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Another scam

2022-11-14 11:54:02

I have a Tandem for sale on the Club website.  I've been approached by a gentleman based in Lorient, France, who has made me a near asking price offer.  His written English was poor and although I have invited him to call me he jumped to the offer stage and suggested sending a shipping agent to me to collect the tandem after just 2 emails!

It is clearly a scam.  Such a shame that individuals like this exist...

Watch out all.

Graham

Tim Williams2022-11-15 16:24:08

This was a post from Martin that ended up on the Easter Rally thread.

It's an awful thing to happen, but I am surprised by the bank suggesting it is a sophisticated scam. I'm not in anyway victim blaming here -  mostly questioning the bank as this is a very common scam - particularly the "If I pay you far too much, then you can refund me the difference/send the money on elsewhere.

Tim

 

"Martin Thompson2022-11-14 12:46:42

With reference to the post about a scam. Everyone needs to take note of this as our bank says it is the most sophisticated scam they have ever encountered. It sounds like the same person in France approached me to purchase our Jack Taylor tandem advertised on the Tandem Club site. He sent a cheque for twice the amount and then asked me to transfer the difference to his Courier in Ireland.
 
The cheque cleared so I was happy to do so even though it seemed a huge amount for transport but he claimed he had many items for collection. Next thing he emailed me to say he had been in a bad road accident in Turkey and needed brain surgery and other treatment. He would reclaim funds from Ireland and asked if I would do the same to fund medical expenses. He would visit me in six weeks time with his wife and family with the money to get the tandem. This is after major surgery! I replied that I did not believe a word of it and would not send him money. However I acknowledged that the money was his and therefore, once our Fraud Squad gave me clearance, I would return his money but only to France not Turkey. I did submit a Suspicion Activities Report (SAR) to the police but heard no more other than an acknowledgment. However the 'scammer' rang me from France a few times to try to threaten me. But here is the crunch - I thought that having the tandem and the money I was in a strong position.
 
Not so. A couple of days later my bank account was completely cleaned out leaving me £6k in the red and the account blocked, being beyond my overdraft limit. It turned out his bank had revoked the cheque. So how can they do this after the cheque was cleared? The answer is that there are two types of cheque submission. The usual one is called 'collection' and your account is not credited until the cheque clears. The other method called 'notification' means the bank puts the money straight into your account but if the cheque subsequently fails to clear then the money is withdrawn again. Hands up if you have ever heard of such nonsense or been offered the choice by your bank.
 
The matter is not yet resolved by Barclays fraud office looking into it but currently the bank are not offering to refund me. I am at present down by £3,600. The extra £600 is because the Liz Truss mini-budget crashed the value of sterling in the midst of this period. 
Be warned, don't accept a cheque particularly from abroad. "
2022-11-16 20:53:29

I too have a Tandem for sale on the club website.  My scammer is also based in Lorient!  I was suspicious because he expressed his interest minutes after I posted the ad.  The English wasn't quite right anyway.

As Graham says, Watch out all.

Peter

2022-11-16 21:10:41

In France, one basically is allowed to pull this trick only once every 5 years, as the writer of a bounced cheque ends up on a blacklist of the Bank of France.

Just in case,

Dmitrii

2023-01-29 17:49:51

Another scammer, this time maskerading as Arthur Wilson.  Watch out.

 

Amanda Evans2023-01-30 08:37:39

Hi,

I have been contacted by James Lewsen (Based in Lorient, France) and Arthur Wilson who would like to pay buy cheque etc. Fortunately, I realised this was a scam.  Please try to make this really obvious on your website that people should be aware of these types of scams, as i am sure other members will not see this as an issue. 

Phil 

Terry Barnaby2023-01-30 20:38:54
Sorry to hear you had problems, it is really bad these days the amount of SCAMs out there, especially anything involving cheques which are a very insecure method of payment and a classic SCAM method.
 
We do put on the ForSale front page at: https://tandem-club.org.uk/forSale?cmd=viewList the message:
 
"Always be careful of fraudsters. See our help information here for more information including safe selling."
 
And the "here" link goes to: https://tandem-club.org.uk/files/help/forSale.html, which provides help on the forSale system and SCAM's we have heard about under the "Safe Selling" section.
 
When a ForSale item is added the email to the advertiser also contains this message:
"Always be careful of fraudsters. Especially with cheque payments. Please see our help information here for more information including safe selling."
With "here" a link again to the help page with this information.
 
It is also possible, as the Safe Selling section says, to hide your email and telephone number from those who do not have a website login. We vet website accounts to a degree so this provides a degree of protection at the expense of a reduced number of people able to contact you to sell the items.
 
I'm not sure there is much else we can do.
Terry
pete barton2023-03-13 20:51:00

I've had a similar incident over this weekend as I've got a tandem for sale. This time it was "Chris Turner" from Lorient. He wanted to buy the tandem without viewing it. He said he would use a shipping agent and pay by cheque.  I had already told him that payment was by bank transfer only. He tried to persuade me to take a cheque but I got back to him this morning and told him there would be no sale. Thankfully they do not have my address details.

 

I've got to say thank you to the tandem club for the information they provide on protecting yourself when selling. It was incredibly useful.

2023-05-29 13:36:57

I must add my name to the list of tandem-club members who are the targets of this "chris turner from Lorient".

Here is the email he sent offering to send his agent to pick up the tandem:

Hi,

 

I need you to know ahead that i am writing you from Lorient,France .

 

Distance and the nature of my busy schedule will not permit me to come and have a look ..

I trust the tandem is in good condition.

 

I will be sending a shipping agent to come to your location for the pick up .. All expense paid by me .. 

 

Let’s proceed with the payment !

...

I also thank you all for posting this stuff so we do not fall for this type of scam!

Stan Simister2023-05-30 20:36:38

Stan Simister 2023-30

I also received a very brief "enquiry" from " Chris Turner" yesterday re our Tandem on club's For Sale board.We were suspicious as content didn't seem right. We replied telling him to phone us no contact from him as yet. Saw other alerts on discussion board this morning. So beware he is obviously still trying to scam members!

Terry Barnaby2023-06-26 20:33:46

Hi,

We had this email from someone thanking members for reporting this as they also had an attempted SCAM from someone calling themself Chris Turner, in this case for a Land Rover from some other ForSale site. So this person/group is at it for lots of sales items. As is stated on our ForSale help/notes, cheque based payments are very in-secure and are often used for SCAMs:

I'm not a member but found a recent thread on your site about a scam relating to an attempted scam over a tandem for sale.

I have a land rover advertised on line. I accepted an email offer from Chris Turner (turnchris0902@gmail.com). They insisted paying by cheque which arrived from France. This included an over-payment to cover 'shipping agent costs'. I was on the point of depositing it at my bank when I found your thread on your forum just by searching the name 'Chris Turner Lorient'.

The story was EXACTLY the same as the email published by your member Anthony Wilmot. Word perfect (only changing the word tandem for land rover).

Just wanted to say thank you to Anthony and your members for saving me a lot of problems.

Regards
Mr Stephen Paul2023-06-27 01:05:29

He's approached me too.

 

Paul Stanford2023-06-27 13:02:53

I have also been approached by "Chris Turner' of Lorient using the same technique! You'd think he'd at least vary the name!

Having sold a couple of motorcycles and come across the same type of scam you do tend to notice that the scammers are often the first to approach you soon after the ad goes up. After a very cursory attempt at bargaining they suspiciously tend to accept price and then comes the 'Ill send my agent to collect " bit.

John Turton2023-07-10 10:27:02
You can add me to the list of targets for this scam by Chris Turner. Thankfully I saw one of these posts before paying anything. I got the bank to return the cheque. Incidentally I don't think that he needs to bounce the cheque, he just cancels it before it clears. Strangely it is a bankers cheque, not drawn or signed by him personally. Unfortunately my bank is not interested in doing anything to stop him from going on doing this.
David Pilgrim2023-10-09 18:47:03
Arthur Wilson is still at large. Similar format as posted above. A cheque would cover collection and shipping services to Guernsey.  
John Pound2023-11-05 14:25:16

Arthur Wilson is definitely about he will put a cheque in the post , you don't have to do anything 

Be on the lookout 

2023-11-06 10:34:13
Me too ... Arthur Wilson and also a certain Mrs Munch ... She'll make any cyclist scream ... In fact I wonder if they are also here in this list posing as us.
Joseph Bulloch2024-02-23 20:47:16

James Lewson from Lorient is nothing if not persistent. Here's my recent message from him, pretty much identical to those received by others in this discussion.

 Hi Joe,
I am writing to you from Lorient, France .
I will have loved to come in person to see it but distance and the nature of my busy schedule will not permit me .

I trust it is in good condition .
I will be sending a shipping agent to come to your location for the pick up .. All expense paid by me ..
Lets proceed with the payment !

2024-03-02 10:34:51
James Lewson from Lorient........I had exactly the same message which Joseph Bulloch received.