Anyone in South Dakota?

[GreasySideUp]

Looking for someone in South Dakota to check out a motorcycle for me. You don't need to know anything about them - I'm just looking more for verification that the thing is actually there. Maybe take a few pictures as well. I found an old Indian Chief that a guy inherited but he doesn't live there. Anyways there are a few fishy things in his story about where the bikes are but he does have a valid phone number, I've spoken with him several times and he is an older american. I've uncovered a half dozen scams looking for one of these things but usually it ends when I ask for their phone number. They are conveniently in Europe or want to use cashiers checks etc.

I think it is Legit but the deal is one like you read about.

Anyhow I could throw a hunderd bucks in to cover lunch and gas money, not sure the exact area - somewhere around Mount Rushmore but I'll try and narrow it down today.

Thanks,

j

[Guest 89 Ride]

Greasy

I'm in Rapid City, about 20 minutes from Rushmore. Private message the particulars to me and it's as good as done.

89 Ride

Edited October 11, 2007 by 89 Ride

[GreasySideUp]

Fellas, thanks for all the offers I really appreciate it. I'm 91-94% sure it's turning into a scam as in the guy won't allow anyone to see the bikes, won't use escrow, a shipping company, Harley Davidson or any 3rd party company to hold the cash until pickup. He only wants a 3k deposit by 5:00 tonight directly to his bank and the rest on delivery which he has already paid for. He managed to send some pics but the years are not correct for what he advertized and one of the bikes is a Harley when he advertized 2 Indians. Amazing how many scams are on the internet. This guy actually had a phone number and chatted for a few hours, normally you can't even get phone numbers from them - they just want you to send money off a random hotmail account email. I've been looking for an old Indian for a few years now and have run into at least a dozen scams. It's really too bad, the pics he sent were pretty nice.

I'm still holding out for that 6-9% chance it is legit and I'll let you know but my hopes are grim. No one has an old Indian they want to unload by chance, project or otherwise?

Thanks again,

-j

[Toro]

You may be surprised to receive this message from me since you don't know me in person, but for the purpose of introduction, I am Mr. Kokonza Ngonza, a citizen of Zimbabwe and the son of late Mr.Zak Ngonza who was murdered in a land dispute in ZIMBABWE. I got your contact through the internet, and then I decided to write you.

My late father was among the few black Zimbabwean rich farmers murdered in cold blood by the agent of the ruling government of President ROBERT MUGABE for his alleged support and sympathy for Zimbabwean opposition party. Before the death of my father, he deposited the sum of Ten Million US Dollars ($10M) with a security company in Thailand when he traveled to Thailand for negotiation of purchase of his farm machinery equipment.

This land problem arose when President R. MUGABE introduced a new land Act, which wholly affects the white rich farmers and some few blacks vehemently condemned the 'MODUS OPERANDI' adopted by the government.

This resulted to rampant killing, and mob actions made us to live without delay, the killing and mob action to all farmers involve is a terrible thing to witness because it is bloody, I and my family who are currently staying in Thailand as a refugee asylum seeker, have decided to move this money to a foreign country where we can invest it but we do not have proper documentation to operate legally here in Thailand, we only have united identity which is not enough to move freely and also to do business or have access to the deposited fund.

The funds have nothing to do with any form of illegality and all documentations needed to prove the source of the funds were submitted when the funds were being deposited and these documents would prove the source of the funds and authenticate the fact that the funds are clean and has no links whatsoever with either drugs or terrorism.

At this point in time, my family is willing to offer you 20% of the fund if you will assist us move out here and also receive this fund and move it to your country.

My aim is to use part of the money to invest in your country and some part should be earmarked in purchasing new machinery and chemicals for our new farms in Lesotho and Swaziland which nobody is there now.

If you are willing and interested to render the needed assistance kindly send me the followings to my email address

1. YOUR FULL NAME

2. ADDRESS

3 PRIVATE PHONES AND MOBILE NUMBER

4. YOUR COMPANY'S NAME IF ALL, IF DON'T YOU TELL US YOUR AREA OF BUSINESS.

Expect your reply soonest.

Best regards.

Kokonza Ngonza

For the family.

[Rocker]

Yeah, tell that guy to go lick balls. I faced down a couple of scams when I was shopping around for a Dodge Coronet last year. I found a '69 that looked to be in awesome shape for the price they were asking, and it was like the racoon trying to pull the shiny piece of metal from the hole - unwilling to let go, but not able to get away without letting go (if you're familiar with that fable). At first the car was in Texas (eBay), and the guy wanted to complete the transaction off of eBay and into a private account, no PayPal (warning flag #1). Then he tells me he's actually in whatever Slavic country he claimed to be in, and had to move his family there for his work but couldn't take the car (flag #2). I tell him I live "not too far away" from where the car is in TX (a lie), and I'd like to go see it. But oops, the car is actually in upstate NY, and he wants to know when I'm going to be transferring the money. By this point, I realize it's a total scam, though it was hard to let go, because the pictures he had were of a really nice car and the price was ridiculous. I tell him I have family in the next town over from where he said the car was in NY, and they could go check it out for me the following Saturday. But he said that wasn't possible since it's in a storage unit, and the only people authorized to open it was the "shipping company" that he wanted to use. It wasn't a shipping company at all - it was nothing more than a website of laughable quality. I asked that communication be done through eBay, and he sent me what looked like eBay communication (with all the buttons and links), but it was never available in the actual My eBay. I led him on a little while longer after reporting everything to eBay, and never heard anything else again. The guy used some pretty bad English in all his comms. I faced one other scam that was very similar, on eBay as well - probably the same guy (though I used a different name). Anyway, scams are everywhere, and good on you for not rushing into anything. If it just doesn't add up, it's bullshit.

[GreasySideUp]

Ahhh Mr. Ngoza.... The most infamous scam of all yet those guys still make a living off it. Scams are starting to get more complex. I buy a lot of pretty big items off the net so I've seen a bunch. The latest is to hold back and only send one picture, when you ask for more they'll wait a day to "take a few pics" and then send a few more as requested so it actually looks like they took more pics. I've had this done several times now with pinball machines and motorcycles, problem was the pictures were pirated from other random sites off the web and used as their own. I am very familiar with just about every picture on the net for the stuff I am looking for and can recognize usually where the pictures came from. I usually don't hear back when I send them the next picture in the series. My latest CSM (counter scam measure) is to request a picture with a random item of my chosing on the item for sale. ie. please send a pic with a hammer on the seat of the motorcycle so I know you actually have it. Honest people selling have no problem doing this, scams shy away pretty quickly. I just sold a Harley to a guy in Europe with no issues and no phone conversation at all so the honest deals are out there but you really have to be careful. I would never have made the purchace that way. Many scams are now just looking to get the deposit, I can only imagine how many people are being burned a hundred bucks at a time.

The real shame is the computer skills and command of the English language could get these guys a pretty descent job. I would love to have some of the tech support these guys could give with their skills (ebay pages with buttons, website design of schill companies etc.) My final email to these guys now goes something like this.

"Is your life truly so bad you need to scam others to be happy? Are the short term gains from the money you were getting from me worth the hole in your soul for stealing hard earned money? It is obvious you have a roof over your head and access to the internet, are you not going to eat tonight if the scam falls through? Go to to the church of your choosing this weekend, think about it and put your computer skills to good use, get a good job and earn the money for the extra things you want in life. The rewards of things earned and not stolen will be so much more fufilling. If there is anything I can do to help you with an honest living please let me know."

I've actually had a few people come back and say "You are absolutely right, I don't know why I'm doing this. I have a descent job but for some reason it didn't feel like a crime...." along with a bunch of other stuff about their life. Who knows if they were sincere about quitting the scams but you change the world one person at a time right?

Anyways.... Did you get the Coronet? Sweet ride, I was looking for one of those a few years ago after that movie with Ed Norton. Still want one someday.

[Rocker]

That's pretty funny that you've gotten these idiots to come clean. I've never been quite as compassionate.

I did buy a Coronet, though I decided to go a little more old school and bought a 65. It ran and drove but had a ton of rust and a lot of structural issues, and right now it's up on jack stands in my garage all torn apart. I just finished welding in all new floorpans, repairing the rear frame rails, and this weekend I'll be fabbing and welding in a new trunk floor and making a couple other spot repairs. Then all the metal work should be done and it'll be time to clean it up, cover the whole underside and inside floor area with a coating called Rust Bullet (similar to POR-15 if you know what that is), and put it all back together. All new stainless brake and fuel lines, new fuel tank, new carpet, near rear suspension and gears, and new other stuff. It should be back on the road late next month and be very solid, and I'll drive it as is for a while as I start the engine build up in the spring. This time next year, it should be a beast and then I can think about paint for it.