New Twist on the Nigerian Scam?

I answered an ad in the Kentucky website used by my town for free classifieds. It listed my town in central KY as the location. The ad was for the truck described below for $3,000. But look at the response I got back below. Is it a twist on the Nigerian scam.

This is XXXXX. I received your email about my 1999 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 4X4. The truck is in great shape. It was always garaged and never smoked in. It has minor scratches, normal for the age. No mechanical or electrical problems. It has been extremely well maintained with a full service history. Clean title in hand, with no loans or liens on it. It does not need anything additional to function, has 144,000 miles. It has automatic transmission, 5.3L V8 engine, 4X4, bedliner, trailer package, LS package, power windows, power door locks, brand new bridgestone dueler A/T tires and more. It just completed a full inspection and is good to go. The price for the truck is $2,800.

For more pictures here is a link to the truck's photo gallery: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I am currently stationed at Fort xxxxx (U.S. Military training base in CA) making final preparations before deploying to Afghanistan. The truck is here with me at the base but don't worry as the shipping won't be a problem; military has a considerable discount, so I can handle it by myself with no charges whatsoever on your account. Shipping may take anywhere between 2 to 3 business days depending on the destination. All documents you need for ownership, manuals and bill of sale will be provided along with the truck. For the payment I would like to use Google Checkout as a third party. They will keep your money into a protection account until you get the truck and will release it to me after inspection period is over and you agree to keep the truck. So, this is not a blind transaction, you can see the truck before committing to buy and to eliminate any concerns you will have 5 days to inspect the truck. If you decide not to keep it Google Checkout will refund you the money, no questions asked, and shipping back will be my concern. I think this is more than fair for both of us. I'll start the official procedure, and Google Checkout will contact you about this. If you are interested in buying it just mail me back with: - Your Full Name and Address - Required by Google Checkout (You'll receive important guidelines + instructions from them.). I want to point out that because I am going to Afghanistan this sale is my top priority and I am looking after a fast transaction, with no delays. That is why I decided to lower the price, to avoid wasting time with negotiations and find a buyer as soon as possible.

Total scam.

They used to use more expensive vehicles like BMW/Mercedes as prices you couldn’t pass up.

All you need to do for these things is google specific parts of the scam.

https://www.google.com/search?q=making+final+preparations+before+deploying+to+Afghanistan&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs

You’ll find the text is used repeatedly elsewhere with different vehicles and locations.

—All you need to do for these things is google specific parts of the scam.—

I do that all the time with chain emails to determine their veracity. I completely forgot to do that here.

Duh!

I got very similar replies when I was looking for a dog a few months ago. The owners were being transferred out of town or overseas and had to find a home for an otherwise expensive dog. One of them claimed to already be in England and if I would send the cost of shipping they would have the dog on a flight right away. the thing was an obvious scam but it must be profitable because I found the same ads in several listings.

“The price for the truck is $2,800.”

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Another red flag. I don’t know why, but these scammers almost always advertize for $2,800.00.

I like to scan Craigslist and whenever I see a car or truck for sale with no local phone # and a gmail address - I hit the scam report key.

—I like to scan Craigslist and whenever I see a car or truck for sale with no local phone # and a gmail address - I hit the scam report key.—

When I sold on Craigslist I never listed my phone number or email address. It went to the “hidden” address that you give when you post the ad. I rarely came across an ad in CL that included the seller’s phone number. I didn’t even know their email address until they responded to my inquiry.

It protects the seller from spam, etc.

Regarding the $2,800 price, it was actually listed at 3,000, but in the email to me that included all the information I posted above, he dropped the price.

The reason I trusted this ad before getting the email response was 1) I didn’t even know if the price was an especially good deal; 2) It’s a very small town so I figured it was off the scammers radar.

Now that I know it’s not, I’ll treat it just like CL.

BTW, one of the cool things about the site is that one of the categories is one completely missing from CL: Guns. :-)

And maybe not coincidentally, about three months ago a seller shot a potential buyer to death at his home during a gun sale. No charges were filed as it was apparently obviously self defense. :-)

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