# Holy Smokes, anyone have 125K laying around?



## Neebles (Dec 1, 2015)

Just saw this add in my local craigslist. Makes me wonder what he has, where he got it, and who actually has that kind of cash to drop. 

https://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/tag/6012813344.html

in case the link doesn't work, here is the text. 

Lionel Train parts and supplies, enough to fill a 40 foot shipping container, time has come, where it is time for someone else to take charge of this once in a life time opportunity to have this inventory and sell at train shows and on line, I have changed my interests and have decided to sell. with over 50 years of dealing with Lionel Trains, time to change direction with what I would Like to Hobby in my senior years, and time spent with my family and wife. I am sitting on one of the nations largest known all original parts inventory for Lionel Trains, Anyone who answers this ad, will have to meet with me and sign a confidencehalidy agreement before I disclose location and sales agreement, There are no pictures for good reason, as I trust any buyer would understand, This group is selling for $125.000.000, or to spell it out is one hundred twenty five thousand dollars, with over 1 million parts and more, is a once in a life time opportunity, Thank you


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## ExONRcarman (Feb 7, 2017)

OH! OH! ME!ME!............NOT! Wow thats sounds like mafia to me! lol


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## Neebles (Dec 1, 2015)

ExONRcarman said:


> OH! OH! ME!ME!............NOT! Wow thats sounds like mafia to me! lol


Yeah, sounds a little shady to me as well.


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## HeyChris (Jan 23, 2017)

Wonder if this is related to the train store cleaned out near NYC.

Sent from my Non-Zack Morris phone


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

> *confidencehalidy* agreement.....


Really?



> This group is selling for *$125.000.000*, or to spell it out is one hundred twenty five thousand dollars


Don't know what that number is, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't spell out to one hundred twenty five thousand dollars.....

I smell a Nigerian Prince......


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## Nikola (Jun 11, 2012)

Sounds legit to me. He does not want anyone to rob him as clearly everything is at a storage location that is not his home. He is pricing at ten cents on the dollar and that leaves plenty of margin for someone to quickly recoup their investment.

If it were a scam, why would he be targeting the model RR folks? It's not like anyone of us has a reputation for bling and deep pockets LOL.


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## J.C. (Dec 24, 2016)

ExONRcarman said:


> OH! OH! ME!ME!............NOT! Wow thats sounds like mafia to me! lol


contact him and he will make you an offer you can't refuse 

in reality sounds like a scammer to me.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Old_Hobo;1622962
Don't know what that number is said:


> I remember when phone numbers used to include hyphens. Nowadays people use periods to separate the numbers, such as 307.555.1111.
> 
> I see in his price listing he used periods instead of commas, as still is the current practice. Glad he spelled it out, otherwise we wouldn't have a clue what he was asking for it all!


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## JimC (Jan 16, 2017)

Neebles said:


> There are no pictures for good reason....


Uh, because it's in Nigeria?


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

JimC said:


> Uh, because it's in Nigeria?


I used to get a lot of E-Mails from Nigeria, but I never answered them. I would advise that you see and load the trains first, and open every box, just to be sure. I knew someone who was sold a lot of HO scale brass engines and was rushed to get them loaded, but when he got them home found some of the boxes just had a weight in them to make them feel like they had an engine in them.


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## time warp (Apr 28, 2016)

The only thing that would be real in this transaction would be the sucker's cash. The parts don't exist. Why would something like that be on Craigslist anyway.:rippedhand:


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

thedoc said:


> I would advise that you see and load the trains first, and open every box, just to be sure


You're joking, right? You really think this is legit? If you think so, I'm surprised you didn't answer those emails from Nigeria! :laugh:

The seller probably wants someone to meet him at that "location", then him and his buddies will beat the $hit out of the person and rob them.....


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## time warp (Apr 28, 2016)

I say this is posted from a Prison, and there is a funds transfer involved. Don't walk, RUN!


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

That's nothing.. Mom just went into a nursing home.. One of the nursing homes we visited demanded a check for $150,000 before they would allow her to walk through the door.


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## ExONRcarman (Feb 7, 2017)

flyernut said:


> That's nothing.. Mom just went into a nursing home.. One of the nursing homes we visited demanded a check for $150,000 before they would allow her to walk through the door.


Was this home on the side of the hiway? cause it sounds like hiway robbery to me


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

flyernut said:


> That's nothing.. Mom just went into a nursing home.. One of the nursing homes we visited demanded a check for $150,000 before they would allow her to walk through the door.


This is a somewhat different case. Some of these places are assisted living facilities, where the unit is actually owned by the resident, who also pays a monthly maintenance fee covering meals, utilities, cleaning services, medical care and supervision, etc.

My mother is in such a location. My parents bought in at $200k, but the value of the unit is now $310k, which will be part of the estate when she finally decides to leave us.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Nikola said:


> Sounds legit to me. He does not want anyone to rob him as clearly everything is at a storage location that is not his home. He is pricing at ten cents on the dollar and that leaves plenty of margin for someone to quickly recoup their investment.
> 
> If it were a scam, why would he be targeting the model RR folks? It's not like anyone of us has a reputation for bling and deep pockets LOL.


Really? Well, go ahead and pursue it if that's your opinion. You won't trip over me. 

You only THINK he's pricing at ten cents on the dollar because he said so. If there really were a private collection with that kind of value somewhere, I would think that someone, somewhere (other than the owner), would know about it. 

The lack of pictures is deeply troubling -- with only minor effort, it would be possible to conceal the location and take at least some sample pictures.

Being charitable, I could argue that this is a legitimate offer from someone who has no idea of the value of what he has (probably way over-inflated -- just because he SPENT $1 million on it doesn't mean that's what it's worth), and that he doesn't want to take pictures because he's too lazy to do it.

But if this were a legitimate offer, his odds of finding a buyer by that route are pretty long. He should be contacting dealers and auction houses. The use of Craigslist for something of this nature is enough to make me very wary.

Or I could just let this one pass. I know what I'd do.


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

Wow, tough call on this one.

But what are we worried about?
Does anybody actually have that kind of bucks just itching to be spent on train parts?

Lesser amounts, for sure. $1,000, $5,000 most definitely.
They're not "world-changing" events.

But about one ninth of a million bucks? I don't really see it coming.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

RonthePirate said:


> Wow, tough call on this one.
> 
> But what are we worried about?
> Does anybody actually have that kind of bucks just itching to be spent on train parts?
> ...


That's why I said he should be shopping businesses, if it's legit.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I'm having no trouble passing this one by.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

CTValleyRR said:


> This is a somewhat different case. Some of these places are assisted living facilities, where the unit is actually owned by the resident, who also pays a monthly maintenance fee covering meals, utilities, cleaning services, medical care and supervision, etc.
> 
> My mother is in such a location. My parents bought in at $200k, but the value of the unit is now $310k, which will be part of the estate when she finally decides to leave us.


Mom was in assisted living at $5700 per month...That came out of her pocket.


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## time warp (Apr 28, 2016)

$5700.00 seems high until you do the math. Figure a nice hotel room at about 150 a night with no assistance will run near that. Sounds expensive but actually realistic.


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## Tom_C (Jan 8, 2016)

Often these guys on CL are only trolling for email addresses. Chances are they won't even reply.

If they do reply, and if I were so inclined to want to purchase the item I would meet in a safe location and go from there.

I sold a car a few years ago on CL and it went fine. But, I was packing heat when they came to see the car and test drive it the first time.

Buyer, and seller, beware. And also, have a throw-away email address you only use for online stuff.... I have one I have used for many many years, but I can walk away from it at any minute if something happens, including this forum


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## JNXT 7707 (May 5, 2013)

thedoc said:


> I used to get a lot of E-Mails from Nigeria, but I never answered them. I would advise that you see and load the trains first, and open every box, just to be sure. I knew someone who was sold a lot of HO scale brass engines and was rushed to get them loaded, but when he got them home found some of the boxes just had a weight in them to make them feel like they had an engine in them.


That's good advice...but having a couple of 40 foot containers myself, I couldn't imagine the logistics of that. Quite an undertaking. 
Even if I had that kind of money to play with, that sounds like a nightmare. 
I wonder if he has an inventory list?


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Sounds like a good rock not to look under, to me.


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## dialed in (Jan 20, 2017)

Sounds like some of the scams they have on kijiji here, the CL equivalent. Sellers take a pic of a piece of farm equipment and post it with a low-but-still-somewhat-realistic price. When you contact, they tell you it is in storage halfway across the country after a nasty divorce and request a "small" downpayment so they can afford to ship it to you, then you can inspect it on arrival and send the balance due.....

As neat as that ad sounds, it also sounds VERY sketchy....


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