I recently advertised one of my Comets for sale.
On reputable sites.
I received an email from a potential buyer wanting to buy the bike.
Asked all the right questions.
Seemed genuine enough.
Anyway long story short he asked me to take the bike down off the sales sites and he would pay 500 quid over the asking price.
He then sent me a cheque for some 5 grand more than the agreed bonus sale price.
The cheque was from the Citigroup, from a german account.
Alarm bell ringing.......
Made some enquiries with local law enforcement and was told some facts I was not aware off.
Cheques can be recalled at any time after cashing them no time limit.
The vendor, me would be responsible to refund the monies.
Say was a result of criminal asset recovery...
A common scam at the moment in the classic car and bike scene is someone buys pays by cheque an amount over the sale price I was told.
This then can go two ways.
Way one:
Cheques clears the buyer asks for the vendor to ship the bike and pay the shipping cost from the overpayment and refund difference maybe cash in bike.
The buyer sends a link to pay the shipper and then the vendor gets fleeced false link.
They have even seen bikes transported and disappear in transit....
Way Two:
The vendor cashes the cheque has money in the bank, bike is sent via the buyers shipper.
Some time later up to two years has been noted cheque is recalled bike has disappeared.
Vendor is responsible for the return of the cash.
Seems money laundering is taking place using sellers of classics to clean cash and in some cases lose their vehicles and their money.
If the money is found to be dirty the seller is ultimately responsible to pay it back to the fuzz.
Glad I did my homework all very plausible had no idea until cheque landed with the overpayment of nearly 5k on it.
Cheque was dead on according to my bank, not stolen or forged.
So cheques are not the way anymore the local fuzz also explained the ins and outs of bank transfers and over payments also common way to clean dirty money.
In future I will be trading my bikes for coconuts.
Al
On reputable sites.
I received an email from a potential buyer wanting to buy the bike.
Asked all the right questions.
Seemed genuine enough.
Anyway long story short he asked me to take the bike down off the sales sites and he would pay 500 quid over the asking price.
He then sent me a cheque for some 5 grand more than the agreed bonus sale price.
The cheque was from the Citigroup, from a german account.
Alarm bell ringing.......
Made some enquiries with local law enforcement and was told some facts I was not aware off.
Cheques can be recalled at any time after cashing them no time limit.
The vendor, me would be responsible to refund the monies.
Say was a result of criminal asset recovery...
A common scam at the moment in the classic car and bike scene is someone buys pays by cheque an amount over the sale price I was told.
This then can go two ways.
Way one:
Cheques clears the buyer asks for the vendor to ship the bike and pay the shipping cost from the overpayment and refund difference maybe cash in bike.
The buyer sends a link to pay the shipper and then the vendor gets fleeced false link.
They have even seen bikes transported and disappear in transit....
Way Two:
The vendor cashes the cheque has money in the bank, bike is sent via the buyers shipper.
Some time later up to two years has been noted cheque is recalled bike has disappeared.
Vendor is responsible for the return of the cash.
Seems money laundering is taking place using sellers of classics to clean cash and in some cases lose their vehicles and their money.
If the money is found to be dirty the seller is ultimately responsible to pay it back to the fuzz.
Glad I did my homework all very plausible had no idea until cheque landed with the overpayment of nearly 5k on it.
Cheque was dead on according to my bank, not stolen or forged.
So cheques are not the way anymore the local fuzz also explained the ins and outs of bank transfers and over payments also common way to clean dirty money.
In future I will be trading my bikes for coconuts.
Al