As many of you are
aware, the Internet is rife with scam artists that are
working hard to get our hard earned dollar. It is important
to note that these scam artists are especially targeting
people that buy and sell large ticket items over the
net, and this includes farm equipment.
Often the scam-artists are working
in boiler-room operations in Nigeria, and other African
nations, although some bogus purchase offers have also
come from European nations such as the Netherlands.
Forged Cheques
Usually these offenders send email
offers to purchase your equipment or other items at
a price much higher than you had asked, then mail you
a worthless Money Order or Cashier's Check for an even
larger amount and ask you to refund part of the overpayment
to another person they owe money to for some other transaction
or service. Usually you are so happy to make the sale
that you comply with their demands.
When told of this scam people often
react with incredulous comments such as, "how can
you possibly fake a cashier's cheque", or "the
bank should be able to tell if a cheque is bogus, shouldn't
it?"
Here is an interesting quote from
the IOWA
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE website:
-
"Even the most skeptical
consumer can be deceived, and it all comes back
to the cashier's check supposedly from a U.S. bank,"
Miller said. "First, the checks are superb
facsimiles -- counterfeit, but so authentic that
they often fool bank personnel who study them. Second,
people think the cashier's check must be good when
the bank gives them the money - especially if they
insist they are skeptical, as many victims do."
How to tell a Scam
Keep in mind that not all emails
you receive will be scams. However, when someone wants
to "overpay" you, and you have to send them
cash, then this is a sure sign of a scam.
Be friendly, but suspicious, of
all buyers. However keep in mind that an honest buyer
will also rightfully be suspicious of you. The best
way to establish a trust relationship is to do a bit
of research. Before closing the deal make sure you know
the buyers real address and phone number. Call them
at this number to be sure that this is a valid contact.
Also, look up their name in the phone book and double
check that they really do exist at that number. You
can use a website such as http://infospace.com to do
phone numbers lookups and also reverse lookups.
Look at the buyers email address.
Scammers always use free email addresses, such as yahoo.com
or hotmail.com (or many others) which are virtually
untraceable. If you see this type of email address,
be suspicious.
Some of the scam emails you receive
are often written and spelled very poorly. ALthough,
this is not proof that the email is from a scammer,
this is a warning sign that you should be suspicious
of the sender. If you want to see what the typical email
looks like, there are some sample
emails on this page.
If you are using WebFarmer.com
to post ads, your email address is "cloaked".
To make contact the potential buyer has to fill out
a form on the site. By using this form, buyers IP addresses
can be tracked, and sellers can be warned if any of
these emails are coming from African or European nations.
Also, if it is detected that a buyer is contacting many
different sellers at random, then it can be considered
that this is a scam artist casting out a wide net.
If scam activity is detected then
the IP address can be banned from the site. For example,
currently at Webfarmer.com we are banning over 10 different
IP combinations in an effort to block scam-artists from
entering the site. (If you are a webmaster, and you
want a copy of this list, contact me via the contact
form at WebFarmer.com)
Conclusion
Unfortunately, this type of illegal
behavior is here to stay. As much as anyone does to
fight back against these ruthless thieves, they will
always find a way to cast their net and find poor defenseless
victims. This is a war, and it requires continuous vigilance.
We must fight back!
Mark Nelson - Webmaster http://www.webfarmer.com
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