Is he "legit"? Professional advice needed!!

[ssoorryy]

I got the same email and its spam

 

[fuji]

Essentially, if I understand you correctly, it's an international NSF cheque so to speak that gets deposited into your account.

That's a good analogy. It's probably some other sort of transaction, like a money order, but same concept. It could happen with a certified cheque too--suppose the "certified cheque" turns out to be fraudulent. Before accepting a certified cheque for a major transaction you should always contact the issuing financial institution and verify the certified cheque, then accept it *only* if you trust the issuing financial institution (perhaps you ought not to trust some foreign banks in third world countries).

The cars I have sold in the past have either been 1) cash, or 2) certified cheque or purchase order or 3) debit transfer.

The debit transfer conducted in the branch in front of the teller seems reasonably safe to me, as does a certified cheque providing you have verified it with the issuing bank first.

Is this correct?

Yeah, a senior officer at your bank should be able to verify for you whether a transaction has completely settled or not, and give you a written assurance that the funds cannot be recalled from your account. You will be surprised how much of a delay that can introduce in a process like this--money orders and cross border cheques can take 4 weeks to clear, for example.

 

[Questor]

Maybe there is a way to turn this around and scam them. tell them there is a cost to set up the account, and ask for $200 by Western Union as you have no money, etc.

ROFL Somehow I don't think he'll go for it.

 

[jimmyt]

Note: there are several emails copied and pasted. a little lengthy so please bear with me. I contacted Royal bank and asked if there will be any risk involved by providing someone my account number, the rep said "not sure, go with your instinct"
Here is a brief story of what happened. I am trying to sell my car on Autotrader.ca and a few days a ago, a guy who claimed to be a UK auto agent emailed me with the followings:
...........................................................................
GOOD DAY,

MY NAME IS MARTIN DANIELS AN AUTO AGENT BASED IN UK, ONE OF MY CLIENT IS INTERESTED IN YOUR ADVERT CAR,PLEASE EMAIL ME IF THE CAR IS STILL AVAILABLE STATING ITS CURRENT PRICE.

HOPING TO HEAR FROM YOU.

MARTIN(+447024034204)
..............................................................................................
thank you steve for your reply and your questions about me and my client.yes indeed my client is a canadian but he is an independent autotrader who does international autotrading all over .

my client buys used car from all over europe,canada,usa,and australia,he sells them to african country for the purpose of profit making.

he is not fully based in canada as he travells round to make reserch on car market,right now he is presently in india looking at the india market.

right now we are still working on getting our website uplaoded,please bear with us but i assure you that all is well all we need is your understanding to make this transaction a perfect one.

we shall be expecting the update on your car asap,as we will be very glad to make the transaction a quike one because car sales in africa is in its hottest demand now and my clinet will really love to get into the market with really sound cars and i know yours is a marketable car as long as its sound.

thanks once again for your understanding.
......................................................................................
I hope this will intereste you,my client and i were so happy when we received your response i must confess it really helped cos my client has got a buyer who has shown interest in your car so my client would love for us to make this transaction go through asap .
I wish to inform you due to time constraints on fact that we do not have much time , my client is ready to path away with the car for $12,700 based on the answers you have supplied ,this shows that the car is in a perfect condition.

My client has proposed a payment plan ,he said that i should inform you that, you should open an account with Royal Bank Of Canada where he would wire the car fund into, due to the fact that he is not presently in Canada at the moment, from his locaton he will wire your money into your Royal Bank Of Canada account.

After pay has reached you, our agent will come for the pick up and drive to a prepaid shipper to be shipped to my customer, while title papers and other necessary documents would be sent by you via courier to my customer.
..........................................................................
MYCLIENT IS IN INDIA LIKE I TOLD YOU EARLIE WHICH IS THE REASON WHY I AM REPRESENTING HIM,WHATEVER QUESTIONS YOU WISH TO ASK OR INFORMATION I ADVICE THAT YOU DIRECT IT TO ME AND I WILL GET ANSWERS FROM HIM ASAP.

MY CLINET IS A VERY BUSY MAN,AND WISHES THAT THIS TRANSACTION BE CONCLUDED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE ,PLEASE EMAIL ME THE INFORMATION THAT HE HAS REQUESTED FOR SO THAT WE CAN GO ON TO CONCLUDE THIS TRANSACTION WITHOUT DELAY HENCE YOU SAY YOU WANT THE CAR SOLD BEFORE THE 28TH OF JANUARY.

A SOON AS WE GET THE RBC ACCOUNT AND OTHER DETAIL YOUR CAR FUND WILL BE WIRED INTO YOUR ACCOUNT AND PREPAID AGENT WILL COME FOR THE PICK UP AS SOON AS YOU CONFIRM THAT YOUR MONEY HAS BEEN DEPOSITED INTO YOUR ACCOUNT.

LET ME KNOW IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTION.
.......................................................................................
I HAVE NOT HEARD FROM YOU AFTER MY LAST EMAIL TO YOU,PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON MTY CLIENT HAS ASKED THAT YOU GIVE ME YOUR PHONE NUMBER AND HE WOULD RING YOU FROM HIS LOCATION HENCE HE IS NOT IN A SERVICE AREA WHERE YOU CAN TALK TO HIM SO IF I GET YOUR PHONE N UMBER I WILL LET HIM HAVE IT WHEN HE CALLS ME TODAY.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT THERE IS NOTHING FISHY AS WE ARE GENUINE AND WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT YOUR CAR FUND WILL BE WIRED FIRST BEFORE ANY PICK UP IS DONE ,I DONT KNOW WHY PEOPEL FIND IT HARD TO DO BUSSINESS ONLINE ,I UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE LOTS OF FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY GOING ON BUT THERE ARE ALSO LEGITIMATE PEOPLE DOING BUSSINESS HERE SO I ADVICE THAT YOU PUT AWAY ALL FEAR AND THOUGHTS AND LETS DO BUSSINESS TO AVAOID DELAY.LET ME HAVE YOUR ROYAL BANK OF CANADA ACCOUNT INFO SO THAT WE GO AHEAD AND WIRE THE FUND WITHOUT DELAY.

MARTIN DANIELS.

This is a 419 NO QUESTION!! eiother stop right now, or string him along and have some fun, but DO NOT provide any actual banking information!!

 

[Questor]

Well, I think it is a legit deal and Steveng should go for it if they are offering top $ for his car. But I can understand his reluctance, so I am willing to help him out. For a fee of $150 Steveng, I will remove all risk from the transaction for you. First, you give me $150 cash, which is my processing fee. Then I will process the deal through my account, then deliver cash to you. Finally, you deliver car to Martin Daniels. Everyone is happy. PM me and we can set it up.