Does this sound dodgy??? advice needed....

[juicychops]

its not actually ebay, its my local classified ads. im selling my ds's cotbed and a bridesmaid dress.
a man emailed me asking what the final selling price is and i emailed back saying £140 for the items and this is what he replied with.....

Hello ,
Thanks for your reply,i will want you to know that i am okay with the price and condition of the Items (£140) but i will like you to get back to me with your (Full name,contact address and phone numbers) because i will tell my client to send you the cheque for (£2,800) on my behalf being a payment he owes me.

The reason i want him to send you the cheque is because he told me he wants to pay me by cheque and it will take longer time for a Uk cheque to clear in a Canadian bank as i am a canadian based and i don't bank with UK banks and i don't want any delay in your payment as i really need it.As soon as the cheque clears in your account i will want you to deduct the cost of the Advert and send the balance to the shipping company that handles my consignment through western union money transfer and they will come for the pick up from your location to my address as i have alot of things to ship.

Please get back to me with the details asked above so that the cheque will be made payable to you asap and i will compensate with £50 for doing this for me.I will also want you to remove the advert form the site and consider it sold to me only.

Regards
Jim
07024093164

does this sound like a genuine person asking for a favour or is it something dodgy?

[crokky]

totally and utterly dodgy

do not do anything with this person

[tissy]

money laundering

report to police

[ClareVoiant]

even if it isn't dodgy, it sounds like a load of aggravation, I wouldn't get involved personally.

[goingfor3]

Sounds crazy!!!

[hecate]

hahaha! Don't fall for that. What a load of shit.

[BooBooChicken]

agreed, its a scam

[SpandexIsMyEnemy]

agree with tissy - these people are getting really creative now aren't they.

at the v least you leave yourself wide open to having your money etc pinched, bank cleared out, and not to mention possible identity theft as i'm sure they could get the rest of the stuff they need easy enough!

[hecate]

You realise you'd posted his phone number, don't you? Are you wanting us all to bombard him with crank calls?

[AvenaLife]

Definately money laundering. I would seriously report this to the police.

[juicychops]

i did send them my name address and mobile number as i didn't think anything of it until i spoke to my dad.

il be ok wont i as long as i dont bank any cheques that come my way?

please say i will be!!!

[AvenaLife]

Take it to the police with a copy of the email. They will sort it out ad be able to advise you better.

[juicychops]

oh yeah! i wouldn't mind!

[AvenaLife]

What normally happens in these situations is the person banks the cheque and are encouraged to send the rest of the money on immediatly from their own funds. A few weeks later the cheque is returned becaus it is a fake/fraudulent so the person paying the cheque is looses alot of money that can not be traced.

[juicychops]

i have sent him an email 5 mins ago saying please ignore my last email as i dont feel comfortable doing this anymore as it sounds dodgy

so hopefully wont be sent anything

feel quite uneasy though that this person has my email address and home address, name and phone number

[AvenaLife]

Just be aware that they may try this again if they have your contact details.

[juicychops]

thanks avenalife i think if i hadn't spoken to my dad i would be one of them people cos all i was thinking about was the extra £50!!

narrow escape. god i could of lost £2600!!

[flyinglizzards]

I would send a copy of this to your local police station.
I would also contact the paper to let them know sellers are being scammed and send them a copy too. You may be one of many.

[wheresthehamster]

The original Nigerian scam.

You end up being £2660 worse off

[hecate]

Out of interest, what would happen if you got such kind of cheque, put it in your account and did nothing at all? Just in and out again?

[juicychops]

Yeah!! i feel so naieve now i wouldn't of even given it a second thought that it was fraud!!

oh god feel so silly

and the scam on that link, its the same phone number as what i have on my email!!

[AvenaLife]

hecate: It wouldn't go in and out. These cheques are either forged or stolen. If you put them in then the bank will contact the police as they are required to do so under the money laundering regulations. You should get a knock on the door. In the mean time, you will think the cheque has cleared as it takes a few weeks for the cheque to be identified as a fake/stolen. The money would have been credited to your account, you pay them what you owe, a few weeks later your bank reclaims the money back from your account and you have no way of getting this back.

[AvenaLife]

Doh! Poor you juicychops. At least you know now and have not lost any money.

[3andnomore]

how could you not have felt it was dodgy .....
I mean I can be naive at times, but well...even I wouldn't have fallen for this...glad you didn't fall fot properly, though....

[juicychops]

yeah i suppose. been on local police website and it only lets you report certain crimes by email so il print out the emails with cover letter and send it to them. i will also email the papers in a bit

i can imagine lots of people have fallen for this