But the skies cleared up and the stars aligned perfectly, and voila I had the chance to access the Net for a bit.
Which brought my attention to the advert above, as highlighted from a fellow reader on this blog.
He was interested to get a Vespa scooter, and a GTS 300 Super Sport was a rare sight in Malaysia as it costs some RM36k brand new. There was a secondhand unit for sale and it was going for a lowly listed price of RM4,900. He was unsure if it was a genuine deal and asked if I mind helping him out.
Now, I'm no Sherlock Holmes but if a deal sounds too good to be true, chances are one gotta be slightly more careful. If the unit was selling at 50%, it was already a desirable offer; but a 1-year old unit selling at 85% off?! Red flags should be flying strong for all to see.
I had the interested buyer send some queries to the seller and the standard answer that he received were as per the following, irrespective of the questions that he was raising :
"Thanks for your email and information and sorry about the late response as all this while just my daughters situation in my mind and i was busy at the hosiptal all this while as my partner moved back to get an appointment with our doctor back in Italy for her surgery so am all alone here with her so find attached are the pictures of the bike as you can also see i did take exact pictures of its mile ages too for better clarification of its state and condition as you can see its just 23760km and all original parts which i imported it from Italy with me also i did check as regards to the shipment to you and the cost for that was estimated 500-700rm depending on your exact address which you can also see in the pictures i still have the box and cover for easy and safe transportation so as per that i would need a scan copy of your NRIC ,driving license and complete address so i can best do the transfer of ownership and hence immediately ship the bike to you as also attached is a copy of my passport.Thanks"
The bike was listed as being in Sentul, KL so I told the interested buyer that he could arrange to view the bike first. And instantenously, he was informed that the bike was now located at Sabah and that the seller could ship it to the interested buyer.
More red flags should be raised by now, even for the most uninitiated.
The seller sent some pictures to the interested buyer and even attached a copy of his passport to show that he was a genuine seller; and using my limited bandwith, I quickly found that the pictures of the bike were taken from a UK sales site ie http://motorcyclegiant.net/vespa-gts-300-2/, and the said passport of the seller himself was downloaded from a blog ie http://livingwithabroadintuscany.blogspot.com/2011/11/finalmente-ho-il-passaporto-italiano.html.
The poor chap whose passport had been used, certainly had not meant for his passport to be utilised to con other people, I am sure.
There are honest folks around looking to sell their rides, I am sure; but I would advise fellow readers to seriously look out for such hustlers preying for easy monies. Always view the bike that you are interested in before making payments; or if it was located in too far a location, you could always drp me an e-mail and I could try to hook you up to another fellow reader of this blog whom was located nearer to the location, wherever possible.
It was a lucky break for the interested buyer, and I do hope that nobody fell for the hustle.
Macam-macam ada.
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