The e-mail you got is "step one" of a very long and complicated scam that has been discoved in "Foo" recently, generically referred to as the "Nigerian" scam, as that is where the scam is alleged to have been invented and perfected.
There are variations of the scam, but what they have in common is that the scammer does NOT want your bike.
He wants and NEEDS you to begin communicating with him. He wants your e-mail address, your street address, the name of your bank, your bank account number, your credit card number. Stuff he can use to get a credit card in YOUR name, or print up his own personal checks in YOUR name.
And, at some point, he would like to mail you a check from a bank in Texas that is for $2,000 MORE than he owes you. He would like you to then forward the extra $2,000, using YOUR check or YOUR money order to a person to whom he owes those funds. You can guess how "good" the check from Texas actually is.
Because "e-mail" is free, an e-mail scammer can mail out 500 e-mails to find just one sucker, and still make a pretty good living. To the best of my knowledge, not ONE of these scams has ever resulted in a scammer doing jail time.
Don't bother reporting the scam to the FBI. Those letters now refer to an agency that is "Famous, But, Incompetent".
Last edited by alanbikehouston; 02-10-05 at 01:10 PM.