doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Scam Artists and our FBI - Watch Out

Sellers beware. I don’t want to insult my friends, but for the benefit of the few who might be a little more susceptible. Watch out for the Nigerian Scam artists.

I have a Mod 12 trap for sale on GA. I was contacted via email by someone who said they were in Hawaii with bad English. They said they wanted to buy it. Acted like a buyer, but not real savy. First they tried to get my bank account numbers to “transfer the money to me”. Then when I wouldn’t give that they talked about an agent buying the gun. I said I couldn’t transfer it to anyone without an FFL. They stalled for a while I kept leading them on as I knew it was a scam. Finally they said the money was coming and I could keep an extra $50, because I waited so long. It arrived VIA UPS, a cashier’s check for $4750 for a $1000 gun. I was to cash the check and wire the money back the agent.

The worst part of this story is that the FBI wouldn’t do anything about these bastards. I had the UPS account and thought they could trace it by that. They said no crime had been commited. Which is a lie, the check was a fraud. They also said they need a $ treshold before they would be interesed anyway.

I called the bank (in Florida) and they said it was the 10th call that day for bad cashiers checks. It was scam artist in Nigeria. The ups account was stolen. The name of the agent to receive the money was a real person, again a stolen identity. The email I had been emailing to also was likely a stolen email account. No way to trace anything. The bank said even with the large number of stolen check, the FBI wasn't doing anything.

The bank also said when they don’t use stolen UPS they use unsuspecting “work at home” envelope stuffers. (Mail fraud) Again, no way to trace. All of this is going on and no one is interested in stopping them. What do we pay taxes for?

I know most of you are smart enough not to fall for this scam… but just in case I thought I’d vent this out.

Jerry

When accepting payment for a gun you are selling, even a cashiers check isn't safe anymore. Money orders are just as easy to counterfit as a cashiers check. The only thing you can do is be certain the item has cleared before you ship the gun. I see a few sellers insisting on a postal money order "because that's the only thing that's safe anymore." They are in the same boat with the other money orders and cashiers checks. You might as well take a personal check, in fact it might be better, and just wait until you are sure it has cleared before shipping the gun.

At least with a postal money order the Postal inspectors will attempt to follow up. From Gerald's experience it doesn't seem like the FBI is interested in the case of cashiers checks

The FBI has always done things that bring them glamour. ie they did not go after Al Capone only the small time bank robbers of the time. Al Capone may have had too much pull for them or knew something about J. Edgar Hoover's personal life! The sad thing is that a lot of the Agents are excellent at bank fraud cases and thier HRT team is very well respected in the law enforcement special operations community(Yes I remember the Ruby Ridge thing and one bad incident can ruin public opinion.) I think that if it would make them look good thier Agents in Charge would have them investigating things like this. They are not the premier law enforcement Agency in the world as is claimed. That honor still belongs to the Border Patrol!

Let your congersman/woman know.

Mike Doerner

...Please would someone explain how you can get your bank to let you know when it has cleared? When I have asked at mine, no one seems to know just for sure .. wait two weeks? three weeks and keep checking with them?

You guys have been around the block enuff, and can sniff-out a bad deal when one comes along.

The best you can do is to try to educate people about the scams. The FBI has no authority in other countries and they will not even take a report until there is a crime. If you loose a pile of money then you can file a report. There are several counties were scamming Americans is a cottage industry and the local LEO’s will do nothing. For a couple of years I followed a lot of different scams involving wire transfers and other scams that involved selling or buying firearms. Once an email trail could be traced they were never in the country they said they were. As technology moves forward so do they, now many use a proxy service for email so email can’t be traced, at least by the programs I have. Education is the answer, keep as many people aware as possible.

I take the following precaution since being ripped off with a bad check two years ago. My regular checking account is linked to other accounts so deposited checks are credited as cash to the account. When I got burned the bank check that bounced (the issuing banks claim was that the check had been forged with a copy machine) came back from my bank after six weeks. My bank, Citibank, contacted the FBI who told them that it had a number of fraud cases from Kansas City, the origin place of the check but were unable to apprehend a known forger responsible for this in the past. The postal service did an investigation and determined that the delivery address was a building being gutted and they suspected that the demolition contractor was part of the scam but did not have enough evidence to make an arrest. The item was an Omega watch from the 1950's and though I have all the numbers it is unlikely that it is still in this country ..... they are very popular in Europe, Russia and South America. So .... I have now opened an account in a small bank where I keep only a small balance. This bank will not credit a check until it clears. usually a week for out of state checks ..... so when it clears ... I ship.

BTW ... if anyone try's to sell you an early Omega Seamaster in a red-gold case, with bumper auto movement and the original black croc strap ..... check the provenance!

Al

I have had the bank manager call the buyers bank to be sure the check is a good one and funds are in the account as I ilke to send the item out as soon as I recieve the check usually the same day.Not foolproof but I know I would not be comfortable with a seller holding both my money and my gun for very long.
Bouvier, how would one set up and account like that?I know if the check I deposit is bad they have told me they would hold me liable for the funds at my bank.
Perhaps postal money order is the only way to go and have them bless it at the PO before sending the item.