SCAMMER ALERT

I cannot prove it, but too much inconsistency and red flags for me.
Someone contacted me saying they had a part I was looking for- a fairly rare item that required some some knowledge that frankly is easy enough to find on the internet, but still arcane enough I was off my guard. Claimed to be cleaning out the father-in laws place, had what I was looking for, his wife conveniently? deaf couldn't speak to me and he claimed ignorance on some things, and given the whole in-law situation, quite plausible. Ultimately some things were said that did not add up and I bailed on sending $$ for parts and shipping.

I am a very trusting person, and probably stuck with this longer than I should have. I would still like to be proven wrong.
Generally I find the the people in these groups to be of fine character, and the information and my contact info could only have been gotten here and one other forum, which also led me to trust more than perhaps I should have.

Bottom line: POTENTIAL SCAMMERS ARE READING POSTS AND USING THE INFORMATION TO CONTACT AND TRY TO SCAM MONEY FROM YOU.
Please be careful out there.

It is a scam. I get them all the time. Got one last year claimed he lived in the same town I do.The address he gave me. Is an empty field across town.

Was his name William?

Exact call i got few years back, claimed his deceased father in law had the part i needed in his barn, if i sent him the $$ he'd gladly go get it & ship it to me!

.

I never got his name!
Wife was given as Camelia Wild, NM address, supposed father in laws place was Nevada

Yeah probably the same slease bag. He also lived in California asking other places. If you had insisted on a picture, he would have found one on the net and sent it to you.

May have been. I have had the names of several call me.

If someone claims they can't speak over the phone because they're deaf, there's a 99.9 percent chance it's a scam.

I don?t my absolute best to avoid taking to anyone on the phone ever . I?ll text but I don?t take many calls especially from strangers or even most people I know just don?t like doing it I can?t hear that well and most people can?t understand me on the phone so it?s email or text or I guess we don?t do it .

I sold a 3000 8sp tranny w/lpto to a guy a few years ago. He was from out your way in MI.
I almost always say in my CL ads ads No Texts and was a little annoyed when he wouldn't call. He then told me he was deaf and this was his only way.
I had nothing to lose so sold it to him.
He and his son came to get it so no shipping or other rigermarole. He paid cash and left happy. He did know how to say Thank You and said it several times. Was a real nice, gentle man. Son was too.
It changed my attitude a bit.

Same guy called me this spring saying he had magnetos that I had a want ad for. Same story he was cleaning out his In laws house and ran across them his wife knew all about them but was deaf and couldn't use the phone. Real Scum!!

a couple years ago I was looking for a PTO hydraulic pump. I advertised in classifieds here. Was contacted by a guy "was cleaning up his grandfathers place" had pump in a boxPrice agreed of $200 plus shipping. I made the mistake of not questioning it more and actually sent money order. Package to be shipped on Grayhound. Buses were having trouble getting through due to road closures so i kept checking. My fault for not getting a picture of it and being trusting. Here again I figured the adds on this site would be pretty safe.Eventually checked address he used, it was a place for sale in California Phone number no good. On the brighter side I have dealt with one of the guys on the forum who said he would send the part and for me to send him a check when I got it. just have to be careful I guess.

> He then told me he was deaf and this was his only way.

Well, he was the one in a thousand who is legit. Back before text messaging became popular, most deaf folks communicated over the phone using a "relay operator" via a teletype device. With the advent of the internet, this service was made available to anyone with an internet connection. Overseas scammers quickly realized this was an easy way to pose as someone in the US, and this abuse became so common that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_relay_service#Fraudulent_uses_in_the_United_States">the majority of relay calls were actually scammers</a>.

It happens that one of my wife's friends is profoundly deaf. A few years ago she got scammed by a guy who claimed to also be deaf; I think she met him on a site for deaf people. She lost about five grand, which was pretty much all her savings.

When ever you get a hinky heed your inner voice. A hinky is an uneasy vague feeling that something just isn't right. It's your subconscious picking up subtle clues that your conscious self hasn't yet. That's why scammers are more successful over the phone or computer, or texting; you're not as likely to pick up those subtle clues as you might in a face to face encounter. The best thing to do if you get a hinky is to extricate yourself from the situation ASAP!

For example: I had a guy stop by last fall and wanted to walk the farm and give me an idea of what trees I had and what they'd be worth logged out. I got a hinky and told him I was too busy at the time but set up a date for the next day. After he left I paddled around on the ole computer and found that he had a history of being dragged into court. Not only him, but every one of his immediate family did also. So I called and canceled, lots of other logging companies out there that aren't fly by night.

As for where they pick up on all the loose threads of one's personnel info on line, well I'd guess just about every where, especially with all the tracking cookies these days. Just last week I responded to an ad on Tractor House, one of the fields that had to be filled out was phone no. I haven't given that number out for a couple years but two days later I get the "Your SSN has been canceled" call, kind of made me proud as I hadn't gotten that specific one yet. Like all my fraud and criminal activity wasn't good enough to prosecute or something?! Guess I can cross that one off my buck list now.

JD

know the feeling but this one really surprise me LEON manufacturing out of Canada, bought dirt scraper in feb 2019 still to this date do not have it.

Was a Case IH about 30 hp with conflicting info on Craigs list up along the Rust Belt, sob story, grandpa sold the farm and had to move to town due to health, trying to take care of things for him, bla,bla........Said the hours on the tractor were 300....rough usage easily visible in the pictures....from an old man in bad health and tires were like 40%.....in 300 hours only used to move snow and mow pasture? Kicker price was low.

Lots of boats like that too. When somebody has a $35k boat for sale in new condition with 43 hours on the original engine and only wants $15k for it, with no registration numbers showing, or CA registration for sale in OH.......RUN. Also....bla bla, NO TITLE bla bla.....RUN.

.....or selling a SS propeller, or a lower unit, or a cowling, or a trailer, or just this morning, 2 fully equipped, large, double lid tackle boxes.....looked like lures for Steelheads, Muskies, Walleyes and such.....$500 bucks worth of stuff easy for $100.......