The guy was intested in one of my older sleds, tried to tell me he was in real estate and property managment. So his story was that he had a "client" who owed him $3500. His "client" that owed him the money would give me a check for $3500 while the sled i was selling was only $300, and i was supposed to give the rest of the money to this guy in cash. Then his "shipping company" would come pick up the sled. It sounded really fishy and confusing, so i told the guy to never contact me again.

Heres the actual email he sent me, look out for stuff like this!

Good Day,
I acknowlegde and appreeciate your approach towards this transaction.
However, I'll like to know if I can trust you with my money, since this
transaction requires honesty and transparency. I'm into property
management
and real estate consultants. But then, I've this client of mine who's
owing
$3,500 whom I'd spoken with and he has agreed to write out the cheque.
Nevertheless, a cheque of $3,500 inclusive of the pick up fee will be
sent
to you from my client and as soon as you recieved the check you will
get it
cash and send the rest to the shipper that will come for the pick up at
your
location so i will want you to you.
I am Compesating you with $50 and you will be deducting $300 once you
receive the check from my client ,So If this is Okay by you i want you
to
provide me with the Following Informations Which of course i will
forward to
my Client so that Payment will be Issued :
NAME: ......................
ADDRESS:.....................
CITY: .............................
STATE:............................
COUNTRY:............................
ZIP CODE:............................
PHONE NUMBER:...................(HOME,CELL AND WORK)
With this i will expect to hear from you soonest today and the pics as
well.[/I]

This guy is nuts.
Hope this helps.

Yeah, and the rest of the story ends, they send you a fake cashier's check, if you try to cash it at the bank, your account gets frozen, and you get all the fees for cashing a bogus check. . . .
If you shipped item out right away, you're minus cash and your item.
Never cashed it, or even tried to, but I have a $24,000 fake cashier's check from this summer when I sold my El Camino. Got to watch out for these scammers, they are really slick.

The sad part is how many people are to naive to know that it is a scam, and get ripped off.

This is like the one I got. I have a few sleds for sale on http://www.snowmobiles-forsale.com/
This is what the guy wrote to me:

hello kristen,
how are you and how is your family too.i had to leave on a sudden trip to london though,i made arrangement regarding the payment and shipping before leaving for the trip with my client to issue you a check of $7,450 for the sled and the shipping fee.
you are to remove your $1,550 and get the remainder transfered to the shipping company via western union money transfer because i have other goods that will be shipped by them so i'll like the shipping to be done altogether.i dont know maybe there will be a kind of trust here because you are to receive my payment firstly so get back to me at the earliest if you can be trusted with these money.
as regards the receipt of purchase,the shipper will handle that for me at the time of pick up.just get back to me as regards these arrangement so that the transaction can go smoothly.have a nice weekend in advance and my regards to you and husband.
regards,

johnson.

Sounds like a scam??

I had the same problems articcatgalZLO1 if you can't speak to a person on the phone or in person, do not do it. It is a scam! I got those emails a lot when I had a sled for sale.
I had to have the buyer personally come and deliver the money and pick up the sled, No cash no deal!!
Whenever you have a email where they have a middle man involved or only communicate by email that is a HUGE RED FLAG!!
Be careful there a lot of these scam freaks out there just waiting for a sucker

He says Ontario Canada. I gave him a phone number to call us with questions. I have an e-mail address that is probably fake from him. I asked him for his contact info a few times (name, address, phone) but he avoided the question. I told him that we could ship it for him, (we own a trucking company) He came up with an excuse, see below. If I receive the fake money gram I will scan it and post it. He did not ask for any pictures of the sled. Usually when I buy something I want to see it and hear it run.

hello kristen,
> how are you and how is your family fairing too?i had computer
> problems that is why i haven't gotten back to you earlier than
> these.i'm located at ontario.anyway i'm still very much interested
> in your snowmobile for sale(1995 Artic Cat Z440)which is $1550 US
> funds.yes ill also be making all freight arrangements with a
> shipping company.
> so as to proceed from here,i will like you to mail me your details
> to send the check to like your FULL NAME(how it should appear on
> check)POSTAL ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER.get back to me at the
> earliest.
> regards,
> johnson.

hello seller,
> > i am interested in purchasing your snowmobile advert for sale which
> > is $1600.firstly,i will like to know it's present condition and
> > last price so a cashier's check can be sent to you as the mode of
> > payment.i'll also be arranging for the pickup and shipping from
> > your place myself with a reliable shipping company so don't bother
> > about the shipping.i await your mail at the earliest so we can
> > proceed.
> > regards,
> > johnson

hello kristen,
how are you and how is your family too.i had to leave on a sudden trip to london though,i made arrangement regarding the payment and shipping before leaving for the trip with my client to issue you a check of $7,450 for the sled and the shipping fee.
you are to remove your $1,550 and get the remainder transfered to the shipping company via western union money transfer because i have other goods that will be shipped by them so i'll like the shipping to be done altogether.i dont know maybe there will be a kind of trust here because you are to receive my payment firstly so get back to me at the earliest if you can be trusted with these money.
as regards the receipt of purchase,the shipper will handle that for me at the time of pick up.just get back to me as regards these arrangement so that the transaction can go smoothly.have a nice weekend in advance and my regards to you and husband.
regards,

johnson.

Return-Path: <johnson_goose_2005@fastermail.com>

This is the newest thing that I just received:

hello kristen,
i am unhappy with you accusing me of sending you a fake check.i am a devoted christian and will never do such because what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and loose it's own soul.i understand that it's mandatory to trust who you are dealing with but i don't know you too yet i intend sending you these anmount due to situation of things.i will want trust and understanding to be between us because if i can trust you then you can trust me.
i'll get the shipping company's name and address where to send the money so i can forward it to you and any money charged at the western union outlet should be deducted from the excess you are to send.they will be shipping some other goods for me as i have told you earlier in europe so i will like thwem to do the shipping altogether.
the shipping compnay will handle all that for me at the time of pick up but if you really need my address,these is it below:
P.O. Box 343 Schreiber
Ontario. P0T 2S0
i will speak to you husband.
regards,
johnson.

Those checks they send you are not worth the paper there printed on. :frech32:

We will see if he actually sends one to me. If you photocopy a "real" mone order it should say "void" on the photocopy. It's like a built in watermark.

Just an update for the few who have pm'd me about this. I did receive the check and yes it is a fake. The guy's name is Johnson Goose. (probably just a pseudonym) If you ever receive mail from him about a sled that you are selling, it's just a scam. He uses fastermail that is powered by outblaze

Just had a similar scam tried on me. Can we report this anywhere?

I guess to report to the police but there is not much that they can do at least in my case because it is international. There is a site that you can search for scam registered e-mail addresses: http://www.scamchecker.com/

My brother who is a state attorney said that the FBI or the state version could be involved and take care of this. I just had another email from a same type of scam and so did my brother. It seems that the website we listed our sleds has become a target.

Does the FBI have a link to report such activity?

Just had the same email for my 03 Pro X, I can't believe anyone would fall for this scam!

The FTC, Federal Trade Commission will take a report online and add it to a database. The feds reveiw these reports and take action on what they can.