posted 07-20-2004 08:50 AM                  

Dear Alex Leedham,
Thanks for the mail reagrding your CAT my client want to purchase,In other to conclude our arrangement concerning your car my client wants to purchase I forwarded your last mail
content to him and he Agreed on the price you are selling but He
said you will be getting payment inform of a certisfied cashier check in the amount of $55,500.
This amount he explained to me that this amount will come to
you in that form based on earlier order he made from a company in the states but it did not workout because there was delay in the
shippment of the goods he ordered so he has proposed that if you
agree with the terms of payment you should forward you name phone number and address for him to forward it to the company to make out the check in your name and when the check gets to you ,you are to refund the balance{$25,500} to his shipper for him to be able to arrange for shipping on time.So confirm this and provide the info for payment to get to you.
Thanks and God bless
Mark Smith & Client

posted 07-20-2004 09:24 PM                  

ARE YOU KIDDING??? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!

PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS!!!

Let's look at this objectively . . .

You're selling a car, the buyer proposes giving you a check for more than the asking price and then wants you to send him/her 25 grand back? And to a foreign country no less!!!

What's wrong with this picture?

Again, I apologize but come on . . . you actually have to ask if this is fishy?? People, please wake up and smell the java.

And then, other posts indicate they know people that fell for this! It's frightening that a few $$ makes people so gullible!

In my line of work we have a saying "Thank God the criminals are dumb" but in situations like this . . .

posted 07-21-2004 10:48 AM                  

As a business person, it is my personal belief that doning international business on a small scale is not worth the potential problems. If I was IBM then a different matter, but I'm not.

Anytime you do business with another country, you have many different problems that you may not even realize are possible. First and formost, will the other country prosecute? What recourse do you have for fraud, failure to receive goods, etc. Our US laws do not necessarily apply to them, our country agencies may not be able to help with these problems, and the other country may not have the manpower or even the care to help you out.

Case and point:

A couple of months ago, we sold a Picasso. Price around 150K. Citizen of a European country. Wanted to send Cashiers Chk. Said % on wire transfer was to high to wire. I didn't like the sound of it. Turns out he has done good business with some major galleries, of whom I know people at, and also owns a couple of US companies. I sold it to one of his US companies, that uses the same bank I have accounts at. That give me an avenue for recourse, had the deal been fraudulent.

If the deal doesn't sound good, either work it so you CANNOT get scr*wed, or walk away.

Regards,
Dali

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"Dali" is Dr. Mike & Mrs. "Jo-Jo" S. near Dallas, Tx.
Email us at: dealer@suttonplacegallery.com
Visit us on the web at: www.suttonplacegallery.com