Use Caution when selling tractors online!

[SteveM]

I am saddened to report that there are theives lurking around our beloved tractorbynet classifieds. I have happily posted ads over the past year or so with good results, meeting nice honest people looking to buy used equipment. However this last month i have recieved three responses from scam artists trying to get my bank account number to complete a 'wire transfer'. Please be careful - the bad guys found us! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[Hakim]

Please send as complete information as possible to Muhammad.

Email addresses can be harvested on the Net in any number of ways, and not necessarily here on TBN. In any event, please send copies of the email(s) you received, with complete headers if possible.

We have a policy of informing law enforcement on issues such as this, if we determine that such thievery was attempted here. This is the first report of an incident of this type.

I have gotten about a dozen notices from "Ebay" in the past couple of weeks, telling me to go and input my credit card info to update my account. The return address was xvy@ebay.com. The emails looked very authentic and sooo "official" that I had to send it to EBay for confirmation. Turns out, the EBay emails are a fraud and hoax. Seems to be "the season" for this.

 

[markct]

this thread should have been titled "use common sense when selling tractors online" that scam has been around for so long, its just that lately they seem to be hitting tractors for sale sites. what happens is that they send you a message that they want to buy your tractor and send it to some far off land, but they are going to send you a check for more than the amount so they want you to deposit it in your acount and then send them the extra back that they sent you. but what happens is ya send them the money and then the check they sent turns out to be a counterfiet usualy and then your out the money you "returned" to them. scams like this have been around forever, just lately tractors have been the target.

 

[chevy]

I just opened an email that included the following message.

Hello,

We have a customer interested in purchasing your equipment for the price of $1,400.00

Please acknowledge our offer and indicate the present position of the item (send pictures in different views so we can access the face value of the order)

On comfirmation we will instruct the buyer, to have the funds remitted to you as soon as possible. We will arrange a pick up of the (item ), once payment is confirmed by you the seller.

Thanks,

Tamil Sharkti
sharkti_indiafarmequipment@yahoo.com

 

[Anonymous Poster]

markct

I know someone that got stung two months ago with the scam that you mention. He received a cashier’s check for double what he was asking for his tractor. Shortly after he cashed the check he received a call from the person saying that he changed his mind and did not want to buy the tractor (a long sob story). He apologized and said that the seller could keep $1000 for his trouble and wire the balance to the former buyer. He wired the money and the cashier's check bounced a few days later. He was out $3000. The buyer was in Nigera.

The guy that was selling his tractor is a very trusting and honest person (the type that these thieves like to pray on). He assumed that a cashier's check was safe and that it was as good as cash. Costly mistake on his part!

 

[DarinRay]

Yeah the same email came to me Chevy just the other day. I actually tried to email the person back and there is no such email address or something happen to it. I mentioned in my reply that I didn't believe that it was honest but said I will give them a try. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Darin

 

[dancce]

If you do get one of these cashier's checks, and are suspicious about the deal, tell your bank of your suspicions and see if they will call the bank that the check was drawn on,to verify before you deposit it.
I recently got one of these cashiers checks for just under $10,000. My bank was good enough to call--and sure enough, the check was no good.
Sure saved a lot of time.
I was 99% sure it was a scam--but on the off chance it wasn't, I wanted to check. Meanwhile my bank is contacting the feds, and have copies of the e-mail correspondence, and I am stringing the guy along. I doubt they will catch the @$$&%*!@, but it sure would be nice if they did.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Most of the people that pull these scams are outside of the US. This scam has been going on for nearly a decade and they haven't been able to stop it. In the case of Nigera, the Nigerian government refuses to take any action.

 

[frank_f15]

i also doubt they will catch the #&*@*^ rectal orfices, but if they ever do, i would be more than willing to explain the errors of their ways. i prefer to do my explaining with some props, i better just let it go at that as the good moderators would only delete it( but bet they feel the same way also) /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Alan L.]

Maybe you should send him a "refund" using a bad cashiers check.