Possible Western Union Scam?

clarence

clarence

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I found something on Craigslist being offered at a very good price, about half the market value. The seller claims to be in Germany, and wishes for me to prove that I have sufficient liquidity before he makes the flight over to conduct the transaction in person.

He suggests using Western Union to send the sum of cash to any friend or relative of mine. I should then scan the receipt and send the .jpg to him.

He would then fly to London, the three of us (himself, myself and my friend / relative) would meet, and if everything's fine, we would then head on to a Western Union branch to pick up the money.

I have not yet heard of any scams of this sort - they usually involve sending the Western Union transaction to the seller directly, or a friend of the seller.

What I would like to know is: Can he obtain enough information from the scanned receipt to grab the cash? Can I prevent this by doctoring the scan? And of course, should I proceed with this?

I would really appreciate your help, gentlemen.

Thank you.

Clarence
 
It shouts SCAM to me. Not sure how it works though. Unless it is a very high value item, would you fly to Germany to deliver it? If it is so valuable, why sell it at 1/2 market value. If you sent the money to a friend, he could draw it and return it to you so there is no proof of liquidity and you can still change your mind. Most of the courier companies will do COD. See what he says to that.

I would be very very suspicious.

Kim
 
Well it seems that Western Union isn't very particular about identification when it comes to collecting money:

http://www.predecimal.com/ruwarning.htm

The victim in this case had sent his money to the seller's 'assistant', but had blanked out the authorisation number in the scan he had sent, yet the fraudster was able to collect the money.

I think I'll avoid this deal. Should I report it to Craigslist, even though I do not know for sure if it is a scam?

Clarence
 
With that story, it becomes transparent. You send the money and you wait for him to come to UK. Meantime, his UK associate goes to the WU office with fake ID and collects the money. It works on "the 3 of us will collect". I wonder what would happen if you send the money, scaned the receipt, got your friend to collect and then emailed the JPG 😛 😀

Kim
 
Thanks, Kim, Kully, Jaap, Max, and Jon.

If I had more time, I would do exactly what you said, Kim, just to see how far it could go.

Oh well, I suppose I'll have to keep searching for a room to rent for next year.

Perhaps I should post a WTB ad here; at least I know I can trust you guys.

Clarence
 
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