Scams discussion

cpaharley2008 · 08-11-2014, 06:09 PM

Nineteen for sale does not list their state/locale under their name, their profile says alabama….

Ron in BC · 08-11-2014, 06:14 PM

Their ad states, "Renton, WA

Ron

cpaharley2008 · 08-11-2014, 06:21 PM

Click on profile and the state says Alabama, possible scammer, be careful. Only one post is another indicator.

J Mac · 08-11-2014, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Click on profile and the state says Alabama, possible scammer, be careful. Only one post is another indicator.

I've read about trailer 4 sale scams but I don't know how the scammer gets money. How does this work?
It could educate us all!

Brian B-P · 08-11-2014, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J Mac

I've read about trailer 4 sale scams but I don't know how the scammer gets money. How does this work?

There are various schemes, generally involving having the buyer send money before receiving the trailer (such as for shipping), then disappearing.

J Mac · 08-11-2014, 08:19 PM

No escrow?

float5 · 08-11-2014, 08:20 PM

How the scammer gets money: You send it to him.

The best way to avoid scams is to go see the trailer, which is difficult for a scammer to have you do but not impossible. Most scams are long distance deals where someone sends money for an item, not suspecting a scam, and then does not receive the goods.

On this forum, I would expect that someone would either know the seller or ETI could verify. No way do you want to do a long distance sale without someone reliable involved to confirm that it is legitimate. Most scams could not happen if the item were in your local area. If this one is not a scam, the person should be back on with some way of verifying.

**Donna D.** · 08-11-2014, 08:24 PM

AND, if anyone tries to Scam a trailer for sale here on the EscapeForum, I can promise you the thread will be shut down immediately AND the OPs IP address will be blocked. GRRRRRR. Hate scammers.

cpaharley2008 · 08-12-2014, 02:31 PM

Perhaps due to some irregularities in the profile info caused some concern as that is the first place I look for additional information.

**Donna D.** · 08-12-2014, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nineteen4sale

For whatever reason this ad generated so much suspicion, I'm not sure.

Maybe because your profile doesn't give us a first name and it says you live in Alabama? And yet the trailer is for sale on the west coast...

LeonW · 08-12-2014, 04:33 PM

Just a guess, but the profile may say "Alabama" because that is the first item (and hence the default) in the drop-down list. So if someone was setting up a profile but didn't complete all the info, that would be the state/province. I understand why folks may have been suspicious, but I bet that a lot of folks don't understand that the profile is how we try to figure out the person behind the persona...

It is interesting to me to find out that there are almost 1000 Escape Trailers "in the wild". But a relatively small portion of Escape owners participate in the forum. Not sure how many total members there are, but my guess is that the active members number maybe somewhere around 100 or 150. Pretty surprising to me in that I think this is a pretty welcoming and tolerant group. And there is an amazing amount of information to be found here. Not surprising to see folks show up who have Escapes but are new to our community.

escape artist · 08-12-2014, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nineteen4sale

For whatever reason this ad generated so much suspicion, I'm not sure.

The sale to us by Escape Trailers can be verified and no money will be asked for until the buyer has looked at the trailer and we are both satisfied with the terms of the transaction. Simple as that.

Hi: nineteen4sale... Can't be to careful these days... what with stolen trailers and stolen identities!!! When something doesn't look right most everybody steps back. Those that don't can be victims!!!
Hope your sale goes ok. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

cpaharley2008 · 08-12-2014, 05:06 PM

but my guess is that the active members number maybe somewhere around 100 or 150.

I believe we have maybe 3146 forum members, but not all forum members are owners, at least 120 owners were at the rally, there are 179 on the map which maybe account for 50% owners who are members.

gbaglo · 08-12-2014, 05:13 PM

We do seem to be off topic here.

**rbryan4** · 08-12-2014, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeonW

...my guess is that the active members number maybe somewhere around 100 or 150. Pretty surprising to me in that I think this is a pretty welcoming and tolerant group....

I agree its a great forum, and the info here is valuable. But, there are alot of folks who just don't use a computer very much, nor do they have the desire to. As a guy who has to pretty much be saturated with all things IT (because that's my job), I find the idea of not using a computer refreshing. I may even envy people who don't need it.

float5 · 08-12-2014, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nineteen4sale

For whatever reason this ad generated so much suspicion, I'm not sure.

The sale to us by Escape Trailers can be verified and no money will be asked for until the buyer has looked at the trailer and we are both satisfied with the terms of the transaction. Simple as that.

I was not suspicious of your ad but someone was because of your profile location not agreeing with the trailer location. On other forums, there are quite a few scams coming up so people tend to jump on an ad right away if they see anything amiss.

You should be able to sell easily and no doubt that will be soon. As a seller, you might have more reason to worry about a buyer.

Brian B-P · 08-12-2014, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J Mac

No escrow?

In a major purchase (such as a house), a trusted party holds the payment "in escrow" until the property has been transferred, to protect the buyer. I suppose you could do that for a trailer, but in the trailer-based scams I've seen they are not asking for payment for the trailer up front, but usually just something like shipping cost.

That's not happening in this case, of course, since the seller is offering to show the trailer in person; there is nothing remote (and thus requiring shipping) about the offer. I don't see a suggestion of a scam here, just responding to the question of how a trailer sale could be a scam.

Jim Bennett · 08-12-2014, 09:00 PM

I for one did think that some were way too quick to pass judgement on 194sale. Maybe a message to him first to allow him to clarify, before labeling him as a potential scammer would have been warranted. Not saying at all that one should not be careful, I just like to first give someone the benefit of the doubt. Could be I am too trusting of a person.

Be cautious with sellers offering to use escrow services, especially Amazon Money. Although that is a bona fide company, it is currently only available in the US. What scammers to is to say they will set everything up asking for your contact infor, and that Amazon will contact for further details. For starters, only you can set an account and your end of a transaction with the escrow company. What the spammer does next, if you are following along is to have someone contact you saying they are from Amazon, is send out an email that looks totally legit, using the Amazon logos, and everything. One key thing is that they usually include shipping and taxes in their price. I went through all this when buying a truck a short while ago, was a bit cautious and suspicious, did my homework, and all the bells that went off originally became full blown sirens.

I know ebay strongly suggests using Excrow.com for secure buying and selling, and to avoid any others. I had suggested to the truck seller above that this is the route we should go, then heard nothing from him, that is until near a week later when somebody from Amazon Money in California phoned me to complete the bank data need to close the transaction. I don't say it often, but do enjoy telling a worthy recipient to "Piss Off!".

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