Beware - New Scam

[gjstacy]

I just read an alert as follows: "The Federal Trade Commission is warning of a surge in a new scam - phony checks that look real...The con works like this: You get an unexpected check from what appears to be a legitimate, trusted source with a letter saying you've won an award, prize, lottery or some other windfall. You are instructed to deposit the check and then wire a portion back to the sender to cover fees, taxes or other charges. Inevitably, not long after the check is deposted and the funds are transferred, your bank learns the check was fake. By law, you're on the hook to make good on the funds."

I provide this quote because I know this to be true. When we had our 2004 up for sale, we exchanged emails just this past January with a party in Europe who claimed interest in buying our rig. After a few exchanges, he said that they would send a cashiers check in payment that would include our asking price as well as an extra amount for shipping the coach to England. Then, we would be given instructions on who to wire the shipping amount to. Fortunately, we were skeptical and with the help of Burk and our daughter we realized the potential problem, we replied that if they were truly interested they had to process the transaction through an international auto broker. Needless to say, we never heard from them again.

Incredibly, not long after that, as my brother was trying to sell his trailer, he received a similar email from Europe.

So, if you are advertising your rig for sale, please be alert for this terrible scam!!

[gjstacy]

I just read an alert as follows: "The Federal Trade Commission is warning of a surge in a new scam - phony checks that look real...The con works like this: You get an unexpected check from what appears to be a legitimate, trusted source with a letter saying you've won an award, prize, lottery or some other windfall. You are instructed to deposit the check and then wire a portion back to the sender to cover fees, taxes or other charges. Inevitably, not long after the check is deposted and the funds are transferred, your bank learns the check was fake. By law, you're on the hook to make good on the funds."

I provide this quote because I know this to be true. When we had our 2004 up for sale, we exchanged emails just this past January with a party in Europe who claimed interest in buying our rig. After a few exchanges, he said that they would send a cashiers check in payment that would include our asking price as well as an extra amount for shipping the coach to England. Then, we would be given instructions on who to wire the shipping amount to. Fortunately, we were skeptical and with the help of Burk and our daughter we realized the potential problem, we replied that if they were truly interested they had to process the transaction through an international auto broker. Needless to say, we never heard from them again.

Incredibly, not long after that, as my brother was trying to sell his trailer, he received a similar email from Europe.

So, if you are advertising your rig for sale, please be alert for this terrible scam!!