Hello all,
Just a word of Warning to anybody selling your bike through marketplace. I had my Le Mans for sale and was contacted by a person named Cole Kenneth. He writes emails in capital letters. Eventually after some discussion he wanted the bike and said he’d arrange for a cheque to be sent but he was abroad so couldn’t come and see the bike. A bank draft eventually arrived from one of the major French banks and all looked fine. I put it in the bank and 2 weeks later the bank told me it was a fraudulent cheque. I still have the bike although he pressed me to let his transporter come and collect it.
Be careful if your selling your bike through marketplace. These scammers seem to be everywhere these days. Make sure your fully aware of what’s going on and don’t let your bike go until the money is in your bank account. I would suggest that if you’re selling your bike abroad get the buyer to bank transfer you the funds. If the money is given to you by cheque the bank can still take it back after an extended period of time even if they’ve initially cleared it.
Be safe
Mark
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Mark
Was it advertised on the forum marketplace or the website marketplace?
Best wishes Chris
Hi Chris,
It was advertised on the website marketplace.
Mark
Hello Mark
There have been a few problems with the website marketplace recently, you have to add your contact details and all adverts are visible in the public realm. I believe this was wanted by the committee so that not only members could see the stuff for sale.
Rather advertise on here and only send personal contact details via PM.
I will raise this again with the Web Officer Graeme, as I think the website marketplace needs more control than it has now.
I am glad that you managed to spot the scam before letting go of your bike, and thank you for sharing your experience with the club members
Best wishes Chris
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Hi Chris,
To be honest the way it initially went was fine and didn’t set any alarm bells ringing. It was when the cheque was for more than we’d agreed and he asked me to pay the courier that I started to get suspicious. I think the only way to deal with these things is to not let you’re bike go until your 100% sure that the money is in your bank account and there’s going to be no repercussions from the bank.Dealing with foreign cheques is a bit of a minefield.
Mark
I have also had a scam on Marketplace recently. I did report it but nothing has been mentioned on here.
I put a wanted ad on and was contacted by a guy called Ethan Myers saying he had a contact called Harold Quin who could help me. They (or perhaps they are the same person) are both scammers. They asked to be paid in Apple Vouchers which are untraceable. I did a web search on the names and they are scammers.
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that’s an old and common scam, I’ve seen people get ripped off with that before.
i had someone supoosedly in USA wanting to buy and old vw polo i had for sale on gumtree, obviously nonsense the money he was offering without even seen it 
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they pick names off the internet but mostly are in call centres in africa and asia. it’s done on an industrial scale, there’s a few youtubers who hack to call centres to show what goes on in them, can be dozens of staff and 4 or 5 managers
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The worry is that they’ve looked at the Moto Guzzi Owner’s Club website and targeted me from that. I wanted to make sure the people are aware so that it doesn’t happen to any other owners.
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Yes, I watch some of those videos and it’s good to share them with friends and family to raise awareness.
A lot of the channels come together for an event targeting scammers - this year was in London. They managed to get someone arrested by the Met on the day. While the scammers are mostly based abroad (obviously you can do it anywhere with a computer) the crime happens all over. The chap in London was a runner/courier who had been tasked by the scammer to meet someone and transport the money - a quick task they would get £1000 for!
Kitboga is one of the channels. His main focus is telephone/computer support scams. I can’t remember the names of the others but I’m sure the YouTube algorithm will recommend the right ones.
Stay frosty.
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We mentioned the need for caution when selling in the most recent Gambalunga. We are looking at a ‘Contact Seller’ button for the website which would provide a cutoff as it would mean that sellers would not need to divelulge their details in the advert. Had a similar instance as described by Pugwash with a non-member recently. Take care.
I would like to add I’ve had 100% postive experiences buying from club members both by post and in person.
By far the best online marketplace I’ve ever used from that point of view.
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I also had a message saying that Harold Quin would have some parts that I was looking for. I smelt a rat as he asked for £200 but gave no proof that he had said parts.
Well done for spotting it. They are scum
I had the same experience as Pugwash. Placed an ad in the website marketplace for my VMAX Gen 1 (some Guzzi owner may be considering a VMAX haha), and had the exact same reply, same name overseas buyer etc etc. It smelt immediately as a scam so I just deleted the message. The scammers are everywhere !! Don’t release your bike unless you have irrevocable cleared funds in your account
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Had a similar experience with my Monza, only the buyer was apparently in Ireland ..
Decided, and told him, that I wouldn’t sell unless he’d seen the bike in person, not heard back but it’s the same approach.