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What kind of scam is this?

Ram4402

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 28, 2020
135
224
Maine
I sold a firearm (On a different forum) The guy that bought it is only a few hours away and wanted a FTF. He offered to send me a check and once the check clears he will set up a time to meet up and pick it up. I received the payment today and it is double our agreed sale price. What's the scam?
 
He's going to say opps, just deposit it and send me back the difference?
Walk away.

Yep, most likely a fake check or account doesn't have enough funds.
To truly clear a personal check it's actually over a month (despite what everyone says)
Cashier's checks can be a couple weeks to really fully clear as well.

Nobody sends you double the amount on "accident", my guess is that whole check is going to be fake and you'll wind up with none of the money and your bank charging you a fee for their trouble of the fake / bouncing check.

If you want to try it,
If there is a bank branch of the issuing bank local to you, you could take the check there and have them verify it as legit or not and if legit cash it for cash.

But I wouldn't deposit it in your bank account, too much of a chance of you getting a bounced check fee.

As others have said, I'd be very suspicious of the person being a prohibited person.
 
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Someone that isn't supposed to have a gun, is trying to buy your gun one on one, sounds like to me.
I was wondering the same thing. But can't imagine a prohibited person really wanting a bolt action with decent glass when there are alot more cheap options out there.
 
Thanks all,
I just couldn't figure out what the scam was if he was waiting for the check to clear before we met up. Welp guess that puts off my next build....
 
He tells you to refund him the difference, check bounces, and you are out the refund amount.

Take the check to the issuing bank and try to cash it.
 
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I'd shred the check and end communication with that person, anything else is a waste of your time. You have zero responsibility to that person. Nothing wrong with FTF sales if your state allows it, just ask for cash and if they offer anything else tell them no.
 

I'd shred the check and end communication with that person, anything else is a waste of your time. You have zero responsibility to that person. Nothing wrong with FTF sales if your state allows it, just ask for cash and if they offer anything else tell them no.
I kept the check and hung it on my safe as a reminder so I'll never sell a gun.
 
Best solution is tell him all is good, meet up with him and kick him right in the dick with steel toes.

I fucking hate scammers, they are some of the worst scumbags on the face of the Earth, and are the leading reason why trust amongst our fellow man has eroded so badly. They deserve to die a gruesome death at the hands of hermit crabs. I'm serious about that too.
 
Yep, most likely a fake check or account doesn't have enough funds.
To truly clear a personal check it's actually over a month (despite what everyone says)
Cashier's checks can be a couple weeks to really fully clear as well.

Nobody sends you double the amount on "accident", my guess is that whole check is going to be fake and you'll wind up with none of the money and your bank charging you a fee for their trouble of the fake / bouncing check.

If you want to try it,
If there is a bank branch of the issuing bank local to you, you could take the check there and have them verify it as legit or not and if legit cash it for cash.



But I wouldn't deposit it in your bank account, too much of a chance of you getting a bounced check fee.

As others have said, I'd be very suspicious of the person being a prohibited person.
"But I wouldn't deposit it in your bank account, too much of a chance of you getting a bounced check fee."

This.

I took one like it into my banker to ask about it. She said they might even close the account if they felt the bank was put at risk.

As JFK found out the hard way, "Dont threaten the money."
 
Best solution is tell him all is good, meet up with him and kick him right in the dick with steel toes.

I fucking hate scammers, they are some of the worst scumbags on the face of the Earth, and are the leading reason why trust amongst our fellow man has eroded so badly. They deserve to die a gruesome death at the hands of hermit crabs. I'm serious about that too.
The guy sent me the extra money to pay the "mover fee" I said for the extra money I would drive it to him or can ship it to his FFL. I then told him the bank wouldn't cash the check and if he wants he can pay me in gift cards. Guess scammers don't find that funny...
 
You should never accept personal checks from anybody, unless you happen to know the people, who send you checks, for a very long time. Must be USPS money orders only. Problem solved. This is how my business is operating, no exceptions to this rule.
 
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It's called a Nigerian scam.

Be sure to give all the details to the Mods and Admins at that other gun forum so they can do their part to out him and warn others.
 
I called him and sent him a couple texts and no replies yet. I was just trying to get some other people's thoughts.
The only safe and secure "not in person exchange of funds" is the "wire transfer".

Every other instrument, from Postal Money Order to Bank Cashier Check can be "stop payment" dishonored or NSF.

As a seller, the wire is either there or it's not.

As a buyer, the wire went to the account where you sent it or it didn't.

Pretty simple, clear record of payment or receipt.

The funds have to exist to be transferred.

The owner of the funds has to authorize the transfer.

The receiving account shows the receipt of the funds.

Anything else is a crap shoot, including cash, obviously.

Accept no substitutes.

Wire transfer or nothing.

If the buyer is a poor, offer to adjust the price to split the transfer fee or add the wire transfer cost to the negotiated cost of the goods or services.

I'll never understand why brokedicks want to use "PayPal friends and family" to cheat PayPal (even though they are despicable cocksuckers)......

......get cheated themselves in the transaction and then cry about the greater of lesser dishonesty of the cheat who cheated the cheater.

I believe the Niccolo Machiavelli was right, "It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver."

Your post here is just to get confirmation that you already knew you OBVIOUSLY believed you were being scammed, so what are you going to do about that?

"Never assign evil intent when stupidity will suffice to explain the problem."

Maybe the buyer is an idiot and sent double?

Probably not though, this is a huge red flag, why don't you simply write "VOID" in huge bold letters on the check, take a picture of it and send it to the buyer and tell them to send a "wire transfer"?

That will either be the end of it and the sale will go through or not.....

....or the game is afoot.

quote-it-is-double-pleasure-to-deceive-the-deceiver-niccolo-machiavelli-116839.jpg
 
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You should never accept personal checks from anybody, unless you happen to know the people, who send you checks, for a very long time. Must be USPS money orders only. Problem solved. This is how my business is operating, no exceptions to this rule.
So I assume you wait for them to clear?

I also assume you maintain sufficient account balance so you never go NSF when they bounce?
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Since you are a "business" I'll assume you deposit the PMO to your account and have never had to go to the Post Office to "cashier" a MO?

Read the section on that carefully, also read the link:

Cashing Money Orders (DMM 509.3.3)
 
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It's easy to defraud someone with a Postal Money order.
Once they get it and say they are shipping the item & you have the tracking, you go to the post office and put a stop payment on the money order.
Unless the person was smart enough or had enough time to get to the post office and actually cash the postal money order for cash (or use it to buy another money order) they are out of luck.

That's why I laugh about all the folks who claim how great postal money orders are and how you just put them in your bank account and be done with it etc.
 
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While we're on the subject of stupid banking ideas from the same fucktards who can't deliver the mail in less than 5 days now (because they're too busy whoring your tax dollars to enrich Jeff Bezos at a discount):

"U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has tried for several years to create a “postal bank” to offer basic financial services while also yielding new revenue for the money-losing Postal Service.

In response to news of the four-site pilot, she praised the idea as “a great first step” in a news release but noted that the Postal Banking Act she proposed last year with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) would be more expansive in the kinds of services offered.

The legislation would establish a nonprofit bank to allow the Postal Service to offer low-cost checking and savings accounts, ATMs, mobile banking, and low-interest loans – all without the involvement of any established financial institution.

“Postal banking is an elegant solution to a complex problem – not only will it help the unbanked and underbanked, but it would generate as much as $9 billion per year for the USPS [U.S. Postal Service], helping to shore up its finances,” she stated."
 
It's easy to defraud someone with a Postal Money order.
Once they get it and say they are shipping the item & you have the tracking, you go to the post office and put a stop payment on the money order.
Unless the person was smart enough or had enough time to get to the post office and actually cash the postal money order for cash (or use it to buy another money order) they are out of luck.

That's why I laugh about all the folks who claim how great postal money orders are and how you just put them in your bank account and be done with it etc.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Thank God when Ben Franklin came up with the idea of making the turkey the "national bird", that didn't fly or we'd be ordering bald eagle for Thanksgiving while "falling back" on his idiotic "daylight savings time" because people are too stupid to just get up earlier in the summer.

Let's talk "Vote by mail"?

Here's an oldie, Mitt the shit RINomneyCare and Pedo Joe ChiDen in 2012.....





"The postal contractors, Joe Roy Rivas III and Jessica Lynn Solomon worked for a company called Cargo Force Inc. Cargo Force contracts with the U.S. Postal Service to load mail in and out of air containers headed to the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.

They were both arrested last month for possession of stolen mail and conspiracy to possess stolen mail."
 

"“Mr. Barnes thought his low-tech money order scam would let him fly below the radar and avoid attention and detection of his crimes,” said USPS Inspector in Charge Philip R. Bartlett . “He was wrong; and today’s plea is recognition by Mr. Barnes that Postal Inspectors and their law enforcement partners have no tolerance for this behavior and will aggressively investigate crime regardless of its scope or complexity.”

A joint investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and the USPS Inspection Service revealed that, between March 2018 and July 2018, Barnes assumed the elderly victim’s identity on several occasions by presenting himself as the victim at several USPS offices and at a check cashing establishment. As proof of his stolen identity, Barnes used a forged New York State Driver’s License that listed the elderly victim’s name, home address, and date of birth, but that contained Barnes’ photograph in order to cash several forged USPS money orders in the victim’s name. Prior to cashing the forged money orders, Barnes used a mobile depositing app to deposit the same money orders — under his own name — into a bank account he controlled."
 
With me all funds are received via Postal Money Order. No exceptions. All transfers are done via FFL Certified gun store. No exceptions. I don't authorize shipment until I get the Postal MO - My FFL coordinates with the buyers FFL to finish the details and ship the firearm.

No exceptions. No Face to Face. No shit.

VooDoo
 
With me all funds are received via Postal Money Order. No exceptions. All transfers are done via FFL Certified gun store. No exceptions. I don't authorize shipment until I get the Postal MO - My FFL coordinates with the buyers FFL to finish the details and ship the firearm.

No exceptions. No Face to Face. No shit.

VooDoo
Did you not read anything I posted?

This is typical of our self-sabotage, bitch about twitter - but have an account, bitch about facecrook - but have an account......


.........mail-in-voting

Is it by ....... I don't know....Sears and Roebuck or the f(##ing US Postal Service?

Why do we do business with the enemies of the Republic and act as if we're too stupid to make the connection?


Saule Omarova, even MSNBC acknowledges she's been raised a communist.

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---------------------------


"Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has become a high-profile villain to liberals since taking over last May, condemned for almost immediately causing significant slowdowns of mail, as well as ethical concerns surrounding the USPS awarding contracts to the company he previously ran. DeJoy’s ten-year plan, rolled out this year, would cement this dysfunction by permanently slowing target delivery times and raising prices for some first-class mail, particularly around the holidays.

The APWU has consistently criticized DeJoy. Last Thursday, union president Mark Dimondstein criticized the changes to service standards, saying: “The people deserve the prompt, reliable and efficient mail service promised under the law … We believe management’s response to months of poor performance should be to improve service and regain the public’s trust, instead of this focus on moving the goalposts and slowing service standards.”

Few would have named DeJoy as the official who would set in motion the most consequential executive action of President Biden’s first term. And even fewer would have correctly pegged that he would do it in cooperation with the APWU, one of his biggest antagonists. But the union has been laser-focused on getting postal leadership to embrace banking for many years"
 
Even RINO idiot Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. is not this stupid.



"Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, also blasted the pilot program, arguing that “the idea that the government is going to do a better job” at providing banking services than financial institutions “is just laughable.”

“You would have to work very hard to come up with a worse idea than having the government become a national bank executed through the post office,” he said. “Even if the U.S. Postal Service was the most competent, professional, and best-run organization on the planet, they should not be in the business of banking. We have banks.”"








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So I assume you wait for them to clear?

I also assume you maintain sufficient account balance so you never go NSF when they bounce?
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View attachment 7748962

Since you are a "business" I'll assume you deposit the PMO to your account and have never had to go to the Post Office to "cashier" a MO?

Read the section on that carefully, also read the link:

Cashing Money Orders (DMM 509.3.3)
Thanks for all this info.
In 12 years of doing business, we've never had any problems with USPS money orders or company checks. We've had several issues with personal checks, which influenced our terms of payment by rejecting acceptance of personal checks. That is all I would like to share with SH members.
 
It's called a Nigerian scam.

Be sure to give all the details to the Mods and Admins at that other gun forum so they can do their part to out him and warn others.
Dead giveaway is the mastery of the Engrish language. Every one of these mother fuckers type the same way. English as a second language sends up more red flags than the gal a couple pages back in MPT thread.
 
I've seen people deposit them and the next week their bank charged it back to them when it didn't clear.
You have a brain and instincts for a reason, use them. Sounds like you already know.
No reason not to bring cash to a FTF meeting.
 
Lots of news stories of people getting robbed at FTF sells. Although, it's usually shoes or laptops.
FTF in police parking lot, or dark alley if you want to dish out the fafo option.
 
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