Scam artists

[Blue Viking]

Since I posted that information about available birchbark canoes on our For Sale gallery, I have received four emails from bad and/or phony check artists who are willing to send me a check over and above the cost of the canoe and the shipping instructions...These are checks and or money orders that appear good on the surface but are just duplicates of real ones...What I have done is inform them that I only take Paypal and they go away...Just a quick blurp to let you know that they do read our site............Thanks!

 

[MikeCav]

But lucky for us, our site has great people like that poor exiled king of an african nation who... Oh wait! What was I thinking?

Actually, we are lucky that Dan, Benson and Tim have gone to superhuman efforts to keep the scammers to a minimum! Thanks guys.

 

[beaver]

Since I posted that information about available birchbark canoes on our For Sale gallery, I have received four emails from bad and/or phony check artists who are willing to send me a check over and above the cost of the canoe and the shipping instructions...These are checks and or money orders that appear good on the surface but are just duplicates of real ones...What I have done is inform them that I only take Paypal and they go away...Just a quick blurp to let you know that they do read our site............Thanks!

I too have had scammers try to buy my canoes. The WCHA site reaches out to many people. I reported it to our police dept. They did some research to find they were Nigerians living in Canada. Who would have thunk that eh?

 

[MikeCav]

Just seconds ago I got a long detailed e-mail - the first paragraph of which is below.

>>I am MR SAMUELAMAGO. the bill and exchange manager at the foreignremittancedepartment of BANK OF AFRICA. I got your contact from theinternet,while seaching for an honest and trust worthy person, who willassistme to implement this transfer.l discovered the sum of FIFTEENMILLION,United States Dollars ( 15.Million usd ) belonging to adeceasedcustomer of this bank.<<

I did a Google search for "honest and trust worthy" and sure enough, my name came up first - so I think this is legit!

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Mike

You've alwaysseemmed likea honestguy to metoo.

Now we know why I've never been contacted.

 

[JPembleton]

I've sold a couple of used canoes in the last few years and have had more than my share of scam emails.
I've gotten it down to a science now though. %80 of the scam artists have had a yahoo.com email account. Now, everytime I receive a yahoo email I just delete it. It's not even fun to read them anymore.

If someone want to sends a "certified" bank order then tell them they will have to wait 3 - 4 weeks after you cash it before they can take the canoe. This should allow time for the paper work to go through its process and help determine the authenticity (SP?) of the cheque.

Jamie