# Does this sound like a scam to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 1, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126 "2013-10-01T19:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/21 "2013-10-02T14:29:14Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > What always amazes me about these “offers” is that they can’t be bothered to use proper capitalization and punctuation. Would that be so hard? It would make them more difficult to spot. On dating sites the scammers have such poor grammar (sometimes called ‘scammer grammar’) you can almost hear the Russian accent when you read their profiles. I’ve always wondered why they don’t just have someone who knows English to help them write the profiles. Even if they kept recycling the old scams there’s a lot of things that they could do to make it harder to spot to people that weren’t looking for scams, like paying attionton to spelling , and grammer and not making it look like it was cut and pasted with a bunch of line breaks . (I don’t know what it is about the foreign scammers but they almost always have a space on both sides of the periods and commas . ) ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/22 "2013-10-02T15:07:39Z")
dear Sir, i am still very interested in your item. as i am currently overseas i will need to have the item picked up by my shipper who will pay you. the shipper requires your social number, passport number, and mothers maiden name to perform a bakcground check for your honesty. thanks ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/23 "2013-10-02T15:12:50Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > dear Sir, i am still very interested in your item. as i am currently overseas i will need to have the item picked up by my shipper who will pay you. the shipper requires your social number, passport number, and mothers maiden name to perform a bakcground check for your honesty. > > thanks No problem, I’ve included my Amazon username and password as well! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/24 "2013-10-02T16:47:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > On dating sites the scammers have such poor grammar (sometimes called ‘scammer grammar’) you can almost hear the Russian accent when you read their profiles. Yeah; “I will like…” and (in this case) “I will appreciate” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/25 "2013-10-02T16:57:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yeah; “I will like…” and (in this case) “I will appreciate” I will like my man to be wonderful man and to be strong man full of bravery. I will want to take walks with my man and have children. I will show my man that I love him every day and want him to show me the same. I will treat my man like a king and I will be his queen. Seriously, c’mon. OTOH, I suppose if I took a year of Russian or Austrian I’d probably sound all weird and formal too and be really easy to spot as a foreigner. ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/26 "2013-10-02T17:57:49Z")
Scammer grammar. Love it! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/27 "2013-10-02T18:01:35Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Say “Sure, make sure the pickup agent has the cash in hand for me” and he’ll have an excuse. He’s going to send you a check, ask you to keep your money and you’re going to wire a portion (the pick up agent’s fee) to the pick up agent. If you back down he’ll change the extra $100 to an extra $200. Then it’ll all disappear and you’ll be out the pick up agent’s fees. > No one will ever come by to pick up the car. > > Here’s a thread from when someone tried to do it to me… > [I'm in the process getting scammed... - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=589589) > > and Kayaker > [What is the scam here? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=599903) > > Your’s is a littler different, but still the same, just on a smaller scale. Yeah, we’ve had a few experiences with wannabe scammers. We always say that the transaction has to be in cash, and there’s always some reason why the pickup agent can’t be trusted with the cash. But if the agent can’t be trusted with cash, then why can s/he be trusted with the item? The scammers are hoping that their targets are greedy and want a quick, easy sale. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/28 "2013-10-02T19:29:03Z")
> [@chargerrich](#): > > _makes note to self that adding “no offense” to preface a post is ineffective and no longer needed_ > > Have a great day! 😛 > > P.S. for the record, your response sounds a lot more “butthurt” than my post. > > /carry on I’m shocked that anyone is so naive that they believe there was a time when “no offense” was an effective way to mitigate their rudeness. The only way “no offense” would be effective would be if you said “No offense, but I’m really glad you checked into this and didn’t get scammed. Have a nice day!” ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/29 "2013-10-02T19:57:26Z")
Strategy works for a wide variety of items. I advertised for a roommate and got back an ‘offer’ like this: > [@](#): > > Hi, I am up in the mountains and cannot call or come see the apartment. I am sure I will like it. Send me your account details and I will transfer more money than you asked. Keep the rent and send the rest to my agent. Please help me because my life is so complicated, blah blah. All in immaculate (scammer) grammer, too! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/30 "2013-10-02T21:19:49Z")
And modalities (although apparently not in this case) scammers often seemed to talk about modalities. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/31 "2013-10-02T22:24:32Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > What always amazes me about these “offers” is that they can’t be bothered to use proper capitalization and punctuation. Would that be so hard? It would make them more difficult to spot. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > On dating sites the scammers have such poor grammar (sometimes called ‘scammer grammar’) you can almost hear the Russian accent when you read their profiles. I’ve always wondered why they don’t just have someone who knows English to help them write the profiles. > Even if they kept recycling the old scams there’s a lot of things that they could do to make it harder to spot to people that weren’t looking for scams, like paying attionton to spelling , and grammer > and not making > it look like > it was cut and pasted with a bunch > of line breaks . > > (I don’t know what it is about the foreign scammers but they almost always have a space on both sides of the periods and commas . ) I read somewhere (could’ve been on here) that this is actually semi-deliberate. Back in the early days of the email scam, the scammers who wrote plausible, literate letters picked up smarter marks, who would respond initially but then spot the scam after a few exchanges and not actually end up sending any money. The scammers who wrote near-gibberish only ever picked up the most gullible marks, who were more likely to actually follow through to the point of sending money. So the better letters wasted the scammers’ time, and they all ended up using the more productive gibberishy ones. Natural selection in action. ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/32 "2013-10-02T22:27:58Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > I read somewhere (could’ve been on here) that this is actually semi-deliberate. Back in the early days of the email scam, the scammers who wrote plausible, literate letters picked up smarter marks, who would respond initially but then spot the scam after a few exchanges and not actually end up sending any money. The scammers who wrote near-gibberish only ever picked up the most gullible marks, who were more likely to actually follow through to the point of sending money. So the better letters wasted the scammers’ time, and they all ended up using the more productive gibberishy ones. Natural selection in action. Vedddyyy interesting… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/33 "2013-10-02T22:55:00Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > I’m shocked that anyone is so naive that they believe there was a time when “no offense” was an effective way to mitigate their rudeness. The only way “no offense” would be effective would be if you said “No offense, but I’m really glad you checked into this and didn’t get scammed. Have a nice day!” [With all due respect.](http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/jwxg4r/comedy-central-presents-honesty) ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/34 "2013-10-02T23:22:19Z")
> [@chargerrich](#): > > No offense… but I often wonder how anyone could fall for these things then I read a post like this were someone had ANY DOUBT. > > That could not be more red flagged… if they surrounded it with RED FLAGS! :smack: > > I guess people really are gullible, sure glad i am not. **Mod Note:** The statement “No offense, but” is a red flag in and of itself. It almost always precedes something offensive. It’s the opposite of a get-out-of-jail-free card, since it also implies that you have considered that the other party might be offended by what you say and chose to post it anyway… In this case, you came into the thread to dump on the poster for asking a legitimate question. That’s what we call “threadshitting” and it’s not allowed. You’ve been around for a year, a month, a week and a day and should know this by now. Don’t do it again. If you need to go for the poster instead of the post, keep to the Pit. - Gukumatz IMHO Moderator ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/35 "2013-10-02T23:36:45Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > **Mod Note:** > > You’ve been around for a year, a month, a week and a day and should know this by now. But who’s counting? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/36 "2013-10-03T00:36:44Z")
Paypal has a feature whereby the buyer can claim defect and PayPal (which is owned by ebay) will actually seize the money. The buyer will then shake down the seller - give me $500 or I’ll tie this up for 6 months. NEVER USE PAYPAL until they fix this. They had one scam (people running up a massive feedback by sellling cheap crap really cheap, then suddenly listing high-end electronics - a 100 listings ending within a few days (which was common for them). Only these 100 were completely fraudulent. They “fixed” this by guaranteeing the buyer his money back Sellers would not re-reimburse. Seize seller’s money based only on a assertion from a buyer Now what. They pretty much require an ebay seller to use take paypal (try using the word “check” or “money order”, “m.o.” - they are now prohibited. I stopped selling on ebay because of this scam. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/37 "2013-10-03T19:48:31Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > I read somewhere (could’ve been on here) that this is actually semi-deliberate. Back in the early days of the email scam, the scammers who wrote plausible, literate letters picked up smarter marks, who would respond initially but then spot the scam after a few exchanges and not actually end up sending any money. The scammers who wrote near-gibberish only ever picked up the most gullible marks, who were more likely to actually follow through to the point of sending money. So the better letters wasted the scammers’ time, and they all ended up using the more productive gibberishy ones. Natural selection in action. That makes perfect sense. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126/38 "2013-10-03T19:50:57Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > I stopped selling on ebay because of this scam. My understanding is that as long as you got a signature upon delivery you were all set as a seller? I agree that generally speaking eBay is very supportive of buyers and not of sellers. Someone had a $350 item for a $100 the other day and I passed on it because there was literally no transaction history so I figured it was a scam. My friend made the point that I shouldn’t have hesitated. As long as I paid via paypal they would just give me my money back if anything went wrong. It’s a good point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-sound-like-a-scam-to-you/670126.md?page=1)