Laurie Dealer: Beware of the overpaying scam
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At what point do you lower your guard when dealing with people you know and trust?
The best safeguard in the used truck trade remains ensuring the money is safely stowed in the bank before you release an asset. But what if someone asks you to reimburse them because they paid you too much, especially if they've established trust by spending and sending their cash to you before? A 'colleague' experienced one such conundrum. A recently acquired contact bought their third truck in as many months, and wanted it shipped as the two before. The first two payments
were done through electronic money transfer and all was well. So when an email arrived explaining an error, namely that the person had sent the money with an extra zero on the end and would they mind wiring the difference back, it was all too tempting to oblige. After all, the best part of £60,000 will leave a significant hole in anyone's finances.
It was only a mild sense of doubt that led to the phone call to the finance director to check if the money had actually arrived when the ruse was spotted. This time the buyer had sent a cheque. It might as well have been made of neoprene...