2004Legal / Business Practices forum
Common overpayment scam targeting equipment sellers online
22 years old. Gear and prices may have changed since.
What the thread found
- A common scam involves a buyer claiming to purchase equipment for an inflated price, then requesting the seller to wire back the overage to a third party via money transfer service.
- The scam typically uses a cashier's check or similar instrument as the payment method, with the claimed overage presented as covering both the item price, shipping costs, and a middleman commission.
- Forged checks sent by scammers are often of very poor quality that would be obvious to anyone examining them closely.
- The arrangement relies on the seller depositing the check and wiring money before the check clears and is discovered to be fraudulent.
- Similar scam patterns repeat across multiple sales platforms and consistently involve suspiciously round-number requested refunds.
Depends on
- The scam examples shown involve European currencies but likely operates globally.
- No resolution was reached on what legitimate overpayment scenarios might exist that resemble this pattern.
- The thread does not provide complete information about how the fraud would proceed after the money transfer is made.