Scam alert re sale of goods

A lot of people including myself have purchased cars over the phone or on the net. When you work overseas for 10 months of the year its very hard to do anything in person. This is also very common in WA because of all the FIFO. I do agree you need to be very carefull.

Well, I'm not so sure (cash) it is stupid given it is the medium of exchange in use in Australia for most of our daily transactions. And without doubt I would be cautious of anyone wanting to hand over a "vast" amount of cash to purchase a car...

However, in the context of the question I am highlighting that unless someone shows what appears to be a genuine interest, and has the means to pay for it then perhaps the enquiry is best ignored.

Hopefully the response isn't "stupid" (for crying out loud!)...

Enjoy the day,
Baz

Baz..... with most scammers your not dealing with kiddies having a bit of fun on school holidays, your dealing with well healed crime gangs who have a world wide interest involved in a range of other illegal activities..

Using fake money has been going on for years and I would say purchasing a car by cash needs "vasts" amount of cash..... we are not talking a few hundred or thousand dollars here.

If we were talking a few hundred or a thousand dollars nobody would purchase a car from interstate once freight has been taken in..... unless it was something very unique, if it was very cheap you would have local buyers fronting up at dawn.

PLUS it would have to ring alarm bells if someone turned up with $10,000 in cash.... why are they taking the risk carrying that much cash, where did they get it from..... why don't they want anyone to know about it.

The bad thing with cash is there is no paper trace and seeing we are all experts (not) at picking fake money we should not be alarmed then.

I don't know if you have had any dealings with these well organised crime gangs but I can assure you they show a "genuine interest".

Why do you think sensible people get caught out including business owners..... sure me being so gullible I'll wire you the $108,965 You need for the life saving operation on your ONLY son who is 5 years old....... Thank you so much sucker, when I get his insurance money through I'll send you $1,234,567,0000 for kindly help me...... SIGNED CORPORAL REGINALD .J. BARTHOMUE - Head of Police.

Again most who get caught is from greed and the scammers you are not dealing with are not work experience guys or idiots.

So whats you advice to see if someone is showing "genuine interest"

BTW cash is not the medium for most of our daily transactions.... go to the local shopping center and see how many customers deal in cash...... for me I'm lucky to carry $20 in my wallet.

We get maybe 1 in 20 customers who pay cash.

Pay with cash and there is no paper trace.

Putting aside your usual style of “derision” I still think you’ve missed my point in the context of the original question… so I’ll rephrase, for the benefit of all.

Sell it to the bloke that turns up at the front door, with an acceptable means of paying there and then, no freight, no catches…and hopefully, no problems.

And heaven forbid, if it involves cash, take him to the bank, ask the bank teller are they counterfeit notes and if not ask will the bank accept the money for deposit to your account, if they do, give the keys to the buyer and move on…

If the bank won't accept the deposit, send the buyer packing...and on that note, I'll also move on!

Taken from a 2011 study by the Reserve Bank...

my son got the same offer but they where based in Sydney.I told him to walk away from it.they want you bank details .We are in Perth wa.cheers Uppy

Yes as it said in the study that you kindle provided....

"It is used extensively in situations where the average payment value is LOW and where QUICK transaction time is preferred.

And

"Two important factors contribute to this decline are the substitute of card for cash use, PARTICULARLY for LOW VALUE payments and the increased adoption of on line payments"

A lot of places don't accept EFTPOS or Credit Card on transactions below $5-$10 and if I am buying something like milk or a paper I will use cash.... everything else is EFTPOS.

Buying a vehicle in you case may be a low value item but for many it's not.

"Derision" ... an interesting word to use, if you think it's the case beleve what you want, just stating my point of view!

BTW..... someone turns up to buy your car with a large sum of cash at 6pm at night or over the weekend..... you think fantastic what a quick sale...... 1am in the morning 3 guys barge into your house threatening you to hand the cash over...... you agree and now you have no car or money and your place has been ransacked.

And yes it has happened.

Olcoolone, 1am in the morning 3 guys barge into your house threatening you to hand the cash over...... you agree and now you have no car or money and your place has been ransacked.
If that happened you would be able to claim it back from victim of crime fund a Max of $50,000.
Had 3 guys do the same to me and got back my money this way. No longer a car rort, now a home invasion.

Not sure which state you are in Andy but where I live the Fund doesnt pay you when you get ripped off.
Its for if you are injured or otherwise traumatised, not financial loss

That's what I said. It is no longer a rip off it's a home invasion. I'm sure you will be traumatised and if it was me I would be injured as well, no one takes my money without a fight.

Here in South Australia the victims of crime fund pay out very little in the way of compensation and it is more like a token gesture then a refund.

I think the shock of having it happen to you would be enough to cause life long suffering especially if your elderly...... simple way don't accept sums of cash fro something sold.

Best way is don't let it happen in the first place by enticement.

BTW what happens with the car the person sells..... the insurance is void as you have already been paid for it and you can not claim the lost car from victims of crime levy or you house insurance????

What happens to the cash and the car if the world blows up tomorrow?

Just wondering... ;)

Im takin it with me!

Sure is Bill, maybe safer to DON'T SELL THE CAR under ANY circumstances !!

Bill, despite all the doom and gloom above, a little bit of applied common sense will go a long way.

The scammers change their modus operandi regularly, however there are a number of tell-tales that will ring alarm bells as to whether something is genuine or not.

Some things to look out for in no particular order:

1. if there is some convoluted explanation as to why the buyer can't review the purchase or can't be contacted such as buying for a 3rd party who's on a ship/oil rig/remote mine/another country - run for the hills - it's a scam.

2. if they're unwilling to talk to you on the phone and insist on sms or email to some dodgy hotmail/gmail account - run for the hills

3. if they come up with some dodgy payment method via Western Union or pay-pal screen dumps - run for the hills

4. if they make an offer too good to be true or over pay without viewing the goods - it's a scam

5. basically if there's any dodgy explanation as to why they can't follow normal processes for completing the purchase - run

Basically if they're not willing to contact you in person either face to face or over the phone - be suspicious - the scammers are only looking for sucker bait who will play along - the moment they get any push back or detailed interrogation - they will generally disappear - as it's not worth their while wasting time on unlikely outcomes.

If their email id is bobanddoris@bigpond.com and they're willing to chat over the phone - then they're probably genuine... however in any of these transactions - make sure you've got cash or the money in your account before you release the goods.

forgot to add - another way of double checking - if they contact you via email - run their email address through google. Chances are that they've used it before and a number of consumer watch sites (like Whirlpool etc.) usually have posted warnings - if the email addy turns up in search engines - red flag.

if you were selling a camper trailer why did they give YOU bank details?

I have no idea why

Irish scammer

Quality counterfeit money is very hard to detect by the average Joe who doesn't have the skills or equipment to detect it.

coolone - honestly 99.999% of monetary fraud is wire transfers - not cash. I'd not be too worried about that. get-out is correct -

"as for counterfit, yes it happens but not like that - counterfit money needs to be dribbled/laundered out so no one persons suspected of it
No ones going to hand over a heap of counterfit cash so you can ID them."

there was a case in Subi recently. In all cases the money was handed over in quick turnover high volume places where lighting wasnt good IE bars

"There are a small percentage of our population who spend all there day thinking of ways to take your money away from you "

yep touch wood ive been relativly lucky - and being a good judge of character wont neccessarlilly help you
these people used to be known as confidence tricksters for good reason