Scam Alert

[polymaj]

I received an offer from a RE agent located in UK. He sent me a Cashiers check for my asking price+10% on my condo in Bangkok.

In the letter with the check he asked that I cash it take my money plus any expenses in sale and THEN RETURN THE EXCESS MONEY

TO HIM BY WIRE. 100% sure this was a scam I sent the check to the address of the bank it was written on and received a email from that bank last night indicating the check was phony. If you get an email from STEVEN NEWELL at //edit - email address removed as per forum rules// with anything to do with money be aware.

Edited December 25, 2007 by Tywais

[skippy]

If you receive ANYTHING from an email like this, well ..................

Edited December 25, 2007 by Tywais
e-mail address removed as per forum rules

[cm-happy]

I have occasionally received things like this. The fine print on the check, or with accompanying brochure says that by endorsing and cashing you are agreeing to outragious terms, usually to purchase some timeshare thing or similar.

IT'S A SCAM!!

[endure]

Any transaction where you are sent a cheque for more than the transaction's worth and asked to return part of the value is a scam. You get the cheque - you bank it - you send the sender some money - the cheque bounces - you're out of pocket - the sender has some of your money.

[monty]

I'm actually getting booking requests for my hotel on a daily base like that.

They pay with the credit card supposedly from their customer wanting to stay with us, but the amount includes their commission...

This commission we then have to send back to them by Western Union, after which the credit card payment gets canceled... They have money, we not!

Haven't fallen for it yet, luckily enough they make it look so good in trying to entice you, that alarm bells start ringing, like "just charge full rack rate instead of internet rate, the customer is rich enough"...

[Pib]

Yeap, gotta be a scam. And the sad thing about this, many, many people fall for scams like this everyday.

[MrSquigle]

really...anyone who would send the difference before the cheque was cleared....deserves it.

[stevejones123]

It's a standard scam. What amazes me is that the bank system is set up to allow it.

[thaigene2]

"just charge full rack rate instead of internet rate, the customer is rich enough"...

He, he...Sounds like what happens when the Thai-Chinese owners of all those places do when things slow down "charge all our present and regular customers more to make up for the short-fall of the slow-down in biz"..

[wintermute]

"just charge full rack rate instead of internet rate, the customer is rich enough"...

He, he...Sounds like what happens when the Thai-Chinese owners of all those places do when things slow down "charge all our present and regular customers more to make up for the short-fall of the slow-down in biz"..

I finally figured out why these Thai reverse economics seem to work. There are dozens of less savvy oblivious Thai customers and moneyed expats willing to pay the increase. Demand is inelastic for some products/services in Thailand. There are also plenty of monopolies where if one shop increases then the owner of all the shops will increase the price to match the single shops "temporary" increase.

[bangkapiboy]

This is a standard Nigerian cashier's check scam. Trying to get paid for fake checks...

[dr_Pat_Pong]

It never stops.

[Greenside]

really...anyone who would send the difference before the cheque was cleared....deserves it.

Well, it's not quite as obvious as that. The bogus cheque is always a bank draft or cashier's cheque which are supposed to be rock solid and the bank credits your account with the funds, upon which many people then have the confidence to do the (non-reverseable) Western Union wire transfer. When the bank finds out the instrument of payment is fake, usually about two weeks later, they debit your account leaving you out of pocket. Most people assume that if the money's been credited to their account for a week, then it's really theirs.

There was a huge spate of this kind of scam from the Nigerian crooks directed against people advertising boats and luxury cars online from the UK a while back.

Interesting stuff on scams here and here.

[torrenova]

There is an estate agency in Pattaya, quite famous and established many years which rips customer off with a similar 5 or 10% scam between the buyer and the seller. My mate's girlfriend worked there for a few months and reported this. Another firend found out when they accidentally forgot to remover some paperwork from the file when he went to call. Complete thieves and robbers.