In the past I have had offers to sell things and send to Africa etc, you know, all the BS scams. It's generally easy for me to spot them, but I am receiving text messages about a Hammond Organ I have listed on ebay classifieds that has me wondering. Here is the messages so far. What do you think? Sounds super fishy to me, but I actually wonder if this one could be legit. But, I sure am hesitating in sending my name and address at this point.

Kerri- Hello my name is kerri simpson i will like to know if the vintage professional hammond BC is still for sale, if yes, how much is it?

Me-Yes, it's still available $xxxx obo

Kerri-OK, I want it and I hope its in good condition

Me-it needs some finish work, the repairman said it needs a new switch. Other than that when would you like to come and see it.

Kerri-Okay I can send you cash for the payment with overnight fedex and after you get the money my pickup agent will come for the pickup okay

Me- best if we can talk by phone

KErry-I'm a hearing impaired person okay

Me-Where are you located? Where would you want it sent

Kerry-I live in Oklahoma so let me have your full name and home address to send you the money.

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I would love to sell the organ but this seems so fishy to me I hesitate to give my personal information. I've tried a few questions to try to expose what this is but the answers don't totally satisfy my need to know what this is all about.

What do you think? Forget it? Do it? What other questions could I use to smoke this guy out if it is as much of a scam as I think it is?

My best guess so far is he want's my name and address and then he will want to deposit money in my bank account ect, ect ekkkkkk!
Or he sends me counterfit money. Or they have the address and arrive and who knows what criminal act might follow. Or maybe he wants to take over my ebay account or use my info for other purposes.

Sounds very fishy to me, too. Says he lives in the US, but the English is a bit strange, and his willingness to pay in advance without asking details about the condition of the organ is very shady...

he's using a voip phone thingy which means he could be located anywhere

This is a common scam.

Its a scam once he says his agent will pick it up that's a good sign Cal.

That's exactly what I thought too Cal

Scam

It’s a scam; always follow your gut feeling.

Only one question was asked about the price. And it was no problem to proceed. Well, price doesn’t matter if you have no intention to pay.

Jerryghr

It's a scam.... Here in Canada , "Kajiji" is really popular, similar to ebay,amazon,etc... and every time I put an add up, within 20 minutes I get the same message. Even "Kajiji" is aware of them

The "hearing impaired" (The scammers don't want to talk on the phone)buyer must so like the looks of the organ as to have his "agent" pick it up for him. If he was a genuine buyer, he would be the first wanting to talk to you in order to check you out as he would have more risk. I made a few private sales to total strangers before. On some occasions, I even sent items telling the buyers to send me money after they received. I won't keep trusting my instinct. I don't know exactly how I did it but on some occasions at my friend's advice I made buyers get the kind of a check from their bank and I can take it to a local branch. Once the bank gives me cash, that's the end of it. The bank cannot come back and say there wasn't sufficient fund or anything like that. There are other kinds of checks from the bank that can go wrong and in the end the bank can come back and take the money back from you.

They're manipulating you to get your bank account information and your personal details. It's as simple as that. I read about this type of scam all the time.

If she is genuine and truly "hearing-impaired" just say something like: "can you get someone with you who is NOT hearing-impaired so that person can repeat what I say to you on the phone?"

DONT LET THE SCAMMERS TAKE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY

In the end i only do buiseness when i can look people in the eyes, i allways pick up stuff i buy personally, same goes for stuff i sell, no sending... This works great for me, but then i live in Holland where everyone lives relatively near...

I have had these Scams.
The process is they send you a cheque for more value than you asked for then say just sent the over payment back.

By the time your bank has rejected it they have already got your money you sent.

Myself I took their cheque to my bank and asked them to confirm whether it was real or not....It turned out to be fraud.

It’s your common garden money laundering scam, so always avoid.

If you’re in the UK, forward all emails and details to the Action Fraud Squad

Bill

SCAM Forget it.

Think I can beat ya on the scammers, Scott. Got a call last week from a guy with an East Indian accent that said he was from the IRS and he was in the process of investigating a case in which I owed several thousand dollars in back taxes. Right away I knew it was a scam because the IRS never calls anyone - they ALWAYS inform you via registered mail.

So I asked the caller that does IRS stand for? There was a long pause, then he said "you know sir, this is very serious."

Then I asked him where the IRS was located, he paused again, then said Washington. I responded is that where you are calling from? Yes, he said. Then I said, well why does your caller ID have a Kentucky area code?

At this point he became somewhat irate and said "Sir, if you think that is a prank call, then hang up and you will suffer legal ramifications." I said fine, but when I hang up I will immediately be contacting the US Department of Commerce Fraud Division and provide them your telephone number. What is your name? He immediately hung up.

Ironically, two days later, anther very similar call, this time from a lady caller when a foreign accent, seemed to be Spanish, this time, she left a message on my answering machine to call a number with a Tennessee area code. Obviously, I didn't bother, but I did turn over both numbers to the feds, though I seriously doubt that anything will come of it.

Love the creativity of those scammers, and I cannot believe that anyone would fall for this crap, but they do. I saw on TV where someone gave a person claiming to be the IRS a credit card number because they thought they may owe and that person charged thousands of dollars of merchandise in some mid-western city, until the charge card was wiped out.

All the best,

Gary

Gary ... that's a scam that has been going around for a while now ... the guy who called me said he was agent 'Jose Martin' - with an Indian accent - and said I was going to be prosecuted for certain 'allegations' ... I called his bluff and he hung up ...

I got the call lately saying I'd won the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes. All I had to do was pay the taxes on the winnings and they would bring a new truck and a bunch of money to my house that very day! What a deal!
I led the guy on for five minutes or so, acting like I was all excited about it. I told him I didn't have all the money and would he accept a down payment. Finally I asked if he would take a sack of Polk Salad instead. He didn't know what Polk Salad was. I told him it was sorta like turnip greens and that every evening I went out and picked a mess of it and carried it home for supper, and that's about all we had to eat. I'm guessing that they didn't hear that song in India, or wherever he was calling from. I asked him if they had turnip greens in his country! It actually was fun until I got to the part where I told him his mother must be really proud of what he was doing.