So I have my K1100RS motorcycle up for sale. It’s been listed on the Internet BMW Riders Marketplace page for a while with no interest so far.
And then the other day, I got an email:
Hello,
i came across a search dabatase where i found your bike placed for sale.i will like to hear from if you still have it for sale and if so pls could get back to me with the current details about the bike,the final asking price and pls do attach pics ok.
And mind you payment form will be by certified check and pls get back to me as soon as for possible for proceedings.
I will be looking forward to hear from you.
Many Regards.
Allan J Smith.
That’s cool, so I responded.
My email to him said:
Yes it is still for sale. I have a page with pics and details on it here:
http://timf.anansi-web.com/forsale/k1100rs.html
I will be adding more pictures today, so check back on that page tonight.
He replied within a few hours with an offer:
Hello Rev,
Thanks for the infos,pls i like to buy the bike and i will like to offer you $5,300 pls do let me know if you accept my offer.
Regards
Allan.
So I responded again with:
That’s a pretty nice offer. Before I accept, I’d like to know some more about you.
Are you local to Minneapolis?
If not, how do you plan to pick up the motorcycle?
What form of payment are you offering?
How soon will you be closing the deal?
You can call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX if you would rather discuss this on the phone.
Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon.
That’s when the fun began. He replied with this:
Rev,
I am located in hertfordshire,UK and payment will be by U.S certified check and mind you i will like to close the deal in about a week time.
Pls let me know if we can proceed with the deal.
Regards
Allan.
Now I’m starting to get curious. There are warnings about people buying motorcycles with certified checks and having the bike shipped overseas. The checks turn out to be bogus and the bikes are gone.
So I do a little digging around and discover that the IP address that he is emailing from belongs to a netblock that is assigned to a company in Nigeria. Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!
Here is his IP address and the page with the data on it: 81.18.42.117
So I send him this reply:
Are you going to arrange and pay for the shipping?
I don’t know if I am prepared to ship the bike to the UK.
And I got this back:
Yes i will arrange for shipping.
So then I had to let the cat out of the bag and I sent him this email:
Alright. I am a little hesitant about this deal for a couple of reasons.
1. There are a lot of scams out there right now that involve shipping bikes overseas.
2. The IP address in your email headers resolves to a block of addresses assigned to a company in Nigeria and the addresses for the people in charge of the block are in Nigeria and Lagos. See: Link to Ripe.net
I have a hard time believing that you are in the UK with an IP address assigned to Nigeria.
I would be willing to complete this deal if you were to send me a certified check and then I was to wait to ship the motorcycle until I was sure it was not counterfeit and it had cleared the banks.
Or, I would be willing to use www.escrow.com, but that means that I don’t get the money until you get the bike. Which, with shipping to the UK, could be quite a long time.
Please explain your Nigerian IP address to me.
Thank you.
And I never heard from him again.
But then, the next week, I got an email that said this:
Goodday,
I saw your AD on the net and i have a client who has shown interest in your bike.I will like to know if the bike is still available for sale.Get back to me stating your last asking price.I await your urgent response,thanks.
Henry.
Of course I replied. And so it begins again.
