A fellow woodturner recently emailed me about a scam involving a lathe purchase. No doubt the details and names can vary from scam to scam. This is just a reminder that such things can happen and you need to be wary when deals sound shady or sound too good to be true. Below is the info about the scam he sent me.
Recently, A man by the name Mark Sabatke approached me via email about buying a lathe that I have for sale. It turns out that is a on going international scam right now.
The way it works: Somebody will tell you that they want to buy what ever you have for sale and that they will send a cashiers check for over the asked amount. They then ask you to cash this check, keep your asking amount, then take out a new cashiers check and forward it to a 3rd party; usually a shipping agent, outside of the country.
The way they make their money: A bank will cash the check even though it takes 2 to 3 days to clear. In that time the buyer is banking on the fact that you wil take that money and pull a new cashiers check out and foward the remaining amount to them. When the check that you cash bounces YOU are responsible for the funds while you have already forwarded the remaining amount out of country.
In my case, the lathe was $2,700 and he sent me a check for $7,500.00 even though I told him not to send it. When I received the check, I called the bank, Secret Service and the FBI and gave them all the contact info. These con-artisits seem very nice and like every day people. (That's what makes them successful con-artists).
After I told him I could not cash the check he continued to email me sob stories about his wife being in the hospital and that she needed the money. He then told me to cash it, keep 10% and forward the rest on to him. Do NOT cash a cashiers check with out verifying the funds through the bank first.
These people will offer to buy anything for sale, not just woodworking tools. Some of the other names involved: Robert Ben from Maryland and Watt Arnold. Here is a link of similar stories.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html
Recently, A man by the name Mark Sabatke approached me via email about buying a lathe that I have for sale. It turns out that is a on going international scam right now.
The way it works: Somebody will tell you that they want to buy what ever you have for sale and that they will send a cashiers check for over the asked amount. They then ask you to cash this check, keep your asking amount, then take out a new cashiers check and forward it to a 3rd party; usually a shipping agent, outside of the country.
The way they make their money: A bank will cash the check even though it takes 2 to 3 days to clear. In that time the buyer is banking on the fact that you wil take that money and pull a new cashiers check out and foward the remaining amount to them. When the check that you cash bounces YOU are responsible for the funds while you have already forwarded the remaining amount out of country.
In my case, the lathe was $2,700 and he sent me a check for $7,500.00 even though I told him not to send it. When I received the check, I called the bank, Secret Service and the FBI and gave them all the contact info. These con-artisits seem very nice and like every day people. (That's what makes them successful con-artists).
After I told him I could not cash the check he continued to email me sob stories about his wife being in the hospital and that she needed the money. He then told me to cash it, keep 10% and forward the rest on to him. Do NOT cash a cashiers check with out verifying the funds through the bank first.
These people will offer to buy anything for sale, not just woodworking tools. Some of the other names involved: Robert Ben from Maryland and Watt Arnold. Here is a link of similar stories.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html