Scam Warning!!! Overseas Buyers There have been several incidents where ads posted on this board have been targeted by scam artists. Please do not become a victim of this. The message received frequently indicates that the sender is a car dealer in Nigeria or Saudi Arabia or some other exotic locale, but recently European countries have been showing up as well. It is generally obvious that English is not their first language, but the grammer has been improving lately. The message goes on to say that they want to buy your car and they have a contact in the USA who owes them money. They offer to have this American contact send a cashier's check (counterfeit) or wire the money to your bank. Of course the amount is more than you are asking for your car so they want you to send the surplus on to them. They don't ask any questions about the car (they really don't care). Beware of these scams. The premise behind this scam is that most US banks will automatically clear the funds after two weeks, whether or not they get a clearance from the source bank. Many of them will clear a cashier's check in 24 hours. People believe they have the funds (i.e. the check cleared) and then the bank withdraws the money a month later. It makes no difference that you were acting in good faith! Closing the account is not a good option as the bank will try to charge you with fraud, even though the issue was caused by their automatic check clearing. The amount that you lose is enough to hurt your personal finances severely, but not enough to interest the FBI. Internet car ads can be dangerous. Unfortunately, about the only thing that I can do is to warn you. Another scam attempt, received by a club member: Hello I'm xxxxx xxxxx.I am interested in your (advertised item) for sale and I'll like to know cost and to see the pictures and condition if okay with me .but will like to know some few things about it. 1. How long have you owned it? 2. Why are you selling it? 3.What sort of condition is it at the moment? 4. The bottom price which you will be selling it? And please let me know if it's still available for sale . Based in UK .If you do I want you to get in touch with me immediately for me to proceed with the Payment. As for the shipping I'll contact a shipper agent of mine who will arrange for the Pick up as soon as the transaction is sealed and get back to me.I will be looking forward to your response. Thanks and have nice day This type of scam is similar in nature to the "overseas buyer" scam described above. The fraud occurs during payment for the item. More information on internet scams: www.Fraud.org If you have any questions, please email classifieds@chicagolandmgclub.com. ©2004 Chicagoland MG Club, All rights reserved.