Hi guys... wondering if any of you have thoughts on this..

I am currently selling my car (this is not an advertisement!) and have received an email from a lady who would like to buy it- however she seems to have offered me above what I am asking. Now I am aware of these scams where they pay you £7,000 for a £4,000 car and then you end up with nothing when the money is found to be fraudulent... however this doesn't seem to be the same thing. She has offered me about £250 over the asking in order to secure the car until it can be shipped to her, which would include me pulling any ads I currently have. She is heavily pregnant (apparently) and will not be viewing the car at any stage, so she is completely relying on my honestly... luckily I am an honest person and my car is an absolute gem. However, what if the car turns out to not be to her taste? Is this just a case of tough luck/buyer beware on her part? She is perpared to pay by bankers draft and will be paying for the shipping herself.. sounds too good to be true, and in my experience in life- things that sound too good to be true, usually are. What do you guys think? Can you see a point where I could get ripped off? Appreciate any comments :-)

You know what they say...If it seems too good to be true...it usually is.

Boy don't I know it!! I have sent the email to my Dad who is the wisest person I know... he will have a good opinion I am sure!

I would be very cautious with this.  Its hard to believe that somebody would genuinely offer to pay over the asking price, especially in this financial climate and on the run up to Christmas. Personally, I would steer clear.  You can't be too careful at the moment.

Runnn....................

Even if legit, but seriously doubt it, really I do. :-) Why bother with all this messing about with shipping, holding, worry of it coming back, you can sell it in your area and have it off your hands much quicker and at least with none of the worries of scams.

I have run a mile... although I am desperate to sell (moving abroad) the more I read the email the more it seems to be completely dodgey. I emailed back saying that I do not want to continue correspondance as I am not confident in the authenticity of the offer. I have also blocked the emails from my inbox. I can totally see how people get ripped off with these scams... I just can not believe it could have happened to me!!!!!

good on you for getting away from it! that really could of turned out bad on your part!

Why would anyone want to ship a car??????  are there no cars where this heavily pregnant woman lives???? :-D :-D

Is it a rare vintage car?? or an Aston Martin?   If it is a normal, every day kind of car (not disparaging your car by the way ;) ) then what would be the point of shipping the car anyway? 

wonder if she'll have any luck elsewhere??

don't worry, you will sell your car, probably when you least expect it ;)

All your questions came to mind for me too... adding to my suspiscions! I had a look and there are similar cars to mine in her area, not exactly the same though. It's not exactly vintage, but is a Japanese import sports car so there aren't millions of them. Every single person I forwarded the mail to told me to stay well clear- the wording, excessive detail and willingness to pay over the asking should have made it obvious from the start I guess! I just got excited about having a potential buyer :-P I wouldn't be surprised if other people fell for it, if you are desperate enough I guess you might just jump at the chance. Thanks for your encouragement Dill, I hope she sells or I will be desperately arranging shipping for Australia- yet another expense!

Oooo Oooo Ooooh !

should I be singing

Fiiiiiiii garo   Fiiiiigaro Figaro Figaro Figaro  ????

Sigh!  If I only had the money you wouldn't be thinking of shipping her ;) I'd be on your doorstep in a flash!

Me too, Dill. I was very tempted to buy a beautiful navy one last year.

M.

Ha ha ha! I say you only live once, so why waste time driving a slow car!? :-D

> Why would anyone want to ship a car??????  are there no cars where this heavily pregnant woman lives???? :-D :-D
>
> Is it a rare vintage car?? or an Aston Martin?   If it is a normal, every day kind of car (not disparaging your car by the way ;-) ) then what would be the point of shipping the car anyway? 

Just what I was thinking. I'm glad you didn't take up the offer. It doesn't seem quite right. And these fraudsters always seems to play the 'pregnant woman' card so that people will be more trusting.

Good luck with finding a buyer. :-)

I'm making sure my OH doesn't see this thread lol!  I'm already having to put up with a 268hp and increasing 200SX, so I have a rough idea of what you've got *rolls eyes* ;-)

Good luck getting it sold!  OH's dad sold his import a couple of months ago for the asking price so hopefully the crunch won't affect you too much.  I'm surprised a heavily pregnant woman would fit behind the wheel of one of them lol!  Well done on sussing her out.  So many people have been cought by scammers and lost thousands.

It sounds very like a scam which is something along the lines of someone emails you with an offer for a vehicle of some description (might be a trailer or something rather than a car) and says they want it shipped. They then send a cheque for MORE than the amount offered and tell you the rest is for the shipping which they ask you to send on to another account. The cheque then bounces.

But if they've offered a banker's draft & she's paying shipping then that rather puts an end to that idea! It does sound suspicious but I don't see how you can go wrong with a banker's draft - they're guaranteed cheques aren't they?

The bankers draft caught my eye too... not sure how they work exactly but I thought they were guaranteed as well. Still, I'm not going to risk it. There is no way an overweight person would fit in my car, let alone a pregnant one- seems like a very unrealistic car for an expanding family! All the red flags are up for me- so leaving well alone. Can just picture some random guy replying to my emails, pretending to be a pregnant woman- creeps me out!

Hi
My daughter was selling her moped and she had 8 e mails along the same vein. I actually called one guy and his mobile was barred.
What a surprise?

Sounds very fishy to me too! I would stay well clear and glad you are doing, why would a pregnant woman starting a family want a car like that? And why cant she get one from her own area, surly if she wanted one (or HE) then she in her condition would want the less hassle and get one nearer to home. Sounds like a scam.

Very interesting! A friend of mine said he knew of a website where you could 'trap' these dodgey people. You ask them to verify their authenticity by taking a photo of themselves holding a sign with a rude word on it (meant to trap foreign people who wouldn't understand the meaning of the word). If you receive the photo, you post it on the website with any other details you have. Apparently this website was loaded with all these people holding up signs with seriously rude words... looking pretty ridiculous. We can't find the site now...!

Lol! Sounds quite cool actually Stormy :-)

I don't see how you can go wrong with a banker's draft - they're guaranteed cheques aren't they?


It's the same with anything in this day and age silver, they can be forged or stolen just the same as anything else.

Anyone should give full clearance time for any kind of payment taken, no matter how charming or honest the buyer appears to be. :-)

http://www.419eater.com/index.htm  is it this one

Good spot! Not sure if that was the exact one he was talking about but it's a great example! Thanks Ingrid! :-)