Scam???

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gigilala

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Jun 7, 2015
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Hello. This may be the first time I've posted....Anyway, I happened to see a classified ad in the paper in my local paper in Colorado that seems too good to be true. It's for a 2017 Thor Gemini, 23 feet, for $22,500! Low miles, no wrecks, clean, etc. It's currently in Nebraska and included in the price is the cost of delivery. The owner has a sob story behind why she needs the money ASAP--a car accident two months ago that killed her husband and injured her. She also sent about 20 pictures of it, and it looks immaculate. The pictures were taken in the summer (way before a December car wreck) and clearly taken in order to sell. (Pictures of the generator, control panels, the odometer, etc.)

It would be an amazing deal but red flags keep popping up. If she's in Nebraska, why wouldn't she sell it there and save the price of delivery? If she needs the money, why is she selling it for less than half the "blue book" price?

How does a person protect themselves in situations like these?

Thoughts?
 
Don’t do it. If you ask her how she would want to be paid she’ll say something like gift cards from Lowe’s or Home Depot. I would string her along for as long as you can just to have fun and waste her time. I went through the same thing when looking for a golf cart.
 
All you have to do is to tell them that you would like to drive over with cash in hand and inspect it. You will bring a qualified rv inspector and would like a good contact number and date to look at it. If its as they say, you would like to go to the DMV and inspect a clear title for transfer and pay them in full.
You will get answer then.
 
When spending $20K on and RV or motorhome the cost of driving or flying to do see it is just a small investment in the long term.
In this case, OP could drive/fly inspect the rig, go to the local dmv have the vehicle signed over and hand the person a cashier's check on the spot. If you have to, go to the seller's bank first to have the check verified. At that point you can even ask the bank if they'd provide an escrow service to hold the money until released.

Meanwhile - when selling items on CraigsList, Ebay and others, I often advertise where I think there may be buyers. Plus, who knows where else the seller has been advertising and how long they've been trying to sell.

And, as others have cautioned - "funny" financing should be avoided.

Not everything is a scan - but ANYTHING can be a scam now-a-days.
 
I advise not answering the ad. It is probably a professional scammer and they make money reselling you email address. Email addresses are valuable. Gather a few thousand and you hit pay dirt.
 
You are only in the next state. A 2 day trip is a small price to pay to avoid a $20k mistake. Besides, getting out the house feels good these days.

My trailer is 8hrs drive from here. I have driven up twice. Once to see if it was as good as the add & next to go buy it after an inspection. Yes, it cost me about $1000 to make sure I wasn’t making a $35k mistake. And, I need to go back one more time next month to actually take it home.
 
I hope you really do get it. I wish you could have brought it home right after you bought it. Dang.
 
This s a common scam, often they say it is sealed, and in an ebay warehouse. No such thing. I found a bunc of these when looking at rigs and golf carts.
 
My brother got hooked by a "military" person (heart strings pull) from Colorado that had to sell (urgency) a 2 year old (nice unit) TT for like 10% of value (what a deal!) because her (implied naivety) and her SO were both deploying (urgency again)

I begged him to pass but he emailed back and forth until "she" said something he didn't like financially.

My question to him was how did two enlisted level people afford a very expensive TT in the first place? To sell it that low there can't be a loan so it just raised a red flag for me.

OTOH - Read the fine print. There are scores of ads like, "$2250!" Turns out that's the monthly payment on a 7% loan - LOL...
 
Ex-Calif said:
My brother got hooked by a "military" person (heart strings pull) from Colorado that had to sell (urgency) a 2 year old (nice unit) TT for like 10% of value (what a deal!) because her (implied naivety) and her SO were both deploying (urgency again)

I begged him to pass but he emailed back and forth until "she" said something he didn't like financially.

My question to him was how did two enlisted level people afford a very expensive TT in the first place? To sell it that low there can't be a loan so it just raised a red flag for me.

OTOH - Read the fine print. There are scores of ads like, "$2250!" Turns out that's the monthly payment on a 7% loan - LOL...
Click to expand...
You need to look up the enlisted pay scale. They ain’t poor no more, especially a dual AD family. You’re talking about 6 figures.
 
Oldgator73 said:
You need to look up the enlisted pay scale. They ain’t poor no more, especially a dual AD family. You’re talking about 6 figures.
Click to expand...
Where do I sign up. I think when I was a E1 back in 1968 my wife as a dependent, I think I was making $400.00 a month.
 
Just for fun when I see an ad that's in a different state then I reply, "I'm in the same city/state and would like to drive over this morning to see it". I get no reply 10 out of 10 on those type of ads.
 

E-5 Staff Sergeant Salary - Air Force Pay 2024

www.military-ranks.org www.military-ranks.org
E-5 Staff Sergeant Salary - Air Force Pay 2021
Over 10 years$3,480.90 / mo$41,770.80 / yr$116.03 / drill$190.00


E-5 Staff Sergeant Salary - Air Force Pay 2021
A Staff Sergeant is a noncommissioned officer in the United States Air Force at DoD paygrade E-5. A Staff Sergeant receives a monthly basic pay salary starting at $2,468 per month, with raises up to $3,502 per month once they have served for over 12 years.
In addition to basic pay, Staff Sergeants may receive additional pay allowances for housing and food, as well as special incentive pay for hostile fire and dangerous duties​


E-5 Staff Sergeant Salary - Air Force Pay 2021
Including the most common pay allowances, the average total compensation for a Staff Sergeant may range from $49,231.86 to $61,644.66 per year as of 2021.​
 
Yeah - My kid never got past E3 - He was starving...

My niece and her boyfriend were both E5. They got "ousted" in some sort of up or out ruling. Apparently you can't camp out at sergeant level too long anymore...

Of course the point is even if they made $140k a year why would they sell a $140k TT for $14k?
 
For a while there was folks posting one or two pictures on a craigs list ad with both a gmail address across the pictures with instructions to send a reply directly to the email or text a reply to a certain number too. That"s a dead giveaway of their attempt to harvest contact information for spamming or reselling your contact information. You will notice that if you use a dedicated email address for buying stuff on CL.
 
Ex-Calif said:
Yeah - My kid never got past E3 - He was starving...

My niece and her boyfriend were both E5. They got "ousted" in some sort of up or out ruling. Apparently you can't camp out at sergeant level too long anymore...

Of course the point is even if they made $140k a year why would they sell a $140k TT for $14k?
Click to expand...
There’s a high of tenure for each grade. Members used to be able to retire at 20 years as an E-5. That has changed now. I think the question was how could active duty military E-5’s afford that RV. As per The Defense Finance and Accounting Service for an E-5 with 10 years service their pay is per month:
Base Pay-$3600
Basic Allowance for Quarters (using Tyndall AFB, Panama City, FL)-$1800
Basic Allowance for Subsistence-$400
For military married to military with two dependents and each member claiming one of those dependents the total monthly compensation would be $11,600 or $139,200 per year.
we have stayed at several military FamCamps and can attest that many active duty members are purchasing some pretty high end RV’s.
 
This is a scam, which I think has been well documented. When I was looking for a used boat on Craigslist, the exact same verbiage was used on multiple ads... Another give away is seaching for your immediate area and see that ad, with a non-specific geographic area highlighted. Then change your search area to another state or region and see that same ad posted with a different geographic area highlighted.

Seriously, the distraught grieving enlisted military widow being forced to sell everything as she is being deployed right away... saw that exact same ad two years ago. Boat will be shipped by military transport even. What a crock of, well, you know.
 
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