Help, I’m not sure if this is a scam or not and I know many of you are more savvy about things like this than I am.
So, we are selling a 1956 Belvedere. I listed it on Craigslist about a month ago to see if there was any interest. Today I had someone email me about it. He is inVancouverBC, about a 10 hr drive from us and wants to come down next week to get it. In talking with my husband, this guy "John" seems to know his stuff about this Belvedere, asked the right kinds of questions about it, etc. This is why my husband thinks he really is a “car guy” who wants this project car to work on (it’s not running)
Here’s where it gets hinky. First, he wanted bank info to wire a holding dep (even though we aren’t asking for one). He said he wants to wire us 400.00 to hold it for him. My husband said no. not giving any bank info. He said he understood our apprehension. Then he asked if we had a Wells Fargo in our town. We do. He said he’d wire a deposit to WellsFargo (even though we don’t bank there) and we could just go right to the branch to get the cashiers check and cash it and hold the car for him and he’d bring the rest in cash next week when he drives down.
My husband said he sounds legit and sounds genuinely interested in the vehicle. It’s only a 2200.00 vehicle so it’s not a huge amount of money really. But something doesn’t feel right to me. The whole wiring money thing. But is there any kind of scam to be had if someone wires money to a bank which is not even a bank you have an account with and you go there to receive the wire and get the cashiers check and cash it there? Guess I’ve never done any wiring of money before so not familiar with how that works.
What do you guys think? Legit or no?
Tammy
You can check with your bank, but you should be able to provide wiring information that lets him put money into your account but not take any out. Basically, it will end up being your bank's routing number and your account number if I recall.
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Any legit buyer will be prepared to pay in US $ drawn on a US bank via bank check or with cold, hard US$ cash.
Run from anything else and don't look back.
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Carolyn
I know you said you're not asking for a deposit, but the fact that he's willing to send one just means he doesn't want to drive 10 hours without a firm commitment that you won't sell the car to someone else first. That stuff happens. He can send payment via Western Union and you can pick it up at the local supermarket or other Western Union location, without giving any bank info at all. Sounds okay to me.
I hammered down the trail, passing rocks and trees like they were standing still.
So, if he's wiring, via Wells Fargo, $400 in USD in the form of a cashier's check, that we can cash right there at the WellsFargo bank, and walk out with USD Cash in hand, that's all legit right?
I hear of these scams where there is wiring of money involved, but it's usually someone asking the seller to accept a money order or cashier's check and then wire money and that is where the scam lies.
but in this case if we are not doing any wiring whatsoever, I can't think of a way that by accepting a wire, we are getting scammed, but then so many of these scams seem ingenious and unsuspecting. I guess I'm just suspect because this guy is so anxious to get this car (he says he's been looking for a 1955 or 1956 Belvedere for a long time) and is willing to send us $$, sight unseen, to hold the vehicle for him and here we could be scamming him in taking his cash and duping him. I'm just too suspicious maybe.
I wish I knew. I have only wired money once and that was between my bank and my broker. It never hurts to be suspicious when money is involved. Here's what Craigslist says about scams:
You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:
mta-I know he isn't asking you to wire him money, but if you have a gut feeling there's something wrong, there probably is. Maybe he doesn't want to pay this much, but here's one for sale: http://autos.aol.com/used-detail--5763654249004803927-Plymouth-Belvedere-1956/
"I didn’t run a race until I was 41 and that was a marathon! Let that sink in for a minute." -me
It seems like if HE is wiring YOU money, he's the one who is taking a risk. You could be scamming him. (As long as you don't give any bank account info.) With my DH's business, he has accepted Western Union wire transfers many times and picked up the money at a grocery store without giving out any bank info at all.
But I am a trusting person by nature (My DH would call it naive) so maybe you shouldn't listen to me.
Wildchild: I'm probably too suspicious. over the years, I suppose my line of work has made me more suspect of people. Since we gave out no bank info and HE's the one doing the wiring, it could very well all be legit.
thanks for that link OPie, I'll check it out tomorrow. stoopid dialup would take forever to open a link. But if that ad is for a running Belv, it's probably a bit costly. Ours doesn't even have a motor in it and needs quite a bit of work done to get it running. It's a project car my husband picked up years ago thinking it'd be something he and our son could work on, but realistically, we'll never have enough expendable money to put into what all needs to be done and so he just wants to wash his hands of it.
Tammy, tell the Guy no deposit; no wiring of money. He'll either show up or he won't.
Never use wired money with Craigslist transactions. Ever.
Bill
"Some are the strong, silent type. You can't put your finger on exactly what it is they bring to the table until you run without them and then you realize that their steadiness fills a hole that leaks energy in their absence." - Kristin Armstrong
I' m with Byllllll on this one....
Trails Rock!
This is OT regarding wire transfers, but I'm amazed at a couple of things with vehicles that I've sold in the past few years.
Case 1: I was selling my BMW motorcycle for about $9K, listing it on a popular BMW owners' site. A guy from Texas contacted me, said he'd buy it sight unseen, and sent me some sort of verified payment (can't remember exactly what it was). After everything had cleared, he had a trucking company come over and they crated up the bike and hauled it off (I remember riding the bike myself up the ramp into the back of the truck). The guy got a great bike, but I was impressed that he was that trusting.
Case 2: It wasn't until I went to sell my '91 Sentra SE-R that I discovered it was something of a "cult car" among the younger set. I advertised in on an enthusiasts' site and was contacted by a guy from Texas who was highly interested. I met him with the car at Detroit Metro airport when he was on a business flight layover so he could drive it. He later sent me the money, then I met him again at the airport on his next trip and delivered the car to him.
Case 3: Selling our Olds Intrigue for about $6K on Craigslist, the first buyer took it, but when they returned they found they'd forgotten to bring the cash. Her uncle said "Just a minute I'll look in my car" and came back a few minutes later with a wad of cash that turned out to be enough. Do people just carry around cash like that?
Case 4: Sold my BMW last spring on Craigslist, and that buyer too came over and handed me about $12K in cash. The biggest hassle was the paperwork at the bank due to depositing more than $10K in cash (if I could do it over, I'd have done $6K on two separate days, but then again I'm not trying to hide anything!).
So selling directly to people online has certainly been an interesting experience for me!
Doug, runnin' cycling in Rochester, MI
"Think blue, count two, and look for a red shoe"
It may be a good idea to avoid using wired money if you are the sender. But, here we are talking about the reciever. Assuming the money appears in Tammy's account exactly what risk is she taking?
FWIW, I'm with Carolyn.
I wouldn't want to drive 10 hours without some guarantee that the car would still be there.
Be safe. Be kind.
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
Tammy - maybe have one of your attorneys print out a very abbeviated/modified earnest money, forfeiture-of--deposit if he doesn't come buy it by a date certain. . Change the $400 to whatever it is worth it to you to forego other buyers in while holding it for him.
ps - how's he taking it back?
pps - has he ever run the Vancouver Marathon?
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)