BEWARE--Ive been scammed--ALMOST--MUST READ!!

[John T 744]

People be careful and triple check those who owe you money. This week as some of you know I sold my Bucket truck. 3 people tried to scam me and the last guy who I thought was possibly a scammer bought the truck.

Basically watch out for anyone who sends you a check that is for to much and then they want you to wire them the difference to a phony shipper that in place.

Here's what happened briefly and all in a week.

1- Somebody copied the EBAY website and they sent me email thru the phony site to closed a deal. The site looked real and an exact duplicate. Great job except he was messing with Law enforcement. We tracked his IP to England and then I personally sent him a message just to sink it to him. If your Mother is alive..look into here eyes and tell her what you have done. You tried to rip off a hard working person thru fraud. Just think about your mother. You should be ashamed of yourself.

2-Somebody else copied PayPal site to the tee and even put transaction numbers in it. Looked great but my Momma did not raise a fool....well not most of the time. I checked him out thru paypal and there powers to be and he has been reported for fraud. They have his IP address. Don't know where that one is going to go.

3- Yesterday I get to checks from the guy who won my truck and another guy who thinks we have a deal even though he didnt follow thru fast enough. His check was for $2000 to much but he wanted me to cash it and send it to his shipper(Phony). So I take both of these checks to the bank and me and the manager now sit down and out comes the Magnifying lens. Both checks look great and are detailed to the tee. So the manager calls the first one which is the one I have no deal with the guy even though the check is much larger. The check comes from the University of Florida adminstrators office. It is an Exact copy. One problem the check numbers dont exist. The bank now takes that check and its being sent to the proper authorities. Needless to say the University of Florida is shocked.

4-The last check we call the bank and its for real. The guy who bought my truck we have very little communication. End result bang the check is over nighted here and the next day the truck was picked up.

Be Careful!!!!!!!!!!!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

So you did end up selling it? And what happened to the other guy? This is confusing.....They should not have messed with a cop!

Beth

[Doug Black 18]

The other check was legit and thus the truck was sold. I think...

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I think so too. But which one had the 2K overage, the fake one or the real one?

Beth

[Rick2 42]

This scam has been going on for a while. They send you too much, you send them the difference, then you find out the check they sent you is worthless.

I get calls from Jamaica once a month or so from some guy wanting to buy my accounts. "Sell me your customers, I'm the richest man in Jamaica. You are rich too, no? Send me the information on your computer." This is exactly what he tells me. Other times they are telling me I won 2 and a half million dollars and a new car. I tell him the he is the tenth caller and just won the Pro-Power Lotto and all he has to do is send me his bank account number and I'll wire him the money. This causes him to hang up the phone each time. You think he'd stop calling by now.

[C&S Property Services 24]

I dont think John knows who he sold his truck too...LOL. Thank goodness for him he is so addicted to ebay that he caught onto these scams. I would have been oblivious to it...

[Dieseldad97 14]

I dont think John knows who he sold his truck too...LOL. Thank goodness for him he is so addicted to ebay that he caught onto these scams. I would have been oblivious to it...

I agree. I've been ebaying for years and never been scammed. I'm the kind of guy who thinks everyone is honest. Hasn't bit me yet...

[Doug Black 18]

I think so too. But which one had the 2K overage, the fake one or the real one?

Beth

the fake one

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Thanks...that's what I thought....

Beth

[John T 744]

Yes the larger check was the fake because they want a return. The copying of websites is called PHISHING which means--the practice of using fraudulent e-mails and copies of legitimate websites to extract financial data from computer users for purposes of identity theft. Just be very careful!!!!!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I'm the kind of guy who thinks everyone is honest. Hasn't bit me yet...

I have that predilection as well...at least, I like to think of people as good primarily.

In person, I can spot a bad one after many years of exp. But over the internet, it is much more challenging.

John is a good natured person and I can understand when he gets upset by things like this. He also understands the far-reaching effects scammers have on others.

Buyer beware!

Rod!~

[John T 744]

A good friend of mine had an aunt who passed away around 5 yrs ago. She was extremely outgoing and just a great person to be around. If you can picture her in your mind she was like this. She was a large woman who just loved life and she never cared what people thought about her. She was the same around me, you or anyone. A truly lively and lovely person. Her name was "Aunt Irene". I was at a function years ago and I spotted here there. She just cut the whole line of people at the Buffet table to get her plate full. She had this way about her that she could get away with that because as soon as she talked she would make you laugh or at the very least make you smile.

She was as vibrant as a person that I ever met..yet she would tell in the middle of a story that "People suck". Its like that was her motto and it was funny.

When she died suddenly late at night(She was 71) after telling her husband that she had indegestion and then she went back to sleep..she never woke up.

Many people were saddened by the tremendous loss of "Aunt Irene" being gone forever. The message that she left was this. She said people suck because she got raked over the coals a few times in life but she always said it jokingly because these bad people that did this to her could not break her spirit. It was such a Joke with her to say "People Suck" after someone tells a horror story. Just the way she said it and she was a Robust woman she would have the whole table laughing.

She never let anyone down and she was always there for my friend and his family. She truly loved.....people.

[Greg R 82]

Yep - you have to be carefull and no matter where the buyer is from. I would always call in the check to make sure its all good as well. In another business I was involved in we were given a check for $8K from a West Uni** branch from a supposedly "licensed" dealer in Illinois. I called the check in to West Uni** and they verified it was a legit check. Unfortunately 4 weeks later the bank returned it as it was one of 120 checks that were stolen out of a branch office and not reported. $8,000! We about filpped to say the least. I had all the guys details, copies of his license, retail cert, business license and everything and it was all fake.

Long story short I managed to track the son of a b**** down and he was arrested along with several others and it turned out this was a big theft ring responsible for millions of stolen property through Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. Got to pick him out of a line up and everything :)

[Rick2 42]

I sort of keep up with the different scam the occur over the net and it seems everytime the name Western Union there is usually bad news to follow.

[Mark Williamson 14]

Hey John, I often thought about a truck like the one you sold for my business. Was it not right for your business?

[John T 744]

Hey John, I often thought about a truck like the one you sold for my business. Was it not right for your business?

Hey Mark--That bucket truck was a homerun for my business. It was a money maker. You can buy these type trucks fairly cheep thru a site like this where I bought this truck http://buckettrucksusa.com/ The problem I was having with this truck I found out I needed bigger lifts. Then I needed another truck stronger to tow my trailers since this small bucket already weighed almost 10,000 lbs. I wish I didnt sell this truck but there was some things on it that had to be fixed such as the lift slipping so now this truck was going to cost me to much money.

IF I do it again I would buy from this place again because there reasonable and they will paint the truck to your colors at a very low price. I almost bought this truck for the room. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160505395156&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

I'm looking at next time buying a lift that opens up to around 55 ' that can be towed on a trailer and driven on its own and thu narrow openings. That would be my next way to go or just rent.