Sounds Too Good To Be True.....Is It???

**YUKON 659** · 10-04-2003, 05:14 AM

I was recently out bid for a new 385 on ebay. A few days after the auction was over I received an email stating, they noticed I bid on the saw and asked me if I was interested in one they had. The price was VERY attractive. Although suspicious I followed up with it.
To make a long story short, the guy is from Europe and SEEMS to be legit. He claims the saw is brand new, comes with all the paperwork and has a 6 month international warranty. He said payment can be made through Western Union with a question attached to it and the answer does not have to be revealed to him until the saw is delivered to me.
I'm assuming the saw is being offered at such a good price because the USD is worth much more in this part of Europe.
Anybody have any thoughts.....pro or con about this?

Thanks, Jeff

**woodbeard** · 10-04-2003, 07:12 AM

If you were running a scam, wouldn't you try to seem legit?

**Husky372** · 10-04-2003, 07:22 AM

if he cant get the money untill you get the saw what do you have to lose. not all people are crooks.

**sdillen** · 10-04-2003, 08:53 AM

Interesting that this should come up. . . I just read a similar article on another board... The offer to sell a new identical item to that being won. . .funds to be transferred by Western Union. . .

http://www.eham.net/articles/6618

There are a bunch of other links from that page. From what I gather, if it's a scam, the 'hook' proves that the buyer has a valid email address and is a real person. . .who can then be targeted by other scam techniques. It may be legit, but beware.

**Jacob J.** · 10-04-2003, 12:46 PM

It's a scam. The person in question has made this same offer to several other buyers on e-bay. What they do is have you send the money via Western Union with the question attached and then you wait patiently for the saw. Then, they have a friend who acts as an agent for Western Union or one of its affiliates has your money transferred to a third party money wire service, like Online FX or a similar service, and the money can be transferred from there to an actual person or bank account, (without the hindrance of your "secret question",) which is never located in the U.S. making it impossible for you to track them down.

This scam has been going on for years, along with the Nigerian General that needs your help getting his millions out of his war-torn country and into your bank account and you'll get a 3% "forwarding fee" which works out to a few hundred thousand dollars. These scams were well documented in Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report a few months ago, along with some articles on how to avoid being ripped off on e-bay.

Oh yeah, LOL@international warranty.

**YUKON 659** · 10-04-2003, 05:21 PM

Thanks for your help. You guys always seem to have the answers....well most of the time

I'm an honest and hard working individual and I wanna believe everyone is....I guess it ain't so. I think I'll take some of my hard earned money and pay a fair price for a new saw instead of an un-realastic price for a saw that may never show up. Again, thanks for everyones input.

Jeff

**Bill G** · 10-04-2003, 07:32 PM

Ebay is full of scams. It is amzing to me how many of teh saw scams involve new Husky saws. Just take a look at how many 3120 scams there have been lately. A few weeks ago there was a seller who had a "new" Husky 245 clearing saw on ebay. The opening bid was $490 which is way too much but I eed a clearing saw in the worst way so I took a look at it. The seller had a million excuses why she could not come up with a picture of the actual unit being sold. After a few days she did come up with a pic of a Husky box that she said contained the trimmer. She also sent a pic of a saw that she very well may have copied from someone elses listing. AFter thatt she never conatcted me again. Ia m thinking of contacting her again.

Bill

**don** · 10-04-2003, 08:26 PM

I get those emails all the time. $350 for an 066 and $425 for an 3120xp. New in the box. I emailed them back and offered to pay all escrow fees for a third party mediator. The saw would be mailed to a independent verifier and then the funds go to the seller after the third party verifies they have the saws The europeon scammers would not go for it.
Western Union guarantees nothing. I even offered to pay all paypal fees so I could use their fraud protection. These guys would not.
I get an email once a month and forward it off to the FBI internet fraud division.

The other scam I get all the time is an email from ebay to update my account and it is suspended until the update is complete.

The last scam I get is an order confirmation from some company for stuff ranging from a car rental, flowers, books, CD's , clothes etc. They ask me to click onto a link and confirm all the information like address, credit card number etc.

**geofore** · 10-05-2003, 03:18 AM

SCAM written all over it. I used to get the Nigerian request about once a week. Doesn't sound like they got the money out of the country yet.

**Kneejerk Bombas** · 10-05-2003, 05:36 AM

There's another similar scam where the person sends you money, in the form of a cashiers check. Them shortly after, they have a death in the family or some other problem, and ask for their money back.
Of course the cashiers check turns out to be a fake, and you've already sent back their money.

**Toneman** · 10-05-2003, 06:26 AM

Sounds like a similar scam that was on ebay with a high price mountain bike. Guy was trying to sell it for $350.00 us. Bike was worth over $1500.00us. My buddy and I exchanged email with the guy and even spoke with him on the phone. His big thing was that money had to be sent via Western Union and had to be send immediately. Another funny thing was that the bike would actually be shipped from Edmonton Canada.
Need to be careful on Ebay these days as there are too many fakes out there. Always look at their feedback for an indicator of the person's character

**don** · 10-05-2003, 10:00 AM

I have had this scam happen a couple of times.
Guy buys stuff. Sent US Postal money order.
Sent stuff to guy and then deposited money order at bank.
The money order was cancelled saying it was lost by post office records.
Now I wait until the money clears unless as TONEMAN puts it look at their reputation.