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1-10 of 89 messages
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How to Spot a Scam
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by NV2A on October 6, 2009
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I find accepting CONUS business only and paying in US Postal Money Orders works good for me. After I get them to accept a Postal Money Order I waste no time in telling them why. "Because it protects both of us. If I send you a forged instrument it is a Federal Crime and, it's a Federal Crime to use the US Mails for Postal Fraud if I don't get my item" The only fly in the soup is "reasonable shipping time". It is not defined in Postal law and reasonable could mean damn near anything unless you both have a prior written understanding that it means X weeks from receipt of payment.
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How to Spot a Scam
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by M5GWH on October 6, 2009
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As a seller and buyer in Great Britain, could you possibly list your reference source of information regarding scammers in this country as, after reading your very good article, I feel we Brits have now all been 'tarred with the same brush' that we too see the Nigerians with, et al.
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How to Spot a Scam
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by G3NWD on October 6, 2009
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Useful article from Web Williams, KR4WM, but he is way off beam on his slanderous outburst asserting that Great Britain doesn't cooperate with the international community. Sheer myth and Fantasy.
Our UK bankers who got sucked into your Enron scandal were extradited and you saw them in your US courts in handcuffs.
The problem we all face in business is that of evidence, and of the cost of pursuing petty theft across state and international borders. Far better, as KR4WM suggests, to avoid the problem in the first place.
The "best practice" advocated by KR4WM is also off beam. No sensible business wants to restrict themselves to only selling things in their own small town or hamlet where they can personally verify each buyer and every delivery, at the cost of failing to exploit millions of potential customers worldwide. Specifying that you would REFUSE to accept buyers from outside your own particular chunk of political territory may help you feel satisfyingly patriotic, but it is not the way for busines to create customers.
You can carry out perfectly sound business all over the world, with verification from international companies and banks and tracked mail services.
Just don't accept Western Union money orders. Especially stolen ones.
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How to Spot a Scam
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by AD5VM on October 6, 2009
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Wow! You just completely described a transaction that almost took place with me a few weeks ago. I was selling a guitar on Craigslist, got an email saying he was interested in my "item" and that I "should take the listing down" because he is going to buy it. And that he would be sending me a "western union money order" and that it was accidentally made out for 300 dollars "more than I was asking" and that I could just "send him the difference" and that his "shipper would be comming to my house to pick up the item" and that he was in the process of moving here from "The UK" he even asked at one point in the exchange if "I understood"
I finally told him "Dude, it's a used guitar for sale, if you want it, get some cash and meet me in the Wal-Mart parking lot, otherwise stop wasting my time"
I never heard from him again.
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RE: How to Spot a Scam
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by KR4WM on October 6, 2009
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I guess some explanation is necessary to the British members of eHam. The scam e-mails are worded in a particular way that suggests these are hard-core scammers, not your ordinary run-of-the-mill British citizen. I don't mean to suggest that all hams in the U.K. are dishonest. I don't think your fellow countrymen are scamming you because it would be easy for your country to prosecute them at home, but it IS a problem with some of them scamming us here in the states. More likely than not, they're not hams, but hard-core scammers who peruse the amateur radio for-sale websites preying on unsuspecting people. Several times a month, I get and e-mail from someone claiming to be in the UK, with an e-mail suffix indicating that the e-mail came from there. Many, many times I get an offer to buy from the U.K. with a proposal to send the difference in funds back. I even got a proposal from the U.K. to rent my beach house, and the "lady" sent me a fake certified check for $5000.00, asking me to send her the balance so she could afford the airfare to come to the U.S.!
The scam source percentages are in the range of 20% U.K., 20% Hong Kong, and 60% Nigerian. Normally, the contents are practically the same scam played by the Nigerians. Possibly, it's Nigerians who migrated from their country and are up to their same tricks after moving. Sometimes I've "won the U.K. lotto". I've never entered it, so there's no possibility that I could have won. Other times, some person who has lost their entire family to some government death squad wants my help to smuggle millions of dollars out of their country. Imagine that! Out of the millions and millions of people in the world, I was the "chosen one"! HAH!
You fellows, on the other hand, may possibly be the recipients of scam e-mails from the U.S., but I don't see any of you British gents complaining about it, so I must assume it's not a problem.
It's always the same three scams.
1. You've won the U.K. lotto.
2. Help me get millions of dollars out of my country before my government does something to my family.
3. I'm sending you a money order, cash it and send me the balance after deducting some amount to pay for what you're selling.
Please don't think I'm painting you all with the same brush, just know that a disproportionate number of your fellow countrymen (not ham ops) are scamming U.S. folks. Hopefully my post will allow some fellow hams to pick out the valid deals and reject the scam offers.
73, -KR4WM
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RE: How to Spot a Scam
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by KR4WM on October 6, 2009
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I almost forgot: M5GWH, if you send me your e-mail address, I'll forward you the scam e-mails I receive from your country as they arrive. Unfortunately, when I delete an e-mail, I have no further access to it, and I have no way of knowing when the next one is going to arrive.
73, -KR4WM
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RE: How to Spot a Scam
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by K0BG on October 6, 2009
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This is the e-mail address of one scammer I am aware of: Joe Robin <joerbn72@googlemail.com>
He had tried to buy an ALS-600 amplifier from me which I posted on e-ham.net. Same modus operandi as outlined in the article. My first clue was he had no call sign, and that he was buying it for someone else. The second clue was the repeated requests for my contact information, even though he obviously had same from the classified ad. In any case, I never received any check, money order, what have you, as he apparently realized I was onto the scam. If I had, I wouldn't care about keeping it, I would have just turned it over to the FBI.
Alan, KØBG
www.k0bg.com
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How to Spot a Scam
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by N0CU on October 6, 2009
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In a related, but different way, I have recently started seeing what appears to be a "pre-scam". It is aimed at getting email addresses for the real scammers. They offer some nice product (new computer, etc) for free as part of a company (DELL, HP, or even an unkown brand)sponsored promotion if the individual sends in some number (typically ten) of his/her friend's email addresses to the originator of the offer. Sometimes, they add onto the gift (better computer, etc) for each additional 10 emails they receive. Shortly thereafter, offers from the real scammers (as described above) start showing up in large numbers to the folks whose email info was revealed. What makes this activity so frustrating is that it is your friends that are sending your email info out to the scammers. Oh yes, the gift never arives.
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How to Spot a Scam
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by N8EMR on October 6, 2009
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I posted about 20 things (non radio related) on craigslist this summer and on 85% of the items I got scammer emails.
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How to Spot a Scam
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by N3LKA on October 6, 2009
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I also had this happen on Craigslist. I find it handy to Google the senders name and or email address. It usually pops up.
I did find by adding the small line of "no scammers please" I haven't received any more scam email replies, not yet so far.
Lastly, I tell everyone if they want the item shipped, they're to use Paypal. I know Paypal has some issues but Paypal is secure. I'll pass along the extra cost for Paypal to the buyer on Craigslist, and they're told ahead of time.
Most of all I use Craigslist for local transactions as well as QTH. I'd rather see and touch my gear before I spend $$$$ on anything.
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