If it’s too good to be true . . . . .
Anyone tempted by that absolute bargain which looks “too good to be true” should stand back, take a breath, and look hard at the deal and remember that anything which looks too good to be true – IS too good to be true. It is in fact undoubtedly a scam.
For years there have been unscrupulous individuals, usually based in Africa, sending out letters, then telexes, then faxes purporting to have vast amounts of money which they would like you to help them “launder”. They usually claimed to be the son of the King, nephew of the Governor or grandson of the Colonel in Chief. The sole aim of the exercise was to obtain bank account details and to rob you. The advent of email just made it easier, cheaper and faster for these people.
It also meant that they could expand on this scam and invent new ones – like the current one concerning bargain priced used printing presses for sale.
This is how it goes:
A used machine is advertised at a bargain price. It is either on one of the many free machinery websites, or an unsolicited email arrives – often from a web-based server such as yahoo, hotmail etc.
The used machine advertised is almost always a sheetfed offset press. The wording and specification will have been cloned from a genuine machine being advertised by a reputable dealer. The location and usually the serial number (if quoted) are changed and most importantly the price is altered to well below genuine market price.
Although the email is usually in English the grammar and spelling are often poor.
If the contact is by email it will have been put together from different sources (fonts change, description may be word perfect, but the intro/contact details are not).
Telephone number will often be 0702, 0703 etc, 0870 or one of the personal number system numbers which then links to a mobile. This is invariably overseas. (try calling it when it’s 3am in Nigeria).
If interest is shown then there will be a demand for a 10 or 15% “security deposit” to reserve the machine or show good faith. Always it is claimed that this is refundable if the sale does not go ahead.
The “invoice” will clearly have been created in “word” or similar, the UK address will almost certainly be false. The terms will always be that the 10 or 15% returnable deposit must be transferred directly to a bank account.
Often the invoice will quote an independent shipper – again invariably false.
All efforts to arrange a face-to-face meeting will be resisted – and if arranged will not be met!
A surprising number of the machines are located in Deptford.
The machine allegedly for sale at the bargain price does not exist. The “dealer” is not in the UK, despite the false UK address, and is not a genuine dealer at all.
What to do
The BUPMSA has been in touch with the Specialist Crime Unit of the Metropolitan Police (Fraud Squad) and has furnished them with copies of emails, “invoices”, bank account details and names used. But the list just gets longer. Variations on individual and company names flourish, as do bank accounts and telephone numbers.
The obvious advice is do not deal with anyone who contacts you with an unbelievable bargain. Always check up on who you are about to do business with. If they are purporting to be a used machinery dealer, talk to other dealers you know and trust, or contact us at the BUPMSA.
There is independent advice and a “Fraud Alert” on the Metropolitan Police website: www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/printing_machine.htm
Their advice is that if you think you are being targeted for this (or any other) kind of fraud to contact your local police station.
And finally: if you think you have information that might prevent or provide intelligence on this type of crime email the Fraud Alert team fraud.alert@met.police.uk
This way you can help us to try and eliminate this kind of fraud within our industry.