Does this seem dodgy to you? (email regarding my stolen bike)

[burlingo]

Hello,

about a month ago my Specialized Allez 2010 bike was stolen from Bristol city centre. After filing it with the police etc. I decided my next move was to go online and post about my loss.

Anyway, today I recieved an email which reads...

Hi Buddy,
sorry to read about your bike loss, I am a cycle builder, not full time, and I always work on road bikes, I have not seen your bike yet,
but can you give me some more details, any identifiable marks, etc, which group set, as much detail as you can tell me, also the frame number would be great, there is a high lot of theft of cycles in bristol at the moment, I can not promise anything, but you never know,

From: ****

Maybe the guy/girl is genuinely trying to be helpful, maybe I'm just seeing the bad in everyone since the theft.

I was wondering if someone could do anything with this info (Obviously wouldn't tell the person my frame #)? Is there any harm in telling the person about my bike?

I feel like there's something fishy about it, but I can't quite put my fingeron it.

Cheers if you read this far/going to reply with your thoughts.

 

[xxmimixx]

My gut feeling is that if he was genuine he would openly say his name or relate himself to something or someone: like for example I do work for this club, or this is who I am (some details online somewhere). Plus he would have left his phone number or address (if genuine he would have a business address). I know a bike mechanic that works from his shed and openly advertises that as his business address.
My interpretation of that email is: let me know as much details of your bike as possible so that if I get found with it in my possession then I can cast a reasonable amount of certainty that it belongs to me because I know so much about it that none else but the owner would know.
Ignore it.

 

[I like Skol]

Or take it one step further and get in touch with the police. This might be part of a scam they are aware of and if so could lead to you getting your bike back?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

+1 on ignoring it, it sounds very iffy to me as well.

 

[smithy92]

+1 on the lack of information on who he is affiliates with. If there was a company or club he worked for he would have said so.

Ignore it/tell the police, don't bother replying.

 

[burlingo]

Thanks for the speedy responses.

I was excited to see my ad' got a reply. But this is not what I was hoping for.

It just confuses me to think that if this person isn't genuine, how would they benefit from this info. Definitely not going to reply for now, need to find out more info, see if anyone has had anything similar maybe.

 

[superbadger]

in your own words the bike is 'specialized' i warrant your suspisions; It may be worth you contacting the police with this info and see if they want to look into it? I guess that may seem a bit bad if the guy is genuine but he may be known to the police! You never know eh? Sorry about the theft anyway.

 

[the snail]

I don't see it as that suspicious - whoever stole it already knows all the info, and I can't see why anyone up to no good would want to know. Maybe he is someone who buys/sells bikes and thinks he might come across it.

 

[Brad]

Yeh I agree with the above comment! Maybe he is a genuine person? Where did you post it? Was it a specialist cycle forum or just a location that everyone man and his dog could find?

 

[Stuartaw11]

Sounds genuine to me too, unless of course he has just purchased a similar bike and is worried it could be stolen, on the other hand if he is a cycle builder his name could pop up in a google search, worth a look

 

[Cyclopathic]

I don't see it as that suspicious - whoever stole it already knows all the info, and I can't see why anyone up to no good would want to know. Maybe he is someone who buys/sells bikes and thinks he might come across it.

Ok, how's this for suspicious...Perhaps he does fix up and buy and sell bikes and he might want the details so that he can blackmail someone who tries to sell it to him and get it for a very low price.

No harm can come of informing the rozzas about the suspicious email. If it's above board then there won't be any trouble but if it's not then it could be a useful clue.

 

[buddha]

Erm, if they are/could-be in posession of the bike, wouldn't it be obvious what the groupset, frame no, marks and scratches etc are.
Maybe the OP could ask the sender who they are?
Have you also tried searching their email address?

 

[steve52]

he wants to gain your trust and ??? who knows get more info arange a meet u get home to a ransacked place? dont reply and pass it on as part of your case

 

[loops]

You could email him or get a friend to and ask if you can come down to his workshop to talk about getting some work done on a bike you have, go down, check him out.

 

[apollo179]

Sounds genuine to me too, unless of course he has just purchased a similar bike and is worried it could be stolen, on the other hand if he is a cycle builder his name could pop up in a google search, worth a look

Yes sounds like he may have bought a cheap bike and started wondering if its your stolen one and with all the fuss about it may bge reconsidering the wisdom of selling it on or maybe using it himself. Police do stop dodgy people on expensive looking bikes.
Ckeck his legitimacy before imparting any info.