I recently offered my daughter's i10 on here, hoping it might do someone a good turn link great little car

It's is now for sale on Gumtree & someone has contacted me saying they want to send me a cheque for the car & accept that they obviously won't be able to collect it until such time as the cheque has cleared.

It clearly stinks, but what's the scam, they've asked for the address to send the cheque too, but how does that help them if the car's not going to be released until cleared funds are in my a/c, I'm just not seeing how they can make this work as a scam, but find it highly unlikely anyone would send a cheque to someone they've never met & know nothing about on a private sale that they have no recourse against?

Only way I can see this working is if they steal a cheque & it gets cleared, they then collect the car with a false ID & they have a car (not exactly an expensive one!) that someone else has paid for, but if the money is in my a/c would the cheque owner then have any recourse??

All seems a bit bizarre, particularly for a £2500 car

Does seem bizarre.

Not sure how the whole recourse side of things work, but...

...always followed the advice "if it doesn't feel right, walk away".

There'll be others out there to buy the car in a cleaner and tidier way.

We wanted to get rid of an old bike so advertised it on Facebook rather than take it to the dump. We got several people saying they would transfer money and get a courier to pick it up. Made no sense for a £10 old mountain bike and was clearly some kind of scam but couldnb't work out what.

common cheque scams
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud/cheque-overpayment-fraud

they would probably ask to collect the car early for some reason, before the [fake] cheque actually fails to clear.

whatever, it does look like fraud of some kind, walk away.

it is a good car at that price for a legitimate buyer. but as I said before I have enough cars at the moment

edit to add, this site explains fake cheques in reasonable simple terms
https://www.businessexpert.co.uk/fake-cheque-scams/

[Edited on 3/3/23 by gremlin1234]

From gremlins link;

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Although the funds from a cheque will appear in your account within a few days, that doesn’t mean it’s a good cheque. The bank may say the cheque has ‘cleared’, but it’s still working its way through the system.

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I have to say, it seems just plain wrong that a bank can describe a cheque as cleared & make funds in your a/c available , to later decide the cheque isn't good & take the money back. Surely the banks must know whether the a/c it's being drawn on is legitimate or not & they shouldn't clear a cheque until THEY have the funds to pay on to you.

I knew it had to be a scam, just couldn't see how it would work!

The usual scam is for them to "accidentally" send a cheque for a higher amount then ask for the difference back in cash or bank transfer when they pick up the car. So potentially lose the car plus some cash on top

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Originally posted by hobbsy
The usual scam is for them to "accidentally" send a cheque for a higher amount then ask for the difference back in cash or bank transfer when they pick up the car. So potentially lose the car plus some cash on top

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I'd ask them to send the cheque and give the address of the local police station

If they've got an account with the value of the cheque in it, then they can withdraw the cash and pay you in cash on collection.

I was given a fake Bank Cheque a couple of years ago. I asked the guy to come to the nearest branch with me to have it verified. He threw a big tantrum and took off, leaving me with my machine and holding a fake Bank Cheque.

Being an island, I got his rego number and called police. He was picked up at the ferry. A white Transit so common with particular peoples who live in caravans on public spaces, and a spanking new Brian James trailer.(Probably 'acquired' way up north)

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Originally posted by BenB
I'd ask them to send the cheque and give the address of the local police station

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