About two weeks ago I posted to this blog regarding the sale of the used chiropractic flexion distraction table I had in my garage. You can view the blog here… Used Chiropractic Tables

I learned a few things from making the post which I’ll be sharing here. I sold the table this past Sunday to a recent chiropractic graduate from Cleveland College in Los Angeles. That part is great news because it shows that chiropractors are searching online for used equipment and in this case there was equipment available in a close enough local proximity so that the young doctor could come and take a look. I’ve had some great feedback over the years from doctors buying and selling equipment, adjusting tables, practices, and so forth, but it’s always great to have that experience yourself. Now to the stuff we said we’d talk about after getting some e-mails from scammers pretending to be interested parties.

Don’t clown around with internet scammers

clown aroundI also mentioned in the previous post that we’d get into the discussion scams, particularly classified ad scams that occur throughout the Internet. Sure enough, I was fortunate to receive one of those potential scam e-mails yesterday. Here is a copy of the e-mail I was sent…

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BELOW IS A REPLY TO YOUR CLASSIFIED AD
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Ad Headline: Flexion Distraction Chiropractic Table Los Angeles
Posted To: Chiropractic Classifieds

Hello

I just place a look on your item and i am interested in immediate
purchase of this item,but before i proceed on this transaction i will
like to ask some question as follow.

1.What is the condition of the item?

2. Do you accept a cheque as a mode of payment?

3. What is the final asking prize you can go at last?

4. Will you let our shipping company to come to your house for the
pick up of the item cos we don’t want you to worry yourself about the
shipping of the item.

5. Will you be able to send the excess fund back to the shipping agent
who will be coming to your doorstep for the pickup?

6.if okay You are to provide your NAME,ADDRESS,CITY,STATE,POSTCODE,TEL
# to mail out the payment as soon as possible .

Regards

Yi Xu.

yi xu
yixe56ujjgu106@yahoo.com

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To someone who has never dealt with classifieds online, places such as eBay, Craigslist, or a multitude of other places on the Internet where people buy and sell stuff, this ad response may possibly appear real. However, it has SCAM written all over it.

Here’s my quick list of red flags…

  1. horrible English (worse than mine)
  2. method of payment (beware check purchases)
  3. long-distance purchaser (shipping company scam)
  4. asking for return funds (*this is where the scammer collects your money)
  5. asks for your personal information (all pertinent info is already in the ad)
  6. nonstandard e-mail address

That’s just a quick list on a single e-mail I received. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling chiropractic equipment, your old car, household furniture, new Labrador puppies, or what ever. These scammers troll the internet hoping they’ll find someone who will take the bait.

The popular web site “craigslist” has a good page to read on avoiding Internet scams. You can view it here… http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

So the good news is I sold my chiropractic table locally, I had the opportunity to meet and chat with a fine young colleague, and I received a scam e-mail so I’d have an example for this post. It’s all good!