It sounds like a typical scam. Lots of messages from road bike review like that.

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Brendan

Yep, scam. I got a lot of these type of emails when selling a mountain bike on craigslist.com.



PS. Don't forget to send me pics of your Fox (from an earlier PM) :)



Chris

******************

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Chris
*********************
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
― Hunter S. Thompson,

reply and say they've been crashed and a couple of the spokes have big cracks, the bearings are pretty rough and they're both out of round and out of true. then say you want $100 more than your original asking price, as you've recieved many offers. ;)

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____________________________________________________________
"I'm happy when life's good,
and when it's bad I cry.
I've got values but I don't know how or why."
- The Who

never take a check!

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mcoker

Scam...I actually received a ton of e-mails like that when selling a bike last month. They all came from Yahoo accounts, most international, and one guy actually sent me a check for $1000 US for a $400 bike. He said keep the change, so I ripped up the cheque and threw it out. Incidentally, he was from Spain.

I don't know what the scam is, but it's a scam, without a doubt.

Why? Why do they all want to pay by cheque or money order? I would figure once it's cashed, you're ok, but it seems to be a common theme in the scam.

I would agree. Once it has cleared your bank isn't it your money?

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http://www.MikeCaiazzo.com
http://www.USProTri.com

Yes, it is your money. But you still have to get past step one: clearing the check. They are probably hoping you'll deposit the check and send the item before it clears.

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- Nick
Now that I know some of you guys look through the special needs bags for kicks, I'm gonna put some really weird stuff in mine. I can see it now. "What the heck was he going to do with a family pack of KFC chicken, a football helmet full of peanut butter, a 12 inch rubber dildo, and naked pictures of Bea Arthur?"

It's not really a check, but a fake check. The money posts to your account, and then you send the item. After the bank figures out that the check is fake, drawn on a false account, then the money comes out of your account and you're out both the money and the item you just sent off.

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

https://triomultisport.com/
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/

That explains it, because the cheque that I received from a guy is Spain (that I tore up) didn't have a watermark. The cheque clearly said to hold it up to a light to see the watermark, and when I did there was nothing.

My question is how do these guys find these classified listings? I posted mine on canadiancyclist.com and endurosport.com, and I was flooded with these strange e-mails - I would say 5 weird e-mails for every 1 legit.

They employ simple web bots (Data Mining - http://www.botspot.com/) that scour the web in a similar manner as the search engines at Google, MSN, Alta Vista.

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not only is it a fake check, but most times the check is for more than the amount you are asking, so they want you to Western Union them the difference. They aren't trying to rip off your wheels, they want cash.

Is it legit if it comes through western union?

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http://www.MikeCaiazzo.com
http://www.USProTri.com

No, they'll dummy up a Western Union money order and send it to you, and ask you to send back one for the difference. By the time you find out that yours was bogus, you're screwed.

Check out: http://www.thescambaiter.com/ for information about having fun with scammers.