I replied to an add for a very cheap 2 month old Triumph motorbike on ebay and this is the reply
Message body I'm in a military base now. We are training, getting ready for Iraq . I'm only allowed to check my email twice a day. I hope you can understand that we will have to stick to email for now. Being in the army has some advantages. I can ship it very cheap. I will take care of the shipping charges, like I said in my first email. I think I can have it there in 3-4 working days. I am a member of the eBay buyer protection program and using this service you will get a 5 days testing period after delivery(starting the day you receive the moto). During that 5 days testing period I will not be getting any money. You can choose to cancel the agreement. In this case, PayPal will give you a full refund, and I will get my moto back, all on my costs. I would like to know if this is reasonable and if you have decided to buy the moto, please confirm your PayPal e-mail for the following instructions and how this works. Best regards, Alexandra Corones
Many shop keepers got taken in via a credit card scam years back where a large phone order was placed with them and paid by card. A few days later it would turn out it was a cloned card and the bank would reverse the transaction leaving the shop keeper with no money and no stock and of course the address the stock was sent to was some random place with a conman waiting outside to intercept the delivery. I would bet that this guy has a foreign bank account that would be closed the day after the paypal money went in and his ebay account would disappear at the same time and no bike would have ever actually existed..
There's a million of these on the go. My dad gets regular phone calls usually about how his computer has contacted "them" because it has viruses and he needs to confirm his internet provider and give them his details. The funny thing is dad doesn't have a computer.
Slash, my wife had a funny one the other day, some Indian rang to ask "why we were on the do not call register". Her reply was "so people like you can't ring me"
This is a regular scam. It's been around for a while. There's different versions. At a Military base, working on an offshore oil rig, working in Mining, Work as a pilot .
It's important that members get the full picture ... as a warning. Thank you, Norm, and all contributors, for that.
I would like to write more but I can only check my emails twice a day. You see, I am in the military. On weekends, I make ends meet on an offshore oil rig. Every second month I work deep underground in an Nigerian coal mine. Conditions are bad, and I fear for my lungs ... and the future of my 13 children ...
I hope my studies - to be a pilot, flying our new Handley Page machines, will pay-off in the future. I remain cheerful and happy, if only I had a bit of money, so my children can eat something tonight ... Little Timmy is crying with hunger as I write ...
The potato famine has hit hard this year. We are sustained by my wife's pea soup. We find her adding two peas too strong for our delicate stomachs. She regularly removes one pea, which we save for the next meal.
I hope one day my eldest, Freddy, will be able to attend the university and earn enough to repay you ... that is after he pays for his Grandma's operation...
On a Current Affair last night a woman paid $5000 to scammers on the latest ATO "you must pay immediately or the police will be there in half an hour to take you straight to jail" scam. A mate of mine and one of my sons have had this similar call in the last few weeks, obviously they pick after the end of the financial year to work this one. I think everyone here would be smart enough to see through this but you always must be on your guard, only takes one $5000 payday to make it worth it for them
My dad got a similar call but because he hadn't paid his taxes from some years back the police would be there in half an hour. Dad has been on a pension for years and doesn't need to do a tax return.
Sadly the world is full of law abiding do-gooders and they fall for this crap on a daily basis. Honestly though I don't know how some people sleep at night.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
