lets go with our baseball bats and rocks.

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Nothing wrong with taking a bank cheque, that's where you have the bank guranteeing the money will be paid when the cheque is presented. Very different to a personal cheque where you are relying on the individual's integrity...

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.

Actually scammers sometimes use counterfeit bank cheques. They initially clear, but at some point the bank wants their money back.

See:

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/overpayment-scam.html
http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/cashier.asp

A mate of mine put his EH on ebay. Sure enough, got a scammer trying to pull that one off.

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"Life is not like a box of chocolates... it's more like a jar of jalapenos. Whatever you do today, may burn your arse tomorrow."

Good point. The lesson here is to be very careful with any overseas transactions, and dealing with people you cannot identify in person.

That said, if someone gave me a bank cheque from an Australian bank (and they pretty much all have anti counterfeit measures these days like holograms on them), then I would consider it as good as money in the bank.

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.

hey mate, did you end up getting your money back?

Hmmm... i would just like to say People are very good with computers i have read several newspaper arcticles on bank check fraud and the only safe way to check if its real is to call the bank and quote the numbers...holograms and waterwarks can be reproduced..So really unless you call up.. DONT TAKE THE CHECK

yeah its wise to hand the car over only once payment has been made in full....
ie: cheque/s clears

us mini guys wont tolerate this sort of thing, and it would be in this guy's best interests to see this paid..

i know i for one don't want people like this spoiling our kickarse scene.

Waiting until the cheque clears is sound advice, and there nothing wrong with being overly cautious other than possibly offending your buyer. Every situation needs to be judged on it merits and its correct context.

However ask yourself, if you were a scumbag smart enough to reproduce watermarks and holograms in order to fraudulently produce bank cheques and compromise the Australian banking system, would you be making a criminal career out of ripping off owners of their minis? You'd need a fair few minis before you could retire in Rio...

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.

Whilst we're on the topic of being ripped off selling a car, thought I'd share this story.

I had a mate who had poured his life into building his dream Monaro. The car was amazing and had over $40K spent on it. The car ended up in show car condition and he was the only one who would open and close the doors of the car, and whenever he did so there was never a finger print left on the car.

Anyway, life changes and time came to sell it. He advertised it in the Trading Post, and had a guy come down to look at. After an hour going over the car they went out for a test drive with my mate driving, and stopped to look under the bonnet and swap drivers. He let his guard down for 2 secs.. whilst he was putting the bonnet down, the "buyer" got in the driver's seat and gunned it, almost running my mate over. Needless to say the car was never seen again.

Always ask for a photo id when taking someone out for a test drive or selling your car, and (scan / photocopy is best) record the details down somewhere safe, just in case.

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.

thats just horrible, so many bad people out there

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78 van 1300 cam extractors weber, 12" Superlights Metros Konis HiLos MP3 Amp Sub Alpine speakers and lots of fur
www.crazybitchracing.com

lets hope he had insurance

i think the point here is that it was the commodore scene, and there are some really nasty people in that scene.

hindsight would be amazing about now, but unfortunatly its human nature to trust people and its also human nature to take what doesnt belong.
I just spwen the afternoon in court after a little ning nong stole my metro and trashed it with no remorse well i got some money back and the car (wrecked) I figure he got away lightly with what was delt with him cos he is a minor (boll@cks) he nows the difference between right and wrong and the wheel truns is all i can say. He will need parts sooner or later or the services of someone who works and knows minis he will be caught and then nail the shite. Go to the rego place and ask them for his address giving them the number plate, send the police around and claim your car back legally.
Or send round some heavies and sort him out but that doesnt always acheive the desired effect.

did u ever end up getting the money back?

Hi there - as a bank employee i thought I might shed some light on counterfeits for you!

I've seen plenty of specimens of these sorta things, and I'd have to say, they are pickable next to the real thing.

1. If it's a bank cheque from any of the big4 aussie banks the writing should be printed with a dotmatrix style printer, rather than appearing printed with the cheque. This printing will mean there will be the slightest indentation where it's been printed.
2. ANZ bank cheques will have a hologram in the centre top of the cheque about 1cmx1cm with ANZ and coat of arms.
3. Thermodynamic printing is on most B/Cs, turn it over and read the instructions, a message/logo should either appear or disappear when rubbed.
4. There will be some kind of UV printing also, on most bank cheques there is specks all through the paper and then a larger UV logo as well. If you're unsure and you dont have a UV light ask someone at the bank when u deposit it to check out it's authenticity, and if it's their bank they can even check the number.

When someone buys a bank cheque they effectively put money into a bankcheque account then the cheque is drawn from there. They can obviously be stopped, so probably best safeguard is also to bank it ASAP - the sooner it's banked, the sooner it cant be stopped.

Finally, on personal cheques - the bank won't really give a rats arse if you've been given a dishonoured cheque -it isnt really their business and due to a whole lot of laws they cant really "chase" your money either - someone giving you a cheque is not a formal contract which has been reneged on. They will simply charge him a few for writing it (generally about 30-50 dollars) and depending on your bank, you may receive a charge for depositing a dishonoured cheque.

So, this bastard may have paid about $35 for your mini, and you wont see a single cent.

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