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That's a new one - scam alert!

I just sold a bike to a legitimate foreigner buyer looking to export my bike. He doesn’t speak or write English very well and much of the email translation sounded fishy. He finally found a friend who was good in English and helped translated his emails and eventually made a phone call on his behalf. I delivered the bike to him for a fee and collected the payment in cash.

I helped my mom sell her 99 Infiniti Q45t about 15 years ago to a guy in Japan. He owns a dealership in Japan that specializes in American domestic market cars and was offering asking price. Asked for more detailed pictures and we e-mailed for a bit.

He wired the funds and arranged for a transport company to pick-it up. I couldn't believe how trusting he was, meanwhile I had flags and alarms and figured it was all a scam as he didn't ask for anything other than more pictures.
 
I think so. When I was selling the Harley I had a guy do the same to me and we had an email exchange that seemed almost passed the sniff test, then he insisted I run a VIN check and sent me a link. I told him how about you come look at the bike first before we go that far and he was insistent.

Agreed:
Once you get that far along in the deal, the buyer needs to come see it himself (or designate someone local on his behalf) to validate.
I guess I’m too old school, but I’m suspicious of any information sharing with strangers.
 
Wow, that can't be a common experience!

Glad the sale worked out for you.

Out of curiosity, where was the buyer from?



Vietnam. He was staying at his friend/family’s place in Austin while making the bike purchase. I ended up delivering the bike to him from Dallas for a delivery fee.
 
Agreed:

Once you get that far along in the deal, the buyer needs to come see it himself (or designate someone local on his behalf) to validate.

I guess I’m too old school, but I’m suspicious of any information sharing with strangers.



I ask the buyer to pay for the VIN check and if they decide to purchase it, I will deduct the VIN check fee from the purchase price.

I’ve met some really strange people selling bikes... I could write a book on it.
 
Vietnam. He was staying at his friend/family’s place in Austin while making the bike purchase. I ended up delivering the bike to him from Dallas for a delivery fee.
That's awesome, great to hear, thanks.

I ask the buyer to pay for the VIN check and if they decide to purchase it, I will deduct the VIN check fee from the purchase price.

I’ve met some really strange people selling bikes... I could write a book on it.
Yeah there's some real weird ones out there. I like your idea of deducting the vin check at the end.
 
I did email my guy and said that a VIN was not necessary.

We would meet at the Tax assessor's office and do the title transfer at the time of the sale.

Been radio silent ever since
 
On CL, I always put:

Cash only, no trades
Local transaction only

Seems to help a little if you are up front about stuff, and stick to your guns.
 
I’ll add one more. People showed up with cashier check from small banks/credit union. In at least one instance, I’ve gone with them to their issuing bank/credit union to cash out the cashier check. This ensure that the cashier check is valid. The bank/credit union doesn’t have enough cash on hand to give me so I ended up getting the bank/credit union to reissue me another cashier check in my name. It might sound like a lot of runaround, but there are a lot of fake cashier check fraud out there.
 
It might sound like a lot of runaround, but there are a lot of fake cashier check fraud out there.

Taking a check period is never a good idea.

I want to trust people.
But people are becoming more and more crooked.

And when they welch they get all pissy because I'm upset.
You just can't go through life using people.

:giveup:
 
Cashier's checks aren't guaranteed funds. In God we trust, all others pay cash.
 
I also sold my wife's 08 Accord on Craigslist a few months ago within 3 hours of posting the ad.

Took a handful of good pictures, was upfront about the issues and priced fair but it below market due to the intermittent AC issue it had.
 
From what I’ve read if the vin condition site is real these guys somehow get a commission from the site. Not sure if this is correct though.
 
Last 4 or 5 bikes bought and sold either on here or word of mouth. No issues with TWT folks. I have only sold one bike on CL and we did the sale at the bank holding title to the bike so he could get it right then. Of course he had trouble getting the last little bit on his mastercard, but we got her done at the end of the day.
 
When I sold the Gold Wing, the guy wanted to give me a check from BOA, instead I said we can just go to the local branch and they can give me a check. He was a little taken aback, but consented.
 
I drove 8 hours last Sunday to pick up a bike for my son for the express reason of bringing the seller cash.

My son was at college and his bank is here in Arlington. He can only withdraw $1000 a day using his debit card so he couldn't get the cash last weekend fast enough to be able to go get the bike. As a result, even though he was only 2 hours away and I was 4, I made the 8 hour round trip because I could pull the cash to do the deal.

I mention all of this because I didn't even try to mention a check or PayPal or whatever to the seller. I assumed they wanted cash and were like me in that fact.

I've got a PayPal account and will use it with established businesses, or with small dollar amounts, or with friends. But there's no way I'd accept PayPal or a check as a payment for a motorcycle from a stranger and I shouldn't expect that they would either.

Oh...good news is that we got a cool little college bike for the boy. The Super Duke has a Mini Duke playmate now.
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Congrats on the new bike. That looks like fun.

I sold my CRF250L on CL recently. Had several people saying they wanted it. I told them whoever shows up with cash first gets it. One guy did, he got it. Seems pretty straight forward to me.
 
Yes. Name is Scott Patton

That's the guy! Say's he's in San Antonio and so busy that before he comes to look at the bike he wants to be sure it has a clean history.
Once again thanks everyone for the edamacation.:clap:
 
From my Craigslist ad, a potential buyer contacts me via the CL email exchange showing interest the XRL#2.

After the 4th exchange he wants me to submit for a title search to ensure the title is clean. He also insists I use www.vinbikeinsights.com

A search on that site reveals a BBB article warning about scams where a site takes your cash and personal info ... but also gives you a title report that is all clear.

I responded back telling him it made more sense for him to do his own research instead of relying on mine. after all, I cold be trying to scam him.

We'll see how it plays out.

I am getting the same kinds of contacts after listing my GS on Craigslist. I have also been getting messages left on my phone from what is obviously a computerized voice saying they represent some company that purchases vehicles for their clients. They go straight to trash. I told the guy asking me to get a report to do it himself. He said his Dad owned a dealership and always insisted that he get a report before buying a bike.

It amazes me that these people can actually make enough money doing this kind of stuff to make it worth their while! Do that many people really fall for it?
 
Another scam that I just received is a potential buyer replying through the CL email system saying that CL seems to be having a problem with its messaging system. Please respond back through his personal email. I suppose once they get your personal email they spam it, not sure.
 
Another scam that I just received is a potential buyer replying through the CL email system saying that CL seems to be having a problem with its messaging system. Please respond back through his personal email. I suppose once they get your personal email they spam it, not sure.
Yep
 
Another scam that I just received is a potential buyer replying through the CL email system saying that CL seems to be having a problem with its messaging system. Please respond back through his personal email. I suppose once they get your personal email they spam it, not sure.

Yeah, that was the first thing I got after posting my ad. Uh nope... not doing that.
 
Do that many people really fall for it?
Sadly, yes.
You remember that old saying? There's a new one born every minute? (Suckers)
I have often thought if the crooks were to work as hard at a real job as they do at scamming folks they could be doing really well!
 
It works! One of my neighbors on Nextdoor was complaining they got scammed for a couple of thousand by "making a confirmed purchase through an ebay site". Oops. My other neighbors had no mercy...
 
That VIN check BS is a very common scam on CL. I've encountered that VIN request many times in my dealing on CL.
 
Vin scammers....kill them ALL. I tell them, Sure I'll get you one. Right after you take a test ride and tell me you want it and put the money on the table...crickets.
 
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