A Scam Thread Is needed For Education

[jas]

I believe a SCAM THREAD is needed to help educate Sweetwater Forum regulars and guests.

I know I posted an alert on the Trading Post last summer. It was pleasing that the Sweetwater staff allowed that post after I had contacted them as to why I was going to post the warning.

I had some equipment listed for sale on the Trading Post. I received an email from a person in Nigeria stating they would send me a Certified check for $3,000 more than my asking price. The person said the extra amount was to cover shipping and exporter fees.

I received a Certified check from a bank in Irving, Texas. The bank was legitimate. I called the bank, gave them the check number, and was told that the check is a forgery. They said the Secret Service had been dealing with these people for over a year but cannot do anything in Nigeria. The bank told me that "they" also have people living in the U.S. I contacted the FBI and gave them the information as well.

I have recently heard stories on the network news about people being sent checks. The people put the check in the bank only to have the bank inform them weeks later that the check was a forgery. These people got taken for tens of thousand of dollars.

Please do what I did if you choose to deal with these people...contact the financial establishment that issued the check before going to your bank. Whether you are selling something on the Trading Post or eBay, I found it best to ignore their emails. I was fortunate to check out the bank listed on the Certified check. Had I not, I would have been out of the equipment, the cost associated with the exporter, and the shipping costs.

...and, Hey! Let's be carefull out there.

jas

[DAS]

The message is to buy and sell your gear with reputable, verifiable sources. eBay, for instance, is not really a reputable source. Some people who sell on eBay are, and some are not. You have to check them out. When working with individuals you have to be careful - there are a number of tips and suggestions for how to be careful posted on our trading post.

We are presented with fraudulent transactions on an ongoing basis. Each year we stop literally millions of dollars of fraud (I'm not exaggerating). It isn't easy, and it's getting worse all the time. Some of these people are pretty sophisticated in what they do. As careful as we are we sometimes still get burned. And being careful also comes at a price. Some of our customers get frustrated when we want to check things out so much, but we feel it's important to do what we can to stop it. Why should our good customers have pay the price (whether that's higher actual prices or lower quality of service to cover the cost of lost merchandise) because of some dishonest people?

[Tarktones]

I had a similar thing except the buyer was in Hawaii. But the basic premise was that he was going to send me more than I was asking and wanted me to forward part of the remainder over to someone in the UK.

It was fishy, I demanded explanations and told them to pay the advertised price to me directly or the deal was off. I got no response. Don't get greedy; if someone wants to pay you more than you're asking, they're probably full of it. Watch for broken english and an avoidance of associated vocabulary (i.e. if you're selling a mic pre and they just call it "the item") or don't ask about the features at all or why you're selling it.. the things you'd expect a buyer to ask. If it doesn't seem right, it isn't. Get out.

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This post has been sanitized for your protection.
Sincerely,
Management

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[JeffBarnett]

This thread has been overrun by spam (how ironic). I'm closing it.