cheque.... I won't be letting my car out of my sight until 100% of my funds are cleared into my account.

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 6:29 pm
by neil
Business cheques look like they're even worse. There's a bit on them here. If its a stolen cheque then it looks like the money can be clawed back a long time after its cleared. I bet they'll decide they dont want the car and ask for you to send their money back. If you've got the company name then you could look them up on Companies House and even give them a call.

Re: Weird Emails when selling Lotus... anyone had this

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 9:01 pm
by Stewart
Kirk

I am getting a really bad whiff from this. Sounds like a classic scam that has been mentioned above. If it is an Abbey business cheque I would try and contact the business that it is drawn on and find out if they know that a cheque has been issued in their name. Ideally you would want to contact the Abbey but the chances of anyone there divulging info to you on a customer's account is extremely slim, but you never know.

A common fraud now is for someone to nick just one or two cheques from near the back of a cheque book and present it. Some banks do have a way of identifying this kind of thing but not all.

There was a thread on Pistonheads a year or so ago when a guy fell for a similar kind of fraud and lost his car and the cash after the cheque failed to clear. That said, Neil's theory above is most likely in that they are not the least bit interested in the car and will simply come up with an excuse and ask you to send back say £6k and keep the rest for your troubles. You then send them your hard earned before "their" cheque bounces leaving you £6k out of pocket.

Proceed with extreme caution. Hopefully we are all wrong and you have found yourself an hassle free quick sale.