A man in New Zealand sent a check to us for 158k Euros to purchase $125k car. The check came by MAIL, regular mail. The check was deposited 3 weeks ago. Now he wants us to pay the airplane fare & transport by wire direct to Logistics, out of his proceeds. Walker Presler. Any funds left over bank wired directly to him.
Has anyone sold a car or delt with Walker Presler?
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my guess, you will never find the real Walker Presler...and don't bother looking in New Zealand...there is no spoon.
Obvious scam, just Google his name and the first article is My Dream Car online and how to avoid fraudulent cashiers check scams....
I read it already thanks Joules, I was asking if any others have delt w/himn. Oddly enough, the check cleared. But as you know it can still be stopped. If it was fake check it wouldn't of cleared.
More importantly, just a shout out to members re: Walker Presler.
So at what point do the funds become permanent? Meaning cant be stopped?
Unknown, the bank is non-committal about this.
Wondering if any members dealt with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rXhAnu5ETU
Can't remember if it is this Vin Wiki that talks thru it. Finally, almost all bank funds are recoverable--except for ones sent thru cash services like Western Union. This is a common scam applied to a lot of victims, not just car purchases--but even, a way to get people to 'get rich at home' by buying products online, reimbursing them with money that seems it has cleared the bank, but then find the "check" was never any good and the bank will come back to the victim for restoration.
I'll have to find the Krebs (Krebs on Security) that talks to this scam...but unfortunately it works because one part of our brains (the part that realizes its stupid for someone to pay more than was being asked, what with nonsense that New Zealand is so far away...) and instead fills us with a certain re-assurance that gee, the check has cleared, how could I go wrong? When we really do Not know what a banker knows wrt fraud.
GREAT information Leea thank you thank you thank you!
Open a new bank account, transfer all funds and close your current account.....
for those interested in the darknet and the industrialization of crime in the digital age 
, here are some old clips on the topic...
This happened to me years ago. Checks all clear electronically, so as long as there are funds in the account, it clears. At some point, an accountant will notice the account balance is “off” and will start digging. They will then discover the phoney check. That could take 6 months or longer. In my case, the account belonged to a large company and even the signatures on the check were close but the name had been changed. Apparently, the scammer must have gotten his hands on a real company check because it was identical in every way, except it had his name on it. Luckily, my Bank caught it immediately. Rather than wait for it to clear, they called the Bank to confirm funds and to make sure the check was real. That’s when the scam was exposed.
@italford posted:So at what point do the funds become permanent? Meaning cant be stopped?
About the only way for the funds to be permanent or unrecoverable is to take the check to the bank it was drawn on and cash it for CASH, and walk out. Then take the cash to your bank (must be a different bank) and deposit it.
Depositing it in a bank, IN CASH, will require additional paperwork. Some banks may restrict how much you can deposit at once. I'd start with the bank the check was written on and inquire if sufficient funds are available. You may have to go through your bank to do this.
I seriously doubt a Bank would cash such a large check unless you had an account with the same Bank. They always want a paper trail and if they give you cash, the trail ends. They will, however, give you a Cashier's Check or a Bank Draft because it keeps the paper trail intact. Mind you, when you show up at the Bank in question and try to certify the check, they'll take a good hard look at the check and will almost certainly call the account holder to ask if it's OK for the Bank to release the funds. If you get through all of this and you're given a Draft or a Cashier's Check, it's almost impossible for them to take the funds back. They'd need a Court Order to do it but I doubt a Judge would ever grant them one. They would need to prove that you were part of the scam.
Joules' Google reveals the most peculiar thing---that the scammer doesn't even bother to change his bad alias while trying again...Dominic Santini, Zicko Gabi, Kayle Burrows, whatever the motive (pretending to buy an expensive car to be a virtual wealthy person) or just because the law hasn't caught up with them--if there is any money actually belong the check, it certainly belonged to someone else and will be recovered...
