A MAN who has scammed Victorians out of thousands of dollars through private car sales set his sights on a Bendigo man as his next target.
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Under the alleged pseudonym "Don Harrison", the scammer sent Bendigo man Chris Rix an email on Monday asking about a motorcycle he advertised in the Bendigo Advertiser.
Don Harrison, believed to actually be a Chinese national, claimed he lived in Darwin and was working on an offshore New Zealand oil and gas rig.
Harrison suggested he pay Mr Rix for the motorcycle using PayPal.
Mr Rix said the poor English in the email was the first thing that raised an alarm.
The man also could not provide a contact phone number, alerting Mr Rix to the possible scam.
"I haven't responded to him after that stage," he said.
A quick Google search of "Don Harrison" revealed the likely source of the email.
In September 2014, the Warrnambool Standard reported a Camperdown woman had been scammed out of $1350 by a man claiming to be Don Harrison.
The woman had advertised a caravan for $5500 and was contacted by Harrison, who promised he would forward $6950 to the woman, and asked her to forward $1350 as his agent's fee.
The woman sent the money to a Chinese address, raising concerns Harrison was unlikely to be the Darwin oil rig worker he claimed to be.
She realised her mistake when Harrison then requested another $2550 for insurance.
The Sunraysia Daily reported a series of similar incidents in Mildura in November last year, including one man who was conned out of $3000.
A man selling an item in the newspapers contacted a number of others looking to sell, and found they too had been contacted by Harrison.
Mr Rix said while the scam was obvious to him, there were likely to be others in Bendigo who could easily fall for Harrison's email.
"For elderly people who might be selling things in the newspaper, they might not be familiar with how these scammers work," he said.
Anyone with information about a potential scam can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.