Dodgy enquiry.

[Webby]

What do you think of this folks. I've got my w202 for sale in Autotrader(website & mag).Received this e-mail. Scam or what?
Dear seller ,
I am interested in buying your advertise car which was posted
forsale ,i will like to know the selling price of the car,and the present condition of it also i will like to let you know that i have a shipping
company that do takes cares of my car and he will be responsible for
the picking up of the car immediately will seal the transaction and i
will also like to inform you that i have a client that will pay on
behalf of me with a certiified cashier cheque which i will forward
your details for the issue of the payment to you and you will take it to
your bank and clear in to your bank account which you will deduct your
money from it and send the remaining to my shipper who will come
for the pick up in your location.i will be looking forward to read from
you as early as possible.
Best regards.

Brown.

 

[Flyer]

Scam!!

 

[scotth_uk]

This is a well documented scam. Do a google search.

 

[R2D2]

Looks like a money laundering scam, they send you way too much money and you then have to issue a cheque or a draft to refund them or "pay" it to a shipping co. Your cheque/draft/BACS is then "clean" money coming from a clean source and can be fed back into the financial system legitimaty. Dont go near it with a barge pole. Dont reply at all. If they give any contact details, report it to the authorities.

 

[Satch]

Not only a scam, but what a pathetic effort as well.

 

[C240Sport97]

and very poor English

 

[Kinky]

It's the usual '419'.

Check out some of the top quality ones here ....

http://www.419eater.com/

 

[scotth_uk]

Try here:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/CARS/sell/cc/carcrimecentre.jsp

Your issue should be available from the pull down:

A number of Auto Trader users have contacted us regarding e-mail scams they have received while advertising on our website. Whilst these scams have only affected a small minority of our customers it is a recognised scam that has the potential to leave car sellers thousands of pounds out of pocket.

The scam, officially known as the West African advance fee or 419 fraud involves a buyer from abroad (we’ve had examples from Holland, USA, Nigeria) posing as an international dealer who wants to buy a vehicle. They claim that they are owed money by a client in the UK who will send a bankers draft for the full price of the vehicle, plus a few extra thousand to cover the cost of the shipping without viewing the vehicle or proof of condition and usually put their lack of phone number down to a temporary fault.

The emails are often full of spelling mistakes and poor grammar to persuade the victim that the fraudster is an uneducated person who wouldn’t have the ability to defraud them. The fraudsters also try to make themselves seem genuine by stating that the vehicle is a present for their wife, son, daughter etc and use this as reason for the urgency involved in the purchase. Many of the emails are signed off with a comment like ‘regards to you and your family’ or ‘may the peace of lord be with you.’

The seller is then asked to pay the draft into their bank and wire the excess money to the buyer to pay for the shipping costs. The bank draft itself may seem genuine but be wary; we’ve had reports of bank drafts being accepted which have watermarks and bank branch stamps on them but are revealed as forgeries after being paid into the bank.

After the money has been sent, the seller hears nothing more from the ‘buyer’. Normally, the bank will contact the seller after a few days to tell them that the bankers draft was stolen, forged or that it has bounced. The money may look like it has cleared initially but can go on to bounce days later so check with your bank how long it will take for a bankers draft to completely clear and do not release the vehicle until your bank confirms the funds have cleared.

If the bankers draft is forged the money will be stripped from the sellers account, leaving them thousands of pounds out of pocket. Customers have informed us that neither their banks nor insurance companies could help to mitigate their losses. The met suggests that if you receive an email which you believe could relate to a scam, cause the sender some inconvenience by forwarding a copy of the email to the Internet Service Provider from where the email originated.

 

[Webby]

Thanks Guys, Thought it reaked of scam, did think of replying "Sorry vehicle sold,thanks for your enquiry, Sgt.Webb S.Wales Fraud Squad". but think it's wiser if I just don't reply.