Bike Sales Scam

[MV Abekster]

No harm done- just posting this as information for everyone.

My husband is selling his Benelli TnT Cafe Racer and has it advertised on bikesales.com.au. He had an e-mail a few days ago in response to the ad

The bike is advertised for $16,990. This is what the e-mail said:

---- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2009 3:11 PM
Subject: Enquiry from BikeSales Australia


The following Used Bike Lead was generated by bikesales.com.au

Date: 09-Aug-2009 17:11:45

Make: BENELLI
Model: TNT 1130 CAFE RACER
Year: 2006
Colour: Gold
Price: 16900.00

PROSPECT DETAILS
Name: Nathan Wilcox

Postcode: 3000

Mobile Phone: 0406445665
Email: [email protected]

TRADE-IN DETAILS:

Comments:
I will like to make an offer of $17,100 for your bike, pls let me know if you accept my offer, payment for the bike will be through paypal and the pick up will be arranged.


Brought to you by bikesales.com.au
Used Motorcycle For Sale - Buy and Sell Motorcycles Australia - bikesales.com.au

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message was generated directly by a user of the Bikesales website.
Bikesales accepts no responsibility for the contents of this message.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Curious.... we replied...

From: Peter Mayer <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Enquiry from BikeSales Australia
To: [email protected]
Date: Saturday, August 15, 2009, 8:59 AM

Hi Nathan,

Sorry I'm slow in getting back to you - I've been flat out with work and a few other things.

Now, the bike. I'll accept $17,100 paid through PayPal. I can take a few more photos of the bike if you like, but basically it's in excellent condition. I've ridden it around a bit since putting the ad up, and as such it now has about 8,200km on it.
I removed the airbox flaps shortly after I got it, likewise the exup valve in the exhaust. These modifications made it breathe better and it has a much smoother pickup from lower revs. I have also removed the baffle from the muffler - the bike is quite loud, and sounds fantastic as the revs rise.

Let me know what you're thinking. I will be away from the end of next week until the 14th September, so if you're quick I can have it on its way to you by the end of the week.

Regards,


Peter Mayer
0438 758 578

The next reply began to raise suspicion...

Thanks for accepting my offer,i am buying the bike for dad and i am at sea at the moment as i am a marine engineer and i really want the bike to be a surprise for dad so i wont let him know anything abt the bike until it gets delivered to him , i am sure he will be more than happy with the bike.I insisted on paypal because i dont have access to my bank account online as i dont have internet banking, but i can pay from my paypal account, as i have my bank a/c attached to it, i will need you to give me your paypal email address so i can make the payments asap for the bike and pls if you dont have paypal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to Welcome - PayPal and get it set up , after you have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with paypal so as to put the money through.I have a pick up agent that will come and pick the bike up after i have made the payments.

Somewhat suspicious we did a little research and got back to him with the following...

Hi Nathan,

I have just been doing some research on the buyer and seller protection services offered through PayPal. I think it's best to proceed only if we both have protection.

In order to ensure that both the buyer and seller are protected, the transaction will have to take place through e-bay. I am happy to list the bike on E-bay at $17,100.

Regarding pick-up and delivery. If you purchase the bike, the bike must be sent to your shipping address as given by you on the transaction details page. This is so that there is a proof of shipment and of the bike being received and signed for.

More information is available 'here'.

Please let me know if you are happy to proceed in this manner.


Peter Mayer
0438 758 578

Further trawling of the internet about bike and paypal scams etc came up with the following thread from on here, back in October 2008:

Here is a scam i was sent via email through an add that i have on bikesales.
Not exactly sure how they would succeed in the scam using PAYPAL but i checked with Bikesales and they said not to reply.

Note: Poor spelling and the fact he left his mobile number a digit short.

Does anyone know how they execute this scam and actually succeed because i thought buyers and sellers are protected through Paypal?

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, 25 October 2008 11:27 AM
To: Columbo
Subject: ** SALES OPPORTUNITY from Used Motorcycle For Sale - Buy and Sell Used Motorcycles Australia - bikesales.com.au ** The following Private Bike Enquiry was generated by bikesales.com.au: Enquiry ID: 165934Date: Sat Oct 25 13:27:24 EST 2008
Name: Neill
Address:
Postcode: 2013
Mobile Phone: 042736482
Home Phone:
Work Phone:
Email: [email protected]

Comments: Hello there,I just need to tell you that this isa very lovely bike you have gotten here and I am interested in buying itoutrightly.For a quick sale, I will pay you 10000.00aud for the bike. Iwas planning going on physically to purchase the bike but could not dueto the nature of my work as i am always on the move cos I am marineengineer and I work with an International shipping company.the bike willbe picked up at your location by my pick up agent I will be paying withmy paypal account.so please do reply me asap with your paypal account orsend me a payment request from your paypal account so i can effectpayment to you rightaway.I await your replyNB:Honestly, I do not know the actual worth of this item because I?malways busy sailing. If my offer is not ok, Let me know so i can shootup abit or bring it down as the case maybe.Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards
Bike details as displayed on bikesales.com.au: Advert ID: 2300939Bike: 2006 HONDA CBR600RRColour: Dark Blue & REDPrice: 10500

Looks like its a recycled scam from over a year ago but they've fixed up the gramma and tweaked the story a little. Curiously enough, it seems like it might possibly be a Perth based scam as I didn't uncover any other hits for other states.

[rod]

Did you ring the guy up and get more info like his address (in Melbourne - postcode is 3000?) and get his address and see who his "pickup agent" is?

[Arwon]

have some fun with him and scope out the delivery adress..

[Sprint]

Wish i could find the scam the scammer MacBook link...

edit: here it is! http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/
do they do a 'Papercraft' Benelli?!?

S.

[MV Abekster]

Lol- Sprint, that Macbook scam the scammer prank is awesome!

Unfortunately I think I scared this scammer off when I e-mailed back that we'd only proceed in a manner that offered us seller protection (through e-bay with an approved courier).

Thinking about how they might have been planning to try and rip us off... I've come up with three theories...

1) That they would have had some mates disguised as a phoney courier company come a pick it up, deny ever receiving it and then try to get their PayPal payment reversed. That seems pretty risky for them though- you think it'd be hell easy to catch them: have a hidden video camera that records the courier guys coming and collecting it, then you have evidence and the police etc. should be able investigate. Not to mention they'd have the stolen/missing bike to try and off-load, and a Benelli is pretty distinctive and hard to move.

2) Maybe they were just after our address to come and try to steal it. The bike insured against theft anyway... once again, it's not a common bike model and i can only imagine it's be hard to disguise/move a stolen one.

3) Maybe they were just after our PayPal details for some sort or scam.

I'm really curious now about how they were hoping to try and pull it off... but for either of the first two scenarios they'd have to be Perth based, which also fits with the only other hit i had searching the internet for other similar scams...

[debaser]

Man there are some desperate wankers out there. Why even bother, they all get caught.

Well spotted by the way. I won't use paypal anymore after they cost me 140 in bank fees until I reopend an old bank account and put money into it.

[Pato]

Just finished reading the Macbook scam. Go on, send them a box full of bricks!

[Revelations]

unfortunately theres a lot of this going on in the quokka too. I had two different dodgies trying to do the same thing, but with a 6k babyblade...i mean, why bother?

Be careful when replying to them too. When i was selling my car ages ago in carsales, the fact i replied through email, was enough for me to get hacked, and the guy/girl changed my contact details and price on the car just for fun.

[perdition]

Some prick by the name of bill owens mailto:[email protected] tried to the exactly the same thing to me when i was trying to sell the SC1000, offered me $18750- the $750 being the cost to him of shipping the bike over east. He sent the $18750 using a dodgey pay-pal email. Then he came back saying sorry im at sea (in the navy) he had limited internet use and no credit cards. Could I pay the $750 to his shipping agent ??? prick and that was via the advert in the quokka.

[Calamity]

Casper had similar contact for one of his dirties advertised for sale on his website. The guy claimed to be a sailor and had limited time to do the transaction and offered more that was being asked??
Then Casper got an email warning of this/these scam artists from someone. He put it to the test and has not heard back from this/these people.

[Huls]

My guess is the link they posted for paypal was dodgy. Should never click on links in these sort of situations. They may just have been after account details or trying to hook you along for something else. If they were actually going to collect the bike, it is generally done through some innocent third party courier who was paid cash or given dodgy info or address so that even he cannot point the finger at the guilty parties. If they were going to collect the bike, you would be fed with some other line of bullshit re payment late etc or they would send some dodgy paypal e-mail confirming money in your account.

No genuine buyer pays more than the asking price and doesn't ask any questions about the bike. Majority of these scams originate overseas.

[sven]

Happens so much over here, its really hard to determine which ads are actually legit. Gumtree in particular is the worst! The forum on there has dedicated threads to 'scammers' and peoples stories. Mostly obvious by bad grammar and an aversion to meet in person.

Pisses me off.

[Lorenz]

I nearly got caught up in the same scam when I was selling my Chevy Camaro over carsales.com.au

They contacted me and said they were a procurement agent for a client in south africa and that they wanted to pay more for the car than it was advertised. (this raised my suspicions)

Anyway, lots of contact this way and that way and they even sent me a bogus cheque.
I told them I would not disclose my address until the cash was in my account - upon cashing the cheque I got a call from the NAB fraud investigation unit telling me that the cheque was a fake.

I provided all the info that I had to them to try and catch the bastards but I think they did not get very far.

Anyways, the scam works like this:

1) They offer to pay more for your item (bike, car, boat etc.)

2) They provide a cheque for even more than the agreed price ($2k more in my case)

3) They ask you to transfer that amount back to them (no intelligent person would do this though until the buyers money has cleared into their account)

4) If you do this, they receive the difference and you get shafted, if not you have half a brain on you, send them a nasty email and get this lovely reply in return:

BACK TO SENDER.....SUCK MY CLITORIS ..HAHHAHHAHAA..

YOUR DAMN LUCKY ASSHOLE.

I was pretty mad to say the least because I was rejecting genuine offers on the car whilst this was unfolding. Karma will get them though...

[Teedo]

Haha that powerbook scam was awesome, But what happened to Jeff....Did the barber murder him !?!?!

[rod]

Yes, murdered. By Colonel Mustard in the kitchen using a candelabra.