kiwibarb12 Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 I have been wanting an AG , older, rehome or rescue, and have been looking online since there are none in Arkansas. I actually found one that looked legit, so replied. I went on line to day and found a request to add me to someones IM list. I thought it was probably someone on the forum who wanted to chat off forum , so oked it. I got an IM from a woman who offered me her cag, and I was just estatic.!!!!! Then she said it was 3 months old. I was suspicious at this stage. No-one gives a 3 month old bird away with out asking a few questions about housing , food, previous experience and so on and so forth - actually, I wouldn't give away any bird or animal without asking questions like these. Then the kicker = she wanted me to send her $380 to ship the baby. I said I would buy the ticket and have it at the airport waiting for her to pick up and I would send the balance when I got the bird. For some reason this just didn't suit her, so I suggested that she was a scammer preying on the desires of others and she should be ashammed of herself. Well! - the language really flew then! She certainly had a good command of the English swearwords. Just by the way she phrased things, I don't think English was this persons first language, makes me think this scam orginated from out of the country. So , no sweet bird for me {Feel-bad-0002006A} but it was fun egging this person on!:laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 I'm sorry this meant no bird for you but glad you smelled a rat before you sent any money, the internet is full of people preying on the unsuspecting and they get away with it all the time. Glad you were smart enough to know it was a scam, but a lot of others get taken in by these scum artists. Thanks for posting this and bringing this topic to our attention, it may prevent others from making a huge mistake, let the buyer beware.B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 Thanks for warning people, unfortunately there are many unscrupulous people out there who will stop at nothing to scam others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 Sorry to hear you went through that Kiwibarb. That is a VERY common scam seen often on craigslist too. They say they need a good home for their baby or re-home etc. Once you email them, they send back saying they are in Cameroon or some other such country/city and how the baby is so wonderful they just want you to send the cost of airfare and that's all they want to ensure their loved baby will have a good home.... It must work, they post those come-on Ad's all the time. :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 danmcq wrote: It must work, they post those come-on Ad's all the time. :-( Well they don't say there's one born every minute for nothing, suckers I mean.:huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 I know of a few people that were scammed out of the full price of a grey in this way. They want you to send a money order, and they will ship the bird. But no bird ever comes, and they are out all their money. You really have to be careful when dealing with any buying over the internet with private parties. Let this be a reminder to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imran Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 yea i know a lot of people who do that in cameroon.. they ask you to send money through western union transfer.. they make up fake site of shippment too.. with airline departure and arrival.. DONT FALL FOR THIS !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwibarb12 Posted October 8, 2007 Author Share Posted October 8, 2007 Am I correct in assuming that you can't get an exotic bird shipped in from out of the country? I thought that these people were preying on the ignorance of the people wanting birds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falconeer Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 I really hope that lady did not have a bird. These people treat everything like money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevjoe Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 So Sorry for you. There is bad in everything today. Hope all will be better for you. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makena Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 You are right Dan, craigslist has gotten REALLY bad. I guess you just have to be careful these days... It is sad there are so many scam artists out there :angry:!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 I just had a really bad experience with Craigslist. I am trying to sell my old 85 firebird with a blown motor on there and the first day I had it listed I got a reply. I had it listed for $1200 and expected to get talked down, but this guy was like "$1200, I'll take it". I was shocked but happy. The guy said that he couldn't come to see the car due to work and would be sending me a check for the car and shipping costs that in the next few days. I figured that the guy lived somewhere close by and would be sending a tow truck to pick it up. I agreed but told the guy that the check would need to clear the bank first. So the day the check came in I was floored to see it was sent from a UPS store in Utah and the account the check was from was in California...and to top it off it was written for $4800!!! It came in on Wednesday so when the guy e-mailed me about letting him know if I got the check I told him that I would go to the bank on Friday. From that point he was e-mailing me two or three times a day asking if I had cashed the check and western unioned the money to his shipper. I was getting leery at this point but figured the guy had just sent me a good chunk of change and was nervous I was going to scam him. I told him again that the check had to clear before I would send any money to his shipper and he replied with "I'm a Pastor and would not do anything to hurt you...don't worry, the check is real." I read that was like, why did he say "real" and not "good", I shrugged that off due to the fact that it looked like he was writing his e-mails from a blackberry or something and thought maybe people on the other cost talked different or something. So the next Friday the check was supposed to clear the bank and I told the guy the day before that I would be sure to leave work in time to go to the bank to withdrawal the money and send it the same day...I checked my bank online before I left and what do you think I saw? It didn't go through. I sent him an e-mail and told him it had bounced and to let me know what was going on with it. At the same time I called the bank because I was charged a fine or $10 for the check not clearing and I wanted to find out why. The lady I talked to was like, I'm not sure why you were charged...let me look at what was going on with that check. I heard her typing at her keyboard for a moment and then she let out an "ooohhhhh". I asked her what it was and she then told me it was a counterfeit check. Before I could e-mail the guy again and tell him the check was a fake he had already sent me one saying that the money was taken from his account and he confirmed that with his accountant and he just couldn't understand why I was doing this to him and to send the money because he knew I had it. I called the bank again to reconfirm that no money was taken from any account and they said the same thing as before...there was no account to take money from. When I sent him an e-mail telling him that I didn't have his money and that the jig was up and I knew about the check being a fake I never heard from him again. I figured I would post my story to let people know don’t ever, ever trust anyone online when it comes to sending money unless it’s through Ebay or another reputable website…not craigslist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest briansmum Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 it's stupid. some people must be so desperate. i only buy things online either from a shop or ebay. keep looking kiwi, i'm sure you'll find your baby. i don't use craigslist as i'm not in the US but i have seen some people selling their greys on their that seem genuine. hopefully you'll rescue one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connie Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 You're not alone, I have come across SEVERAL scams while trying to purchase a Hyacinth Macaw. I get the same thing... send the money for the shipping, and when you get the bird, then "I'm trusting you to send the rest". What a bunch of bull&*@#. They say they would never scam a person, as they are christians and blah, blah, blah. They didn't get my money, but a few times they fooled me into believing it might actually happen. They last one said he was in Cameroon, I told him I would not give ANY money, until I saw the bird, he was fine with that and shipped the bird out...next email the bird is in europe waiting for a direct flight to Canada, and it was ok to send the money now. I wouldn't send it... next they thought I was scamming them, and decided to reclaim the bird, and proceeded to threaten me with charges etc. What a joke! That was on Tradepoint. Most of the images they use to show you the bird, are taken from the internet, and I have reported that to several site owners. So sad that this happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Yeah, I can't believe how people can be. There is no way I could live with myself if I were to scam people like that. One of the guys I work with got one of those e-mail scams from Nigeria saying a relative of his owned an oil field and just died and he was the closest relative they could find. They wanted him to send a couple grand to them for the escrow fees and then they would send him the "millions" his relative was worth. He actually was thinking about doing it, so I told him about all the shows they have on 20/20 about the SAME exact scam…plus I was like, do you really believe that no one in your family would remember someone going over to Nigeria and owning oil?!?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwibarb12 Posted October 13, 2007 Author Share Posted October 13, 2007 oh oh - one of my long lost relations died in Africa from a car wreck, and I was the only one they could find. and he was LOADED!!!, and I am the inheritor. am I lucky or what!!!!! and the one that called me via IM, just IM'ed me , and asked again if I wanted the bird. Obviously, on line I look silly! Luckily, I'm not as silly as I'm Irish looking. :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Grey Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 If you are still looking for a grey and do not mind out of state, here is a link to a real business. She has been in business for many many years and actually had 3 baby greys just 2 weeks ago, maybe 1 is still available. http://www.roniesloveofbirds.com/'>http://www.roniesloveofbirds.com/ http://www.roniesloveofbirds.com/ If this was the wrong place for this info, sorry. I am in no way part of this business, etc. but she is legit. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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