Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - 8 grand out of nowhere?

so, if you magically got 8 g's out of nowhere, would you do anything bike-related with it, or would you just be tortured trying to figure out where the hell it came from?

anyone ever heard of a scam involving 8 grand being anonymously transferred to a virtualmoney account via one of yr email addresses?

a little voice in my head keeps telling me that i don't need it and shouldn't accept the transfer. i contacted the site to find out if the money actually exists and exists for me. it does, but it was sent to the default email address for my website. something about that strikes me as incredibly suspect...

anyone know anything about a scam like that?

i cant think of how it would be a scam. an accident maybe, but not a scam. i'd transfer the money out of the account into a real bank account and sit on it for a bit. if nothing happens, spend it! you could also contact the address from which the money came to check it out.

After more thought, deny it.

Fortuitous or bizarre?

I'd try to clear that money first -- stuff like that, you dont mess with until you know what the deal is. Find the truth!

transfer, and try and withdrawl the money. If it is real you'll be able to walk outta the bank with it.

Also, where did it originate from. Lots of scams with money coming from outta the US, you get the money, sorta, not real, and then someone tries to claim it, but it takes weeks for international transfers to go through.

i would:

transfer it to a real bank ASAP.... wait at least a month.

try to save at least half??? probably whatevers left after i buy a nice new bike...

buy the girlfriend something nice.

i guess i just feel like it could be a laundering scam. the money's there. it's real. i'm just more inclined to refuse it than accept it since it was transferred anonymously...

Beware. If a bad check is passed, or otherwise ill-gotten gains are deposited into an account, the person who deposits the check and withdraws the money can be held responsible. I just read an article in the New Yorker about a guy who got bad checks sent to him by one of these Nigerian scammers, and even though the check cleared, he was held responsible for withdrawing it.

Beware. If a bad check is passed, or otherwise ill-gotten gains are deposited into an account, the person who deposits the check and withdraws the money can be held responsible. I just read an article in the New Yorker about a guy who got bad checks sent to him by one of these Nigerian scammers, and even though the check cleared, he was held responsible for withdrawing it.

that's kind of exactly what i was thinking--particularly because of the amount of hate-mail i get at that address.

My friend was selling his bike on craigslist and got the most obvious scam response ever, that he unfortunately bit on.

Some dude sent him a check for him to deposit and then withdraw the shipping cost. He was very careful and double and triple checked with the bank that the check was legit and the bank teller assured him it was fine. So, he withdrew the money only to have the bank tell him it was a fake check and that he owed the bank like $3000, EVEN THOUGH he was extra careful to get the bank's assurance. Lame. He was stupid to fall for it but the bank should also have taken some responsibility for insisting that it was all legit.

Oh, and another friend in college one day went to the ATM to find over $40,000 in his account mysteriously.A couple days later it was gone. Mistakes happen.

Yet another reason why briefcases full of non-sequential small denomination bills are the only way to do business. Cash: good for more than just drug deals.

don't do it ... a lot of times this can bite you in the ass as they will actually charge you interest on the money, as well as expect it back in time. Or your approval could be used against you and they'll do what don says.

decline, and remember ... if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

yeah. my inclination was to not accept it and i'm gonna go with that. thanks everyone.

Yeah that is sketchy, I'd sit on it for awhile and see what happens. Either you got incredibly lucky from someone else's mistake or you are about to be screwed. 8 grand don't come easy.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0001XARU4.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

edited. You made the right decision:)

You could also be in trouble with the law if you accept anything over $250 that isn't yours. Felony fraud. I would refuse it, bounce it back or whatever. If the money is legit the person who sent it to you will contact you to see how the funds can be transfered with your knowledge.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0001XARU4.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I was JUST about to post that...

Good decision. Money -- the root of all evil!

http://www.airbrushconcepts.com/images/corner_stone2.jpg

That reeks of scam to me. I can see how enticing it would be, but the best scams are. I'm certain you made the right decision.

If I had to guess, I'd say there is no money, but the process of trying to transfer the funds would give the scammer the info needed to transfer funds out of your bank account.

****, I could use 8 grand right now...

Sounds suspicious. May be some kind of loan and by accepting you're obligated to pay back with interest. Just sit tight for a while. If it's real it won't go anywhere.

It's a scam. Delete the email and move on.

I've been hit up for this about 5 times over the last 8 years.

http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml

The scams that work best are the ones that feed off of the targets' greed.

here's the article I mentioned, all about how this Mass psychotherapist got taken by a scam like this:

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060515fa_fact

It's long, but interesting.

It's a scam. Delete the email and move on.

I've been hit up for this about 5 times over the last 8 years.

http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml


that's different

It sounds like more of mistake than a scam to me. I don't think money can just be transferred into your account out of nowhere unless someone has your account info/debit card and pin/etc. or your connected to someone elses account somehow.
I've had the bank make mistakes that end up with me having loads more money than I should. They ALWAYS will catch up with it. It's only a matter of time. Don't end up with an earful of cider. Call your bank too.

nigerian scam

that's different


Different but similar.

No offense to the OP, but an ounce of common sense is good enough to cure most scams.

if it was sent to you via paypal. After accepting the money and using it if its found to be stolen they can easily take it out of your account. A friend got paid for a job he did via paypal for 1000$. he spent it on ebay and 2 weeks later his paypal read -1000. Just because it clears doesnt mean it cant go poof.

This guy that was a neighbor of my friend accidentally had $20K put into his bank account in the 80's. He withdrew it and eventually bought a Porsche. He never drove it though because he was scared he would get caught. I don't know whatever happened to the Porsche.

Different but similar.

No offense to the OP, but an ounce of common sense is good enough to cure most scams.

yeah. i didn't/wasn't planning on biting. i was just curious if anyone else had had the same thing happen specifically with a virtualmoney account--where that site verified that the funds were available for transfer upon inquiry. it's different than the nigerian scam as eddie has pointed out, but i do tend to agree with those who have mentioned that the bank would find a receiver liable for the funds in the event of any oddity. i still also keep thinking about the laundering angle, which would actually be a sort of ingenious scam for organized crime to start pulling.

anyway, keep your eyes peeled...

This guy that was a neighbor of my friend accidentally had $20K put into his bank account in the 80's. He withdrew it and eventually bought a Porsche. He never drove it though because he was scared he would get caught. I don't know whatever happened to the Porsche.

Now that is funny that he never drove it.

Just a thought, but I wouldn't suggest talking about stuff like this on a public internet forum...

why? We're not plotting a scheme or anything.

doesn't matter. i'm not taking it. i just wanted to see if it was a pervasive scam.

Good decision. Money -- the root of all evil!

http://www.airbrushconcepts.com/images/corner_stone2.jpg

That's one of the most often misquoted things in the bible - it's actually 'the love of money is the root of all evil...

Hey visitor, when I lived in TN I was pretty big into building custom jeeps and rockcrawlers. By virtue of our parts being so expensive (you think phil stuff is spendy?) there were a lot of scams floating around, some sophisticated, some no so.
After a while, one competetive rockcrawler accepted a wiretransfer (not anonymous though) for about 25k knowing full well it was a scam. He pulled it out of the bank and invested it. Six months later the bank asked for it back, stating that he was responsible for the 25k transfer. He returned it, but kept the dividends. Food for thought.

That's one of the most often misquoted things in the bible - it's actually 'the love of money is the root of all evil...

+2. guess i'm not the only one who had to read the bible as a child.

DONT TOUCH IT, its a scam. Not sure how it works, but I was told that once you accept it, they have access to your account and will drain it.

good luck.

DW
1,000,000 times agreed.

Talk to the bank regarding that 8k thing.

Dude, don't even try to clear the money. I had something like that happen to me and I used my bank as a buffer to see if the money would clear. After explaining everything to the bank, being as straight forward as possible they told me to put the funds into my account and wait for it to clear. I went back a few times to ask and the third time (approximately a week later) they said it had cleared. Thinking that I had done the right thing and covered all my bases I used some of the money. The next day I found out that the money hadn't cleared at all. I tried to get the bank to take some of the fall but I ended up paying all the money back over a year. Don't mess with that! It's a scam.

As soon as you transfer the money, they'll have all your bank information- and your identity too. You'll be cleaned out, and you'll lose your good credit too.

Don't do it. In fact, send that email to the police and let the police handle it from there.

Koffee

That's one of the most often misquoted things in the bible - it's actually 'the love of money is the root of all evil...

I always thought the truth was more like" the love of evil is the root of all money...":)

couldnt you set up a new account just for this? what if its a mistake and you really are getting free money.

As soon as you transfer the money, they'll have all your bank information- and your identity too. You'll be cleaned out, and you'll lose your good credit too.

Don't do it. In fact, send that email to the police and let the police handle it from there.

Koffee

LISTEN TO THIS.

Don't do it. In fact, send that email to the police and let the police handle it from there.

Koffee

Wishful thinking that the police is actually going to do something.


account via one of yr email addresses?

What the **** is "yr"?

I just read an article in the New Yorker...

I thought that was just a magazine people put on their coffee table to seem smart, I didn't know anyone actually read it.

I thought that was just a magazine people put on their coffee table to seem smart, I didn't know anyone actually read it.

well this is the internet dumby, you cant see his coffee table so he had to tell you. duuh.

the new yorker is the **** if you have the patience to read the looong ass articles.

i'm going to assume it was some sort of mistake. it'll get caught. a roommate found her bank account doubled a couple weeks ago, and bought us all pizza. the next day she was broke, from the extra money being taken out and having bought pizza with the little bit that was hers.

even if it's a mistake, it'll get caught sometime.

and +3 on that "love of money is the root of all evil" shiznaz.