Possible scam making the rounds- "giving away a Powermatic 4224"

[Chris Hoehle]

Heads up about a potential scam message making the rounds. Both myself and the community workshop I teach at (Denver Tool Library) got this same message off of our website inquiry forms within a day or two of each other. The English was suspect enough for me that I just ignored it, and our tool inventory coordinator followed up and got a photo of a 4224 and that she was in Utah. (Which doesn't make sense, we're in Denver and if it was legit she could post on marketplace and it would be gone in 60 seconds by someone local). Neither of us followed up enough to see what the eventual hook would have been, like I said, I just filed it under poor English/if it's too good to be true...

As I side note, I have always wanted one of the old 4224s!

Hello,

I'm Maggie and I came across your website and I want to make a donation of two machines.
I'm giving away my late brother's powermatic 4224 lathe to passionate wood turner. If you know of a fellow, bowl turner, Furniture Maker, wood sculptors, cabinet maker, luthier, school, teacher, student, family, organization that might be interested,
I also want to give out his open car hauler trailer to any circle truck driver or a towing service, auction house, vehicle dealership, auto racing teams, that might be interested, kindly forward this message to them.

Sincerely,

Maggie

 

[RichColvin]

I’ve seen this. But what is the scam? How does it work?

 

[Chris Hoehle]

I was trying to think of that without actually wasting time engaging. I'd be willing to bet that a few messages in it would be some flavor of "You know, instead of you coming here, I could bring the lathe and the trailer to you, just send me $300 for gas money" or "I got a shipping quote it's $1000" or something like that.

 

[Dave Landers]

I got that too. Ignored it. Heard of others who also got something similar.
Scam is likely getting someone to prepay for shipping or something like that.

 

[Steven Forrest]

Our club got contacted a few months back. Too good to be true - you know the rest.

I think it's interesting that someone in the scam hierarchy decided, "Hey - I know who we can sucker: Woodturners! There's lots of money to be had there!"

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[hockenbery]

think it's interesting that someone in the scam hierarchy decided, "Hey - I know who we can sucker: Woodturners!

More likely a “something” not a “someone”

Data mining facilitates the identification and targeting of groups.
The sophistication of scams in posing as legitimate sites even fools some wary folks.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

How about all the data this forum's host collects every time you make another key stroke? Heck, it even knows my first and last name thanks to forum rules (a rule that only apply to forum members who joined after some date, why doesn't it apply to every user?). Ah, rhetorical...

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[Lou Jacobs]

Amazing, I just got this same email, personally addressed to me. Thanks Chris for calling attention to this!

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

I would have replied and told them I could pick it up, what’s the address. Would have been interesting to see their answer.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Good idea. I’m sure there would have been radio silence at that point.

 

[Tib G Shaw]

Just FYI that this scam is still making the rounds. We received this email last week at the AAW member services email address. Another turner did play out the email game with her, and it is just as Chris Hoehle speculated: had he continued, there would have been fraudulent delivery fees.
I've seen so much genuine generosity in this community...I wonder if other craft groups are targeted in a similar way.

From: Maggie < maggiebennett043@gmail.com>
Subject: Lathe wood turner

Message Body:
Hello,

I'm Maggie and I came across your website and I want to make a donation of two machines.
I'm giving away my late brother's powermatic 4224 lathe to passionate wood turner. If you know of a fellow, bowl turner, Furniture Maker, wood sculptors, cabinet maker, luthier, school, teacher, student, family, organization that might be interested,
I also want to give out his open car hauler trailer to any circle truck driver or a towing service, auction house, vehicle dealership, auto racing teams, that might be interested, kindly forward this message to them.

 

[Pavle Ancevski]

Our club's secretary got this email few days ago (start of May, 2025). Same as previously posted, late brother, powermatic, hauler.....
They have posted that they are 10 hours from us (North Carolina, we are in NJ/NY area), in effort to prevent someone saying that they will come personally to pick it up.

This is the last email I got, that made me suspicious about the whole thing.

Maggie Bennett - 5:17 PM (20 minutes ago)

That's great. Maybe we can make arrangements on using a courier to get it delivered to your address.
Maggie Bennett

I did my research and find luckily this page. Many may fell for the scam, if they are not too suspicious and are carried away with their "insane" luck to receive a $7-8k lathe for free.
Keep this thread open and bump it from time to time, so people can find it easier and not get in trouble.

Take care and stay safe.
Pajo

 

[Bill Alston]

Can I post this?