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I’m trying to sell my FLHTCU Harley on Craigslist. Below is a series of emails a scammer initiated with me, trying to get me to buy a report about the bike for him to supposedly look at. As you can see I start out thinking he is legit, even though in his very first email there was a hint of his scamming (when he says he’s planning to pay cash—my terms were cash to begin with—so the guy/girl is obviously churning emails that are not responsive to my ad, but just vague enough). His third message starts showing all the bad grammar you often see with scammers so by this point the flags are going off. The request for a report seems reasonable enough at first, but when he twice asks for a particular brand of report, the penny finally drops for me. I’m posting this all here so you all might benefit from what bogus buyers can look like. He didn’t “get me” as you can see from my last message. All I lost was my time. Drair
From Him: Benjamin King <[email protected]>Hello, I am planning to pay in cash in case we make a deal, however would you accept a lower price for harley in that case?
From Me: I’ll negotiate. Cash-only. Cash in hand.
From Him: I'd like to gather more official information about bike before moving on, perhaps you have a vin report to show?
From Me: I got two free reports and have tried to attach them to this email. Don’t know if they’ll make it via the CL forwarding process. If not just email me directly. I’ll send them separately that way. Anyway, if you want a CarFax report these have the VIN you can research with. I’m not too worried about selling the bike so this is all I care to do at this time and because I know it to be in good condition. Let me know if you want to see it.
From Him: My experience with free reports was a disaster, I obtained same report the last time I was buying a bike through Craigslist. It was clean, but later I discovered that the bike was damaged in accident. I got the advice from my mechanic to try ultimavin.com and it was much better and also cheaper than carfax. Could you get the report from them please? I don't want to get one cause I couldn't use it if I don't buy that bike. You, on the other hand, can still show it to other interested parties.
From Me: Where are you located? If you come look at the bike and are still interested I’ll get the report unless it costs more than about $30. MY EXPERIENCE on CL is that lots of ads generate come ons to buy selling services.
From Him: Sorry but I really need to see the report first so I can be assured that everything is okay with it. A year ago, when I was buying my previous bike, it came with clean report, but soon after I've realized that it was a lemon. I was told to try ultimavin.com and it reported many problems. That's the reason why I'm requesting it now, I do not want to make the same mistake again. As I wrote before, I was planning to come from Dayton next week to check your bike in case that report comes clean, so keep me posted please.
From Me: We're done. There will be no UltraVIN report. Stop writing to me.
(and I never heard from him again..):surprise:
From Him: Benjamin King <[email protected]>Hello, I am planning to pay in cash in case we make a deal, however would you accept a lower price for harley in that case?
From Me: I’ll negotiate. Cash-only. Cash in hand.
From Him: I'd like to gather more official information about bike before moving on, perhaps you have a vin report to show?
From Me: I got two free reports and have tried to attach them to this email. Don’t know if they’ll make it via the CL forwarding process. If not just email me directly. I’ll send them separately that way. Anyway, if you want a CarFax report these have the VIN you can research with. I’m not too worried about selling the bike so this is all I care to do at this time and because I know it to be in good condition. Let me know if you want to see it.
From Him: My experience with free reports was a disaster, I obtained same report the last time I was buying a bike through Craigslist. It was clean, but later I discovered that the bike was damaged in accident. I got the advice from my mechanic to try ultimavin.com and it was much better and also cheaper than carfax. Could you get the report from them please? I don't want to get one cause I couldn't use it if I don't buy that bike. You, on the other hand, can still show it to other interested parties.
From Me: Where are you located? If you come look at the bike and are still interested I’ll get the report unless it costs more than about $30. MY EXPERIENCE on CL is that lots of ads generate come ons to buy selling services.
From Him: Sorry but I really need to see the report first so I can be assured that everything is okay with it. A year ago, when I was buying my previous bike, it came with clean report, but soon after I've realized that it was a lemon. I was told to try ultimavin.com and it reported many problems. That's the reason why I'm requesting it now, I do not want to make the same mistake again. As I wrote before, I was planning to come from Dayton next week to check your bike in case that report comes clean, so keep me posted please.
From Me: We're done. There will be no UltraVIN report. Stop writing to me.
(and I never heard from him again..):surprise:
