Scammers on the Internet

[goslin]

Hi everybody,
This morning I was going over the listings of sail boats for sale on the internet when I came across a Hunter passage 42' center cockpit for $15,800. I emailed the listing saying I thought there was a typo and they hadn't realized it.
I got an email back, stating that from where the boat was to my door shipping and all it was $15,800. It was a woman who did not know English well by the wording in the email and she wanted to go through e-bay for the paticulars. She wanted my name, address.
I went to e-bay and found the boat up for auction last bid at $75,000. She said her husband just died blah, blah, blah. Is there a place to report these people? It was listed on Boat Paridise, a classified, anybody can post.

Pissed me off.

[hellosailor]

eBay does have a security department and there's usually some obscure button to report scams and frauds. "Seller has offered me the same item for 1/4 price and appears to be selling same boat to multiple people at the same time" woudl probably trigger a fraud response and close their auction.

But there's also an internet crime complaint center online at Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Home which is FBI related.

While you're getting mad, have some fun with THEM. $15,800? But my bank won't make any boat loans under $30,000, could we write the sale up at $30,000, and you could send me back a check for $14,200 afterwards? Yes? Oh, great. But their rates are going up next week, and I need an original sales offer and purchase confirmation, I have to present it to them before next week. Could you Fedex that over to me? Here's my address...You Fedex'd it? I didn't get it. No, that's not the right address, I'm sorry, could you please resend it, the bank will give me a 48-hour extension....

HAVE SOME FUN WITH THEM and give the goose what's good for the gander.

If you wake me, you have to play with me. By my rules.
(Learned that in Big Black Dog School.)

[Doodles]

Imagine, scammers on the internet .... I'm shocked!

[doug86]

Originally Posted by goslin

. Is there a place to report these people?

God, I hope not. What are you going to 'report'? A suspicious internet classified?

[reiner]

Originally Posted by Doodles

Imagine, scammers on the internet .... I'm shocked!

I agree.....that doesn't sound right.....funny :-)

[goslin]

Originally Posted by doug86

God, I hope not. What are you going to 'report'? A suspicious internet classified?

Excuse me! I am fairly new to all this, but thanks for pointing out how ignorant I am.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by goslin

Excuse me! I am fairly new to all this, but thanks for pointing out how ignorant I am.

ROFL..... don't let it grind you down Goslin... we all started the same way...
just some have bad memories... or like to pretend they've never been had...

[doug86]

Originally Posted by goslin

Excuse me! I am fairly new to all this, but thanks for pointing out how ignorant I am.

Nobody pointed out any ignorance.

My point is, do we really need someplace to report a possible scam on the internet? Are you really concerned that this boat listing needs some action by some authority? There are millions of dubious people doing dubious things all over the world all the time. Take responsibility for your actions and don't expect that there is some agency or person who is supposed to keep a watch out for every conceivable scam. Next thing, you will expect us to report to the USCG if we see someone not wearing a lifejacket.

[Sailagain]

I got an email this morning saying I had inherited a million dollars! I can use some of it to buy that low priced boat!

:::thumb

[courageous cat]

if it sound to go to be true, then you can bet that its a scam

[atoll]

for sale,mobile "mud wrestling" platform,great for yacht club regattas,marina open days,boat shows,charity fundraisers etc.

guarenteed crowd puller!!!! idylic location in florida,usa.

work permits available for qualified russian/foreign female mud wrestlers.

priced to sell $10,000!!!!!!! open to offers,must sell due to green card issues

[Sand crab]

I had the same kinda deal when I was renting my house on Craigslist. First clue is usually no phone number. I knew right away it was a scam so I was playing them. They sent me a check written for way more than the amount with instructions for me to wire some back, blah, blah, blah. Just to make sure I took it to my bank and it was a fake account. FYI, never deposit the check or you will be hit for fees!!!!!I'm in Montana, the bank was in New York, the check was mailed from Oklahoma using a Fedex account from So. Carolina. Oh Yeah, the renter was from Finland now living in Alaska and I was supposed to wire the money to Detroit. So I contacted the FBI on their internet address previously posted here and got no response at all. I agree with the other poster that all you can do is work them over. They might lose their interest if they keep losing the $20 on Fedex. Scammers are everywhere and law enforcement is overwelmed. They will do nothing. Most are from countries like Nigeria so there is little or nothing that they can do. These guys post fake cars, merchandise, rental property, etc. daily on my local Craigslist and I'm sure they do it on Ebay. BTW, some Ebay purchases are guaranteed if you use Paypal but there is a limit so read the fine print. Never use Paypal for non Ebay transactions with private individuals. My dog could get a Paypal account. Send her some money. Be careful and wary. BOB

[doug86]

Originally Posted by atoll

for sale,mobile "mud wrestling" platform,great for yacht club regattas,marina open days,boat shows,charity fundraisers etc.

guarenteed crowd puller!!!! idylic location in florida,usa.

work permits available for qualified russian/foreign female mud wrestlers.

priced to sell $10,000!!!!!!! open to offers,must sell due to green card issues

Hey! That looks like old, used mud! Where can I report this scam?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by goslin

Hi everybody,
This morning I was going over the listings of sail boats for sale on the internet when I came across a Hunter passage 42' center cockpit for $15,800. I emailed the listing saying I thought there was a typo and they hadn't realized it.
I got an email back, stating that from where the boat was to my door shipping and all it was $15,800. It was a woman who did not know English well by the wording in the email and she wanted to go through e-bay for the paticulars. She wanted my name, address.
I went to e-bay and found the boat up for auction last bid at $75,000. She said her husband just died blah, blah, blah. Is there a place to report these people? It was listed on Boat Paridise, a classified, anybody can post.

Pissed me off.

Also, don't be too quick to report the eBay listing. I have seen a number of scams where the scammers tried to link in with a real auction or sale that was from a totally unrelated, innocent seller.

From my experience, reporting this stuff goes nowhere. My mother-in-law managed to get a on a scammer mailing list and gets 5-10 letters and emails each day with an amazing variety of stories trying to separate her from her money. Runs from "you have won a contest' (Publisher's Clearing House, various lotteries domestic and foreign and others are named), "you owe back taxes", "you have a problem with your back account" and many more. Most only ask for less than $50-$100 which may be why we could not get USPS mail fraud or FBI fraud division interested. But figure you get $50 each from a few thousand suckers it adds up to real money.

If you find any law enforcement agency that seems to give a s*** do let me know as I have a long list to send them.

[SabreKai]

If you want to spend a bit of time having a laugh, check out this website

419 Eater - The largest scambaiting community on the planet!

Its a show case for baiting the Nigerian scam artists. The name comes from the area code for Nigeria or some such thing.

Someone pointed it out to me after my first experience with them as I tried to sell Espina back in 2008. I got a guy who purchased the boat, sent me a money order for twice the amount with the instructions that I should forward the balance to his shipper, mechanic and boyfriend in London who would all hop on a plane and get the boat ready to ship to England.

Sabre