How does this scam work?
 

I'm trying to sell one of my textbook so I listed it on a site. I get an email asking me for the price and condition of the book. I replied stating $80 cash and I'll give him some other things for the course. I got this today.

I've sold books before. It's usually meeting at campus and it's a straight exchange. Money for book.

So how does this scam work. And better yet, what's a creative way to scam the scammer?

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Western Union is always a scam.

Re: How does this scam work?
 

This is probably a scam. This is how I think it's done: You charge $80 for the book, they send you a money order for say $200. You cash it in and take your money for the book. You then hand the "additional cash" and the book to the person showing up at yours. Later when the bank tries to process this money order, it is discovered as a fake. So you have lost your book and $200.

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Yep,

Scam. Nothing wrong with Western Union by the way (apart from the fees). I've sold some stuff on eBay and someone from outside the UK wanted me to ship to them (even though I said UK only).

They offered to pay by Western Union. I went to an agent got paid in Cash (it was a couple of hundred pounds I think).

Can't really scam cash...

Problem is, they arn't paying you by western union. They just want you to send them payment by it (so you can't scam them :))

Just them you don't trust money orders and ask them if they could pay by Western Union instead and you would send them the excess payment back the same way.

Bet you don't hear from them again.

Zuber (Ex N810 owner)

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Yup. Go Google and look up "Western Union money order" and you'll see.

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Interesting.

So I take it this is differnet (a money order) to what I had.

I literally went to a shop with a Western Union logo and gave them a reference number, proof of identity and they just handed over some real bank notes.

I think they said that for larger sums, they would issue a cheque. Since the cheque would be from the western union agent, I can't see how they could scam you...

Sounds like what you are talking about are "Fake" money orders ?

Zuber

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Here is a description of the scam:

http://www.lets-ride.com/classifieda...s/thescams.htm

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Never send/recieve money orders from a stranger. Money orders are for sending money to your family, not for deals where you need a way to retrieve the money if something happens, and it makes you vulnerable to a series of scams.

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Agreed.... I am a western union agent, and I can tell you that we get training to avoid a huge list of scams.....

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Scammers (and legitimate people) use Western Union because it doesn't have Paypal's feature of "if you're not happy, we'll refund the money." So, you get a bad money order. You deposit it and think you have money. You use Western Union to send off the left-overs to the scammer and ship your book. A few days later, the bank discovers you deposited a fraudulent money order and removes the deposited amount from your account. You can't "repeal" the Western Union transaction and you can't call back your package. Scammer has book and money, and you have squat.

Wester Union is used as a scam by SELLERS. You, as the victim buyer, wires them money....and they send you squat. Now you have to go to the police.

- Jim

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Actually, they're also useful when you go on vacation. If you'd lose the cheques you can get the money back.

Re: How does this scam work?
 

In some countries, money orders aren't accepted. When I lived in Moscow, I had to go to a certain bank a long way from where I lived to cash a money order. After waiting in line, I got my money.

On the other hand, my Citibank card worked all over the place. If I lost it, I would go into a Citibank and I'm sure they'd help me.

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Lol. Yes there was never a doubt that this was a scam. Just wanted to know how it works. Thanks for that.

Was looking for a creative way to do something with this. IE track him down somehow. Something fun and productive.

Re: How does this scam work?
 

Ask him {her} why he/she can't do a normal on campus swap. There are two things that can happen,

A) he/she ignores you
B) a really long sob story, etc...

With the sob story, its becomes really interesting, because unless the person is a veteran scam artist, there will be holes or a very weak story. Might be fun to show him/her what a looser he/she is for trying to pull such a scam...