Got an email in regard to an ad that I placed in the MTFCA want ads. Here is part of it, my response is in green:
"Cynthia Penwell" <richardmorris02@hotmail.com>
Greetings from my desk.
I want to know if you still need the requested part, as i have it for sell.
2424 9th Avenue # 2310, Longmont, CO.
you can contact me by email if you are still interested.
720-436-6174
Yes, I am interested. How much?
Tom
I still have the GIANT POWER HEAD, in good and excellent condition and .
am ready to let it go for 463USD including shipping to you
via UPS on a two working days delivery.
You can mail to me your full shipping address and phone number if you are interested
(end of email)
I continued on and asked more questions such as how thick it was and if she (he) had pictures.
He sent me pictures from this forum.
Anyway, maybe keep your eye out for this guy.
Tom:
I checked the Longmont phone book and neither Cynthia Penwell or Richard Morris is in the phone book. It makes you wonder where the picture of the head came from. I think I will go to Longmont and see if that is even a real address. I note that the head is a Giant Power Head and not a Haibe Head. Apparently they could not find a picture of a Haibe Head.
The address "looks" right. It shows up in Google Maps/View as an apartment complex. You should tell them a friend will be by to look at the head and pick it up. See if they start him-hawing then.
Dave;
If that person, only has a cell phone, he wouldn't be in the phone book.
I received an email from the same people for Dayton wire I wheel hubs. When I ask for pictures they at first said they couldn't get them to download. Then they sent pictures that were obviously cut and pasted from somewhere of brand new hubs that were not right anyway.
Just had a similar 'scammer'.
Placed an ad on the MTFCA Classifed, and even masked my email by adding the work "SCAM" in the address line, so anyone contacting me would have to re-work the address before sending me mail.
Guess that doesn't stop the scammers, here is what I got in a reply:
Hi,
I saw your wanted AD part that you are in need of the above subject.
I still have it for urgent sale. email me if you still want to buy.
lawrencecoles47@gmail.com so i can send attach picture of the part you
want to buy.
Thanks.
Needless to say, by the typed message with "urgent sale" didn't make reply.
Losing money urgently isn't my idea of fun.
Cynthia Penwell has to be a pseudonym for Richard Morris 2nd, who spends his time sending messages from his desk.
Since the item is in both "good and excellent condition" it must be worth some USD including shipping.
I am surprised to see that it is 463USD when we all know it should be $4.63
You guys can fool around with your penny-ante scammers if you want, but I want you to know that Eric Holder took time out of his busy cover-up schedule at the Department of Justice to notify me that he was holding several million dollars for me....
I got spammed out of $250 that way on e-bay. I was told the part did not sell and was for sale again. Actually only the photo was the same, but I had no way of checking the old expired ad and no way to get my money back, as I did not pay with PayPal.
The best thing to do is scrutinize all email from the free providers such as Gmail, Hotmail, etc. Especially if you plan to do business with them. English aside, you can usually tell fishing email from a sincere inquiry. Look for a form-letter format where the item is mentioned once or not at all and it makes general statements that could apply to anything.
I get email all the time like "wanting to buy you product" (sic) and they guarantee payment by credit card. They never mention what product or how many.