I've been trying to sell my paddleboard for awhile-- and i'm pretty sure that it's only advertised on ocpaddler. One day last week some lady from Italy tells me she's interested in buying it for $100 more than i was asking... so i was like, wow, thats great. But then i get this email about this whole complicated process of wiring money all around so that her shipper can get paidd-- her associate in the UK was going to send me a check for $4000, then i had to wire $3000 of that to her shipping agent in California, and i'd keep the last $1000. I thought it was a little fishy, like a drug deal or something, but i didnt care that much cause i figured i'd get the $1000 and i didnt care what they if they were smuggling drugs or whatever inside my board... so i told her i'd rather not wire money--- but whatever, as long as i got paid..
i showed the email to my sister though who had just seen something on ebay about scams involving wireing money through western union... it described the situation exactly as it happened to me and said that the check that they send ends up not clearing, so you lose the $4000 that you had wired. So i told her i wouldn't wire money and i pretty much haven't heard from her again.
I cannot be positive that it was a scam, but i assume it was... so if anyone advertising something on here or anywhere has that happen... do not wire the money--
alright, i know this isn't exactly related to paddling but thought it worthwhile to mention
Submitted by luke on Thu, 02/17/2005 - 10:17am
What's up Luke!
I think you're right on this one. The same thing happened to me here on OCpaddler a few weeks ago. I was selling my Makia for $1800 and a guy from U.K. said a guy in the U.S. owes him $5000 and would wire me the money (cashiers check maybe). Then told me to take my share then send the rest back. He even said that he would have someone come over to pick up the canoe from my house. ("What da %#$@!") Either very unusual, or this guy has some big time connections in the mainland and Hawaii........yeh right.
I told the guy I sold it after 10 replys about trying to rush the deal. This guy was pretty consistant and on emails and always seemed to be in a rush. I decided to take a loss and sell it to a fellow paddler here in Hawaii with hand-to-hand "cash" transaction. Becareful guys.......I think there's something going on.
Aloha!!!!
P.S. Hawaii Kai run is going off this week!!!
#1 Thu, 02/17/2005 - 11:18am
Alright guys, I admit, I'm trying to scam everyone. :lol: totally joking.
In all seriousness, this is a real problem on the internet. I didn't realize it's happened so often here. I would highly advise anyone doing transactions with people they don't know, to use secure payment methods like paypal, ie the whole ebay process... meet in a public place, etc..
As for this stuff going on here, I may go as far as making the classifieds viewable to members only, and perhaps other areas of the forums as well. The fact is, this website comes up all over the place on google, and other search engines where scammers can find it. I remember last april first, the site was actually defaced by brazilian hackers of some sort. Which is simply crazy stuff.
In the end luke and tango are right, if it sounds fishy you are probably right. I wil do what I can to prevent the use of this site by scammers, but in the end you really have to becareful.
#2 Thu, 02/17/2005 - 11:59am
sounds similar to another scam, beautifully laid out here: http://www.p-p-p-powerbook.com/
there seems to be alot of scammers in the UK pulling this crap
#3 Thu, 02/17/2005 - 3:50pm
Anytime one of th ese scams pop up, I would strongly advise you to contact your State Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (or equivalent) or the State Attorney General's Office. They are usually up to snuff on these things and may take further legal action against the prospective purchaser.
#4 Tue, 03/08/2005 - 8:16am
i just recieved the $4,000 check from the person--- but theres no return address or anything so i just kept it. I emailed her telling her i knew it was a scam and she never responded, but i guess she had sent the check by that time..
#5 Tue, 03/08/2005 - 5:03pm
You will get a check, and by law the bank has to give you immediate funds if it's a cashier check. And after you give that person back their portion of the money, the check will come back counterfeit. Then guess who's responsible for the entire amount of the check. You are. They have been attacking all types of classified ads. Don't do it.
#6 Sun, 04/10/2005 - 3:14pm
i just got another scammer trying to get money from me... friday freemen is the guys name... fricken people
#7 Sun, 04/10/2005 - 7:00pm