Scam on FOR SALE item

[Big_nate]

I received a suspicious e-mail regarding an item I placed in the Parts For Sale forum. The e-mail mentions a cashiers check drawn in US funds so I suspect the follow up will be the deal where they say they'll send more than the amount I'm asking and I can just wire the difference blah, blah, blah....
Has anybody else experienced this on Prime? This is the first time I've tried to sell something online so I don't know if its just become 'par for the course' anywhere you advertise.

Nate

 

[MJK]

I think I would skip that deal unless it is someone you know and trust.

 

[D'Ecosse]

My first reaction is I wouldn't necessarily be too quick to judge unless there are no inidcators of this being from a recognizable NSXPrime member. There are many international members that frequent this site & it could be legitimate.
Since e-mail typically originate through the 'Prime site that is a good way to tell some of the member's history. Is the respondent a member of 'Prime with any posting history of note?
However .... as I check out your actual for-sale post, I think you made a big mistake by listing your e-mail address directly in your listing - this makes it available to "spiders" that seek out e-mail addresses. There really is no need to publish that, since 'Prime will forward any e-mail or PM inquiries directly to you, upon which you can choose to respond, or not. Then you know it comes from a "real" member with history (or not) from which you can determine their credibility to at least some degree.

 

[Big_nate]

D'Ecosse, you could be right about jumping the gun, it may in fact be from a legitimate member. We'll see how he replies to my response. The red flags to me were that the item title was used in the e-mail in parentheses as thought it was inserted and elsewhere was referred to just as the 'item.' There was nothing to indicate whether we were talking about NSX wheels or fishing rods. Thanks for the advice on the e-mail, I guess I tend to be a little casual about that, just figured it would be a better way to reach me since I don't use my 'official' Prime registered e-mail.

Nate

 

[D'Ecosse]

Hope it works out - those additional clues are certainly suspect though.

 

[icefire]

I received a suspicious e-mail regarding an item I placed in the Parts For Sale forum. The e-mail mentions a cashiers check drawn in US funds so I suspect the follow up will be the deal where they say they'll send more than the amount I'm asking and I can just wire the difference blah, blah, blah....
Has anybody else experienced this on Prime? This is the first time I've tried to sell something online so I don't know if its just become 'par for the course' anywhere you advertise.

Nate

Nate,

This is an old scam that has long plagued the online communities. I also participate in several different online hobby groups and have personally received at least 20 of such type of offers from these so-called eager buyers. Save yourself some headaches. Hit the [delete] button and move on

Jerry

 

[Big_nate]

Nate,

This is an old scam that has long plagued the online communities. I also participate in several different online hobby groups and have personally received at least 20 of such type of offers from these so-called eager buyers. Save yourself some headaches. Hit the [delete] button and move on

Jerry

Jerry,

You're right, the second e-mail I received confirmed that it was this old scam. I had suspected as much but was curious if it was a common problem on these forums. I'm thinking D'Ecosse is right that I was solicited because I included my e-mail in the post. I didn't realize that these people had the ability to automatically search the whole web for these kinds of posts. In retrospect though, it seems like a pretty obvious idea. Oh well, I'll just have to be more careful about it in the future but no harm done. It actually kind of surprises me people are still trying this scam, it seems so played out, guess theres always a sucker out there.

Nate