I should just change the category to “Scammers” since this one doesn’t originate in Nigeria or anywhere close. The following type of scam usually comes from Europe. As this one progresses, I hope you learn to recognize these guys when you’re trying to sell a big ticket item. I’ve personally met people who actually fell for this and lost a LOT of money.

About 18 months ago, I posted my motorcycle all over For Sale websites in the hopes of selling it quicker. It wasn’t long after that, maybe 8 weeks, that my bike was sold to a guy 80 miles away. To this day, I still get offers to “buy” my motorcycle. When I posted my bike on websites, a bunch of other sites picked it up and put it on theirs. Anyway, here’s what the pitch looks like that I got yesterday:

Hello,
I am broker from united kingdom and will like to buy your bike for my client in uk and will be paying by MONEY ORDER ,if this is ok,pls let me know the condition of the bike and also the final asking price, and forward to me the following information,my client in usa who is owing
me some money will be asked to send you the payment and the overpayment will be sent to my shipper in london for pick up and my commission.

THE NAME IN WHICH THE PAYMENT WILL BE ISSUED
THE ADDRESS WHERE THE check WILL BE SENT
YOUR LAST PRICE
YOUR CELL NUMBER.

Thanks a lot

These guys are a little more tricky to mess with since they’re coming from educated countries. However, that doesn’t make them educated. Shall we get started:

Edward,

Yes, yes, my 2006 Yamaha R6 is still for sale. I’ve been trying to sell it for the last 15 months [wonder if he'll notice that the 2006 model wasn't out yet] but I’m surprised no one has taken me up on the offer. The bike is in excellent shape and has had all its services performed by a qualified mechanic. I exchanged the engine with a high performance Effayteen [F-18, though I don't spell it out for him] jet engine, one of the best jet engines in the world for motorcycles. It goes super fast, though I won’t say in case you’re a cop and try to ticket me. It virtually flies down the road.

I have never dropped it at all. There are no dings, scratches or imperfections at all. It’s got black out lights in case you want to drive it on the highway in stealth mode. I’ve put a lot of work into it.

My final asking price is only $10,350 [it's only worth about $3500 tops used, without the jet engine] for this beast. The price is somewhat negotiable. Here’s the information you requested:

Name: David Sneakers
Address: [address deleted]
Fort Irwin, CA 92310
Selling Price: $10,350
Cell Number: 760-xxx-xxxx

I look forward to completing this transaction.

Sincerely,
David

Here’s how this will work. He’ll send me a “cashier’s check” or “money order” in the amount of about $16,000, knowing that it’ll only cost me about $800-$1200 to ship the bike to the UK. Once I get the money, I’m supposed to cash it, ship the bike, and send him the change. I should have about $3000 for him. I’ll (theoretically) take that money and buy another money order which would be real because I don’t know any better and send it to him. A few later, the check that he sent me that looks real will come back as fake and now I’m responsible for paying back the bank or whoever cashed the check for me….al $16,000. AND I’d be out a bike. Even if I didn’t send the bike, the scam artist got $3000 for nothing while I arranged shipment. So, stay tuned and let’s see how this one works.

I should just create another site (much like www.419eater.com) just dedicated to scammer email I get. I learned about 419eater a few days ago when someone left a comment about it. Those are pretty funny too. I wish I’d stumbled across that sooner. But, I’m going to continue doing my own thing. My goal with this is to make sure that no one falls for this. If there is a person here in the US that I’m supposed to contact, by sending me mail onto a Federal Facility they are setting themselves up for a lot of jail time.

Here’s the bike I actually sold by the way:

And, if you’re paying attention to the Parking Lot Pennies tally, we’ve found almost $6 in the just the last two days. With all the rotational soldiers running around post, business is booming. We’ve crossed the $40 mark.