Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Watch out for this scam!!
A guy from the UK sent me the following E-mail saying that he will buy my ad that I posted on kingsnake for more then the price I was asking for then he ask ( This when I knew this was a scam) if I would send him shipping fees back after cashing the check. The funny things was that he never ask me questions about my ball pythons I have for sell. He ask for a few pics and that was it. Here's the E-mail he Sent:

Hello,
I'm really sorry for the late respod.I have seen the asking price and it is okay by me.I wish i
could come my self to see the article my self but
due to my work, i wount be able to come. I have about five of my clients who are interested making immediate payments. Two of them had responded very positively and i have given them my own price for selling to them. I have added my own Commission and Shipping acc charges to your own asking price and they are ready to send a cheque for the payment immediately. WHAT IS YOUR BEST OFFER? Any amount that is above your asking price on the payment would be transfer to me via western union for the shipping charges and my commission. That is my condition of sales between you (SELLER) and my client (BUYER). If you are ok with the arrangements, kindly provide me with the following details as below so that i will instruct my client to mailed the payment to you and i will also forward your address to the shipping firm, so as to contact you for the shippment as soon as the payment delivered to you PAYMENT INFORMATION:
(1). Full Name....?
(2). Full Address, City,State,Zipcode &
Country....?
(3). Mobile & Home Phone#.....?
(4). Last Price............?
(5). Send The Pics
As soon as i recieve this details, i will ensure that you recieve payment by next week. I will also contact the shipping company and their charges would be paid to them as soon as both of us agreed on terms.Please, I want you to understand that any profit i make from this transaction is how i use to earn a living. I am From the United Kingdom .....Hope to hear from you asap.
Cheers.
Ben P Shark

So he E-mail me back telling me what kind of way he will make the payment so I then look up "cashiers cheque" on yahoo search. So first thing I saw was scam, scam, and scam. Just a heads up for people who post ads on kingsnake. Have anyone get a E-mail like this before?

Another E-mail:
The mode of payment is Cashiers Cheque.As soon as you received the payment,get it cashed.Deduct your own pay and send the excess funds to the shipping agent so he could come to your location for the pick up. (sounds to good to be true if it was that easy to ship snakes out of the country lol.)

Yes... this is an old scam! It's been going on for a very long time. In fact, I was watching a show on TV today were they where descussing the problem and there's no way to catch or stop them. I've also seen other shows that tell of this wide spread problem. The only thing that can be done is to make people aware that these are scams. I get them nearly everytime I post an ad here at KS. There also common with ads on eBay. I just delete them.

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Larry Walker

WebSite

Hi all, could you explain to me how this is a scam?? I don't mean to sound totally dumb, but I don't understand how this is a scam if you recieve payment, or are they just trying to get your personal info and not actually send any payment?? I own several snakes, but I have not breed any yet...I hope to do some hobby breeding in a few years. I am a civil engineer, but know very little about the ins and outs of business and I have no experience with this type of thing. Thanks!
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-David

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 nornal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
1.0 dog (Luke)

The cashiers check is fake. They make up some reason to write it for over the amount, get you to cash it and ask for you to return the over amount. If you actually succeed in cashing it you won't for long. Eventually it will be found out and the authorities will come to you instead of them.

The only thing I would add to this is that the "Cashiers Cheque" is drawn on what appears to be an overseas bank. Therefore, because it is out of the country, the bank will cash it against your bank account. When the cheque bounces you a left high and dry. You've already sent them the overage money and they're gone with your cash.

"Cashiers Cheques" are not the same as "Cashiers Checks." "Cashiers Cheques" are from oversees banks, are easily forged, and hard to verify. "Cashiers Checks" are guaranteed funds from a US banking institution and can easily be verified.

Hope this helps

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Larry Walker

WebSite

Thanks, I did not know that.