Cycle Scam - Specialized Stumpjumper Expert.

[Hakkies661]

Would it not work if you get them to send the money to a friend or wife or family members account, so if they claim to have sent the money into "your" (they dont need to know its not your account)account and you recieve a message saying it has been sent to your account you can pick up it is a scam? Your family member can then confirm that its in or not....

[Super Sywurm]

dont ban him, let a few guys go meet the guy, with baseball bats off course.

 

How many people on SA have baseball bats, rather use a cricket bat.

[Stefan Cremer]

When I sold my previous bike I contacted my LBS (good reason for not buying stuff of the interwebs) and asked if I could bring the bike to the shop for a prospective buyer to have a look at, knowing me well they agreed and the eventual new owner had a look at the bike in the shop.

My instructions were to not release the bike to the new owner before I gave them the go-ahead to do so.

I also got an sms indicating the money had been transferred, but did not release until I received the funds and transferred it to an investment account with another firm. I therefor new that I had my money and let the new owner know he could collect the bike and let my mates at the LBS know they could release the bike to the subject to him providing proof of identification, proof of purchase and my written approval to collect the bike.

Bit of a hassle, but most of the risk is mitigated in this way when selling an expensive bike.

[MadScientist]

A little off topic but still related, a couple of years ago i sold my PC on junk mail. The guy deposited the money into my account got the notification from the bank. Contacted the bank to make sure there is nothing fishy. They confirmed that the money has cleared and that nothing will go wrong. delivered the pc that night after work and the next day is was 15k short. lodged a fraud case at the police and one with the banking ombudsman, after a 2 month investigation the bank refunded me my money, due to the fact that the lady working at the counter at SBK in roodepoort central branch was part of the syndicate and over wrote the system to clear the cheque. and the fact that the sbk call center confirmed that the money was cleared also helped a bit.

 

so fact is even when the bank says money is there doesn't mean money is there. cheques takes up to 7 days to clear so maybe put a standard 10 day waiting period on any purchases.

[Daryl111]

@MadScientist, The problem is that in either case someone is prejudiced. Unless there is a fair trade of goods, (my recommendation a very public place) hand to hand, one party is compromised, even if you know the person. Trust is something that is gained over a period not just dished out because you're desperate.