I have advertised my car on that exchange and mart website and i have had an e-mail from a man who is in holland who wants to buy its straight away, i gave him a couple of details and asked him how he would make the payment to me and he sent this back-

Does this look dodgy to anyone or is it just me being paranoid?


Thank so much for the mail , i want you to understand that i am still intrested in buying your 1999 (V) Peugeot 306 XSi , , please dont sell it out to any one.My international shipping companywould come for the shipment of the 1999 (V) Peugeot 306 XSi , as soon as payment has cleared to your account ok.Concerning payment, i would contact my assocaite in U.k that is owing me £6,000 for the good s hebought from my company ,to make out the cashiers cheque/money order to you .Please as soon as you have the cashiers cheque/moneyorder , i want you to cash it as soon as posible so that shipment can be done immediately the fund cleared and i also want you to add £250 to the price of the 1999 (V) Peugeot 306 XSi so that i can secureit .Please i want to send the balance of the cheque to my chief accountant in uk by western union money transfer so that he can pay forthe shipment of the 1999 (V) Peugeot 306 XSi , and keep the rest in the companys account . I will need your following information so that my associate can send the payment as soon as possible.

He even says he will Add on £250??

hhmmm!!!

Its dodgy - the money would go into your account but would then later be withdrawn leaving you to reimburse the bank and minus a car.

This is a well known Western Union scam - dont touch it with a barge pole !

If he wants it, tell him to get the shipping company to turn up with cash (just a thought)

I have just said it has to be a wire into my account or a cash payment!! Thought it sounded too good to be true!!!

Lead him on a bit, get his address if you can them tell him you will bring it over and he can pay you directly.

And report him...

Originally posted by scottf
Does this look dodgy to anyone or is it just me being paranoid?

You are in no way obliged to sell anything to anyone if you don't want to. If it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't, and you'd be better off just refusing the transaction than going through with it and fretting the whole time.

In this case, it's most definitely a scam. Getting an existing 'customer' to pay you instead of him (so his name never gets on any of the transactions - it looks to the bank like one 'customer' paid another...)? I don't think so!