An
interesting and highly lucrative con targeting those attempting to sell vehicles online debuted in the summer of 2002. Like the highly successful Nigerian scam, this new bit of larceny also features businessmen from Africa intent upon closing odd-sounding deals. Only in this case, it is not the pigeons’ greed that traps them, it’s their honesty.
The scam works like this:
Person looking to sell a used car or motorcycle advertises the vehicle on the Internet.
The unsuspecting seller is contacted in e-mail by a prospective buyer who hails from somewhere in Africa, usually Nigeria. This buyer agrees to the asked-for price without haggling and looks for immediate assurance the vehicle will not be sold to anyone but him. He offers to have someone pick up and ship the vehicle to Africa once the sale is complete, making it clear he alone will bear all charges associated with that aspect of the sale.
Mention is now made of the method of payment: a cashier’s check for more than the agreed-upon price for the vehicle. This check is to come from the buyer in Africa, with the residue to be sent to a third party in the USA the buyer says he owes money to. The seller is asked to cash the check, keep the right amount for the sale of his car or bike, and send what’s left to this third party. (Alternatively, the check is said to be coming from the third party, with the residue after the vehicle is paid for to be sent back to the buyer.)
Example 1: Dr. Dipo Morgans of Nigeria wants to buy your used car for $5,000. His friend, Mr. Okuta, will be sending you a cashier’s check for $8,000. You are to keep $5,000 for the car and send the remaining $3,000 to Dr. Morgans.
Example 2: Dr. Dipo Morgans of Nigeria wants to buy your used car for $5,000. He will be sending you a cashier’s check for $8,000 on the understanding that you will forward $3,000 of it to the shipping company that will be transporting your car to Africa.
The cashier check for the larger-than-necessary amount arrives and is duly deposited in the seller’s bank account.
Three days later, the check appears to clear, and any freeze the bank had placed on these funds is removed.
Satisfied that the check was good (the bank had released the funds, after all), the seller wires the overage to the person it’s owed to and waits for someone to come pick up the vehicle.
No one ever comes to pick up the vehicle.
Two weeks later, the seller is informed by his bank the check was a forgery.
The seller is now out the amount he wired to someone else.
rofl.