[MLUG - DISCUSSION] There's a Scam for everything

["F Vernon Green" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Well I had an interesting situation this weekend.

I have a boat I am trying to sell. I listed it on an Internet site that also
prints a paper copy of the ad. I received a number of e-mails from people
all wanting to buy it.

Upon closer examination all these people were from Belgium, Scotland and
West Africa.

Immediately my mind raced for reasons why these people would be interested
in my boat. There were some plausible reasons, especially for someone who is
a motivated seller, why they might want the boat. None of these reasons
really worked for me though.

I was in contact with one particular person and he promised he would be
sending a cashiers check in the next few days for payment. I then decided to
do a search on the Internet for this seemed too easy to me.

Entering a search for "boat buying scams" I found that this is a common
scam. Apparently, what they do is send you a cashier's check that is for
more than the value of the boat with the explicit directions that you are to
send the remainder of the value of the cashiers check to them immediately
upon receipt, along with the title. Of course then the check bounces and you
no longer have the title of the boat. 

Now this is a pretty hard scam to pull on someone that has no money as is
the case with me. It would be hard for me to send them a couple of thousand
dollars without the check first clearing the bank. 

This is just another one of those messed up things on the Internet that I
guess we have to put up with. Annoying.

Vern

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