Opinions/experiences please!
Submitted by Auslobster on Tue, 2014-12-16 00:45
I seem to recall a thread from a few weeks ago regarding scams involving selling things and getting ripped off.
I'm selling a car on gumtree and have had an offer via email from a bloke on an oil rig in NZ, buying it as a graduation gift for his son in the NT, sight unseen.
He wants my bank details and once I receive the money via direct deposit he will organise a "courier agent" to pick up the car and sign the necessary paperwork. What could possibly be wrong here?
johnno67
Posts: 407
Date Joined: 12/03/10
100% scam
Have had same email from rig in NZ
Rob H
Posts: 5739
Date Joined: 18/01/12
there are a few ways it plays
there are a few ways it plays out, among them an email link to a fake paypal website with an "overpayment" then asking for a partial refund.
None of them involve an actual pickup of a car as far as I know.
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
sea-kem
Posts: 14833
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Yep son had the same message
Yep son had the same message for the bike he's selling. Scumbags.
Love the West!
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Thanks guys...
...just seemed awfully suss when he said his phone didn't work 'cause he was on a rig and he showed virtually no interest in getting further details about the car. Also offered me an extra $300 to take it off gumtree and "hold" it for him.
Out of curiosity, if I WERE to send my bank details, and the money DID show up in my account, and it WAS actually real money, where could I come unstuck? Maybe this "courier agent" has a kneecapping licence as well?
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
He has your bank details
He has your bank details
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Yes...
...but what could he do with them? I have the bank details of my fiancee's ex-husband and as much as I would like to, I can't take his money out...she's expensive!
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Again!
Another email just came through from a NZ Oil and Gas rig, this time from "Stella"...the one from last night was "Chris"! Amazing how two people from the same workplace want to buy the same car through the internet, from a place seven time zones (WA) away!
I wonder if NZOG is aware of all this...obviously Chris and Stella most likely are fictional characters but I did Google their company and that DOES exist..
shorething
Posts: 241
Date Joined: 05/10/11
Yeh really common scam on
Yeh really common scam on Gumtree, stay a million feet away from it!
Skull
Posts: 630
Date Joined: 03/01/12
Don't do it
If it seems to good to be true IT IS
It is a scam, tell them you will wait until their commute is over, ask for the mobile number so you can contact them when back in Aus, last you will hear from them.
You asked for opinions of the guys here, they have told you, so it is your call now, if you proceed, can't say you were not WARNED.
Skull
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
I'm going to be advertising my Subaru soon on Dumbtree soon, see how many emails or texts I get from those idiots
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
t bone
Posts: 351
Date Joined: 20/04/14
rig pigs
I work out on an oilrig in asia and can tell ya. It can get boring as shit out here sometimes, which often results in a whole lot of random "presents" at home when i return. But to buy a car, unseen, with no extra info, pictures or history is just taking the piss, even for the kiwi's...
psion
Posts: 424
Date Joined: 15/05/12
general process is
he asks for you bank details
you send them
if you save your username and password on your pc he could hack it.
Or he'll say he tried but couldn't effect the transfer so he went with money order through western union.
He'll send you a "proof of transfer" that'll be 1000 over what you asked. He'll then ask you to pay the 1000 to a collection service.
Which you'll do, and that's when you find out the western union transfer is bull and the collection service doesn't exist.