Hi there ,
I'm John Krugger from Calgary, i will like to make an offer of $7000 for this Vehicle,and please i can only pay using PayPal, and after payments has been made ,i will arrange for pick up of the car.Will more than appreciate your
reply. Thanks and God bless
N.B-please attach some pictures,if any.
John
Now, obviously this is a scam. Bad punctuation and wont appear in person. And the God Bless - if that doesn't assure me of an honest Christian then I don't know what will. And why ask for pictures, they're on the ad.
But...
But he's using paypal? Isn't that secure and stuff?
I wanted to find out how this worked, so I played dumb and emailed back.
Hello Gerry,
thanks for mailing back,i am an oceanographer and i am buying this Car for my dad, i am at sea right now,and I can only pay through Paypal and you can put the Paypal charges on me because as at present, i don't have access to my bank account online,but i have it attached to my Paypal account,and this is why i insisted on using Paypal to pay,all i will need is your paypal email address to make the payments,i have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been sorted and will also handle the paper works. Be rest assured of a secured transaction because i am a serious buyer and i will only take the car after payments has been sorted out.Thanks and God bless. John
Ah, what a nice guy, buying the car for this dad. And I can `rest assured of a secured transaction because i am a serious buyer and i will only take the car after payments has been sorted out`.
Next email - oh no, there`s a problem.
Hi Gerry,
I was just about to make the payments when i had this little problem with the picking up of the car , I am currently on sea and i am buying the car for my Dad as i explained earlier on and i tried to book pick up with my pick up agent, but they asked me to pay first before they can make the booking, and they only accept Western Union Money Transfer for payments and they dont accept paypal or Bank transfer and I tried to send the money online but i couldnt and I am on sea and there is no way i can find a western union agent to make the transfer to my pick up agent, so i wanted to ask if it was ok for me to include my pick up agent's fees in the payments I am about to send through paypal, my pick up agent charged $650 plus insurance and all of that, please can i include their money in the payments I want to send then after i have made the payments you will help me forward the $650 to my pick up agent through western union money transfer ,this I would have done myself and not bother you but the for the fact that I am currently on sea, so after I have made the payments you will help me send $650 to my pick up agent through western union money transfer, I just wanted to seek your consent before going ahead with the payments,I will more than appreciate if you mail me back, and I will be making the payments shortly. Thanks and God bless. John
PS: the shipping company's Head quarters is in England and any pick up fees to be paid is sent to their head quarters by the payee, so the money for pick up will be sent to their head quarters in England through western union money transfer(this can be done from any post office) or you can do it online at www.westernunion.com
Ah, now I see. I send money via western union to your shipping company in England. And you can use paypal online `on sea` but not western union online. Good stuff. So I offered to drive the car to his dad in Calgary since I would be there anyway and save him the shipping cost. No, not possible. Or have my made up office in England go and pay his shipping company in cash. No, they don`t accept cash for security reasons. Ok I said, I`ll go for it.
So he sent a verification email from PayPal (well from a mail2pay.com address) to an email account (that`s not associated with any paypal account) for $7750. Paypal however wont relase such a large sum until I send the money to his shippers (via western union - the dodgiest method around).
So that`s how it works. You can scam people by buying stuff through paypal. I have replied with this, but have little faith in it working (and here I`m an honest Christian too);
Hi John
thanks for sending that. It sucks that Paypal wont release the money immediately.
As you can understand with the recession and Christmas cash flow is limited at the moment and without Paypal releasing the $650 I cannot send it on via western union. The lack of cash is the reason I am selling my car in the first place. Anyway I checked with my bank and I have $350 I can use to help you pay your shipping company. If you could send me the other $300 dollars either via paypal with the funds released, or via western union online then I can send the $650 to your shippers.
When they come to pick up the car I will then leave your $300 in cash locked in the cars glove compartment. I trust you will be able to help me with this and then you can have your new car.
God bless and merry christmas
Gerry
Update
John emailed me back to say that if I sent the $350 then paypal would release the cash and I could then send on the rest of the money. I sent him the confirmation code (a link to the nastiest virus ridden site I could find) but I haven't heard from him since.
Ah, now I see. I send money via western union to your shipping company in England. And you can use paypal online `on sea` but not western union online. Good stuff. So I offered to drive the car to his dad in Calgary since I would be there anyway and save him the shipping cost. No, not possible. Or have my made up office in England go and pay his shipping company in cash. No, they don`t accept cash for security reasons. Ok I said, I`ll go for it.
So he sent a verification email from PayPal (well from a mail2pay.com address) to an email account (that`s not associated with any paypal account) for $7750. Paypal however wont relase such a large sum until I send the money to his shippers (via western union - the dodgiest method around).
So that`s how it works. You can scam people by buying stuff through paypal. I have replied with this, but have little faith in it working (and here I`m an honest Christian too);
Hi John
thanks for sending that. It sucks that Paypal wont release the money immediately.
As you can understand with the recession and Christmas cash flow is limited at the moment and without Paypal releasing the $650 I cannot send it on via western union. The lack of cash is the reason I am selling my car in the first place. Anyway I checked with my bank and I have $350 I can use to help you pay your shipping company. If you could send me the other $300 dollars either via paypal with the funds released, or via western union online then I can send the $650 to your shippers.
When they come to pick up the car I will then leave your $300 in cash locked in the cars glove compartment. I trust you will be able to help me with this and then you can have your new car.
God bless and merry christmas
Gerry
Update
John emailed me back to say that if I sent the $350 then paypal would release the cash and I could then send on the rest of the money. I sent him the confirmation code (a link to the nastiest virus ridden site I could find) but I haven't heard from him since.
66 comments:
Good for you. I am getting a little tired of these "sailors"/"miners" etc. who are scanning all the "for sale" ads. PayPal should be very concerned because their system is obviously being discredited - albeit in a convoluted way - through these emails.
OMG this is almost exactly whats happening to me right now! This dude wanted me to send 750 to his agent and that the money would be credited once the requested informationn was sent to pay pal. we haven't got anymoney yet and the money was sent and the information was sent ages ago! now he wants a$1000 for the insurance fee as we are sellin a car yeah. we told him that we aint going any further till that 4,800 is in our paypal account and cleared. he is playing dumb and everything, ignoring what we send...
do you have any idea what to do.. email me Kiara_puppy@hotmail.com...
Hi Gerry,
This is also what's in the middle of right now. The seller has already transferred money through Paypal but haven't yet requested money to be sent to his agent. He paid the price of the car plus $750shipping fees. Any idea how we can deal it from here? Pls email me at xaclopez@yahoo.com
I had the same scam try to get me selling my car. It is sometimes fun to waste their time when you know it is a scam, at least they cannot harm anyone else while they are focussed on people who know. My guys name was Reese Dawson from China. He used the phone number +865078374782. It has been used in previous scams I found on the internet.
Good luck everyone
RY
Reese Dawson just e-mailed me regarding a 911 Posche I am trying to sell. Asked for my pay pal address so he could send the money - I sent him the address but just found out it is a scam so have told him not to contact me again and have blocked him on my e-mail.
Hi,
So glad you posted this online. I JUST got scammed. Trying to sell my Peugeot on Tradingpost.com, a lady from China and a guy from UK both contacted me immediately. Replied to lady from China. She had very poor English, asked for photos even though photos already posted on the ad online. She said that she will transfer the car money and shipping/handling money to Paypal, and all I had to do was transfer her the shipping/handling money through Western Union. Then I received an email from "Paypal" with the email address "customercare@consultants.com", and other suspicious details, saying that the lady from China (a "Catrina Letord") had in fact sent them the money. What a total sham.
Didn't bother replying, otherwise she'll know I caught her and might even try improve her faults. Reported her to Paypal, and now will call Western Union as well.
Thanks for posting this. Glad to contribute and prevent future victims.
Gerry, thanks for posting this. I was a little suspicious of a similar email from "Jessica Smith" using email address mariowannas@gmail.com. We are in the beginning stages now.
"Thanks for the reply, i am a sailor, i am at sea right now so l wont be able to check the item but l need for details about the item and also l will be more happy if you can send me some pictures of it because am buying this for my son as a surprise gift so am willing to offer you the amount you required. I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i don't have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email address to make the payments, and if you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can set one up at www.paypal.com it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your PayPal email so l can pay. I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been sorted. l will be waiting for your reply asap"
"Jessica,
Due to the possibility of things getting messed up by Paypal (which has happened to me before), this will need to be a cash-in-hand transaction. Paypal will not be an option as payment to me for the trailer. If you only have access to Paypal you may want to transfer the money to your agent so that he/she can pay in cash upon pickup of the trailer and delivery of the title. I will need to know where the trailer will be registered so that the tag office can be alerted and take care of the government paperwork (apparently these are new rules with transferring registered vehicles out of the area). Thanks for your understanding. There are several links to the pictures in the original ad, so if you can link to them you will see the trailer.
Have A Blessed Day!
- Jim"
...waiting to see what "Jessica" has to say about that.
I've been hit w/ this scam twice now (I didn't fall for it either time). The first time, the fellow said he was a network engineer who was buying the car for his Dad, but he didn't have access to internet banking (imagine that: a network engineer who can't access his bank via the internet) and could only use PayPal. I simply told him I could not release the car until the funds had been deposited into my bank account (not the same as being sent to PayPal) and could be verified w/ my bank. Never heard from him again.
The second fellow was a marine engineer (gee, these guys are giving engineers a bad name, eh?) who was "at sea" and was buying the car for his son. I told him the same thing, but he sent back a reply and stated he agreed to the terms, just send the PayPal email so that he could pay. But after reading up on the other elements of the scam--both here and elsewhere--I sent him a reply asking him to acknowledge that he would be responsible for any and all third-party fees, regardless of how they were to be paid (Western Union or otherwise). Like Gerry, I thought it might be fun to play w/ him a bit.
Haven't heard back from him on that one. Gee, imagine that.
TB
THANK YOU all for confirming something which I have been thinking is in fact a scam (I am going through this same thing). I had a wedding dress on sale on Ebay and it "sold" to in fact an Oceaneographer who was in fact at sea and basically sent me an email (outside of ebay of course) IDENTICAL to the example above (about agent pick up and western union transfer etc etc). I did not and have not fallen for it and have basically written back telling him that I cannot and am not willing to transfer money on his behalf. The name of my scammer is Barry Roland, email barryroland75@yahoo.com.
I thought it was extremely suss when he was not a registered E Bay User, i received an email from EBAY warning me of this (in dutch though) and the fact he was buying a wedding dress for his sister "as a suprise" when he hasnt even seen it for real..... then when he "had this small problem"..... i was right onto it!
SO Glad i read this post.
Should I report it to EBAY? where or what should I do? My last email I sent to him was as followed....
Hi Barry,
Sorry for my delay reply. Unfortunately as I mentioned I do not have immediate access to be able to complete this western union transfer for you.
when is it that you get back form Sea? I am happy to wait for you to organise the paymenty of your agent once you return. Or perhaps ask someone else you know to do this for you?
If you cannot get this organised and are no longer interested in the dress, it is no problem. I am happy to cancell this sale without any negative responses or problems.
Please let me know.
Thank you
Regards, "
Dear golavacat,
Congratulations! Your item just sold. Please prepare this item for the buyer to pickup as soon as possible after receiving cleared payment. You can send an invoice to the buyer as a reminder to pay for this item.
SYM
End time: 14-Aug-10 17:16:17 AEST
Sale price: AU $3,000.00
Quantity: 1
Quantity sold: 1
Quantity remaining: 0
Buyer: mally adams
14amally14 (amally14@rocketmail.com) [contact buyer]
Buyer's postal address: mally adams
75 Rue Des Floralies
28700 Auneau
France métropolitaine
Sell another Item | Go to My eBay
Dear golavacat,
I just bought your item now,i will like to proceed with payment via paypal,i will arrange for pick up after payment has been made,please tell me the condition of the item.get back to me asap.Cheer M Adams
- 14amally14 Click "respond" to reply through eBay Messages, or go to your email to reply
SYM
Item Id: 320574911714
End time: 14-Aug-10 17:16:17 AEST
Buyer:
14amally14 (0)
0.0% Positive Feedback
Member since 14-Aug-10 in France
Location: Centre, France
Buyer email address: amally14@rocketmail.com
Listing Status: This message
Thanks for your swift respond,i really appreciate it,i am an
oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am buying the
item as a gift for my dad,i want to make it a surprise gift for him,so he
won't know anything about the gift until they get delivered. I can only
pay through paypal. So pls kindly get back to me immediately so i can
proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a
pick up agent that will come around to pick the Item up immediately after
payments.......
Looking forward to hear from you soon
Thanks
Cher(ère) 14amally14,
hi ,
Thankyou for purchasing the Sym frienze , I saw the location where you live is in France , but the item pickup is in Perth ,Western Australia ,Beechboro area , 6063
Pickup only , no postage.
the sym frienze in excellent condition , and it has been well cared for.
Could you please give contact details please.
if you any more questions you like to email.
Dear golavacat,
I just bought your item now,i will like to proceed with payment via paypal,i will arrange for pick up after payment has been made,please tell me the condition of the item.get back to me asap.Cheer M Adams
- 14amally14
Ha, almost got me too as I try to sell my car. Richard the Marine Engineer, away at sea with access to paypal but not internet banking. I followed along for one exchange, but when he mentioned having to western union cash to the pick up agent...next thing I did was google 'paypal scams' and came across this blog. Thanks for the info. Now to plot a sinister response to 'Richard'.
Same thing happened me again selling a car.
same thing is going on right now with me!! His name is John Bright!! He is out at sea looking to buy it for his brother!! How nice of him!! NOT!! Next please!!
Will these guys ever stop, I've got to stop using craigslist
Again, another scamming incident to add to the ever growing list!
I advertised my car on Autotrader and received an email from John Kay at johnkay7777@gmail.com. My asking price was £2,150 for my car and this guy offered me £2,300 to reserve it and could only pay by cheque. Personally, i thought it was strange purchasing a car without a test drive and inspection?! But I accepted and received a cheque for £6,000! Apparently, this guy works 'at sea' because he is a sailor who lives in Aberdeen, Scotland and would be unable to collect the car in person. By the way, a child of 4could write a better email than this guy, his grammar, spelling, everything was embarrassing! So, he confirmed shipping arrangements and wanted me to send £3,700 for the fees etc. I went to my bank and queried the cheque, they confirmed that it was most probably fake as there was no hologram, no bank address or even account details etc. They advised me to query it with the guy and when I did, suprise suprise, no reply!!!!
Now, I have my car advertised on Ebay. Straight away, I received an email from Micheal Peters at michealpeters18@aol.com wanting to purchase it. I confimed the asking price and again was willing to pay much more than what I was asking. Also, the guy wanted details about the car and more photos. Seriously, do I need to repeat myself, its all on the ad! Now, I have to admit that this scenario seemed a little different to the first incident as the guy was willing to pay via Paypal which I believe to be very secure. I received payment the next day but is still pending (obviously, as they are going to request a reversal anyway). And then, the suspicious stuff, the same scenario with shipping and he is 'at sea' and the car is a present for his dad to show how much he cares for him blah blah blah. This is when I did a bit of research and every item that came up were with warnings of scams and people going through similiar if not the same scams involving Western Union Money Transfers. I have emailed this guy back refusing to converse any further and making it very clear that I know its a scam. The verification emails that I received confirmed that he had included an extra £630 for the shipping fees which I (the seller) needed to send on. But, I raised the point that the amount he sent me via Paypal was only for the agreed offer amount and not inclusive of the fees. Again, suprise suprise, no emails back!!
So, watch out for Mr John Kay and Mr Micheal Peters who are both sailors of course!!
Again, another scamming incident to add to the ever growing list!
I advertised my car on Autotrader and received an email from John Kay at johnkay7777@gmail.com. My asking price was £2,150 for my car and this guy offered me £2,300 to reserve it and could only pay by cheque. Personally, i thought it was strange purchasing a car without a test drive and inspection?! But I accepted and received a cheque for £6,000! Apparently, this guy works 'at sea' because he is a sailor who lives in Aberdeen, Scotland and would be unable to collect the car in person. By the way, a child of 4could write a better email than this guy, his grammar, spelling, everything was embarrassing! So, he confirmed shipping arrangements and wanted me to send £3,700 for the fees etc. I went to my bank and queried the cheque, they confirmed that it was most probably fake as there was no hologram, no bank address or even account details etc. They advised me to query it with the guy and when I did, suprise suprise, no reply!!!!
Now, I have my car advertised on Ebay. Straight away, I received an email from Micheal Peters at michealpeters18@aol.com wanting to purchase it. I confimed the asking price and again was willing to pay much more than what I was asking. Also, the guy wanted details about the car and more photos. Seriously, do I need to repeat myself, its all on the ad! Now, I have to admit that this scenario seemed a little different to the first incident as the guy was willing to pay via Paypal which I believe to be very secure. I received payment the next day but is still pending (obviously, as they are going to request a reversal anyway). And then, the suspicious stuff, the same scenario with shipping and he is 'at sea' and the car is a present for his dad to show how much he cares for him blah blah blah. This is when I did a bit of research and every item that came up were with warnings of scams and people going through similiar if not the same scams involving Western Union Money Transfers. I have emailed this guy back refusing to converse any further and making it very clear that I know its a scam. The verification emails that I received confirmed that he had included an extra £630 for the shipping fees which I (the seller) needed to send on. But, I raised the point that the amount he sent me via Paypal was only for the agreed offer amount and not inclusive of the fees. Again, suprise suprise, no emails back!!
So, watch out for Mr John Kay and Mr Micheal Peters who are both sailors of course!!
Hi Gerry,
Thank you for putting this up. I smelt a fish with the bad grammar from both the buyer and "Mary" from PayPal. I have Gavin Sayer from Freemantle, currently on an oil rig and wanting to buy my Honda VTR250cc as a graduation present, what a great dad! The wording was almost verbatim to what your "John" wrote. He has even given me an address, 3 sewell st,east fremantle,WA, which, according to google maps is no longer a plot of land but now a carpark. At the moment he is waiting for my money, which I told him I've already posted (I lied) because I want to see what happens next. What's a good virus infected website can send him to?
Thanks to all of you for your similar stories.
Hi Gerry,
This is the guy who had Gavin from Freemantle wanting to buy my bike. I just sent him my last correspondence, here it is:
"Hi Gavin,
I was returning home after getting the bike washed and ready for you when someone pulled out and made me crash the bike. I'm okay, thank God but the bike is not in a good way. Do you still want it as it is, I can send pictures. I hope your son graduated from auto mechanics school, he'll need to work on it a bit, it certainly will be a surprise for him. Also, give my regards to Mary from PayPal.
Let me know your decision,
Jeff"
i also got mail from michealpeters18@aol.com, saying exact same things as you guys already mentioned, so be careful this guy is fake !!!
Second email: Jonathan O. Grant cityenvoy11@gmail.com
Thanks for the details you've just sent me in regards to the vehicle. I'm interested and I want you to know that you don't have to surf around looking for buyers because you just found one. This is a surprise gift for my Dad and it must be presented in few Weeks from now. I hope you now understand my eagerness to complete this transaction a.s.a.p...?
The agent will provide all the necessary information you'll need in order to complete the change of ownership.
As for paypal charges, I will cover the charges from my end.
We don't have a scanner here so I can't scan what you require of me besides I don't have it here with me.
I will send you the agent's information once the payment is completed so that you'll be able to recognize him when he's about to come and pick up the vehicle.
I will wait until 24th Nov,2010 before you hand over the vehicle to the agent.
OK. No refunds.
I'll need your paypal email address and your name so that I can make the payment.
Immediately the payment is completed, the agent will contact you in-order to pick up the Vehicle at any location of your choice and he will also be of assistance concerning the change of ownership by presenting all the information's/documents needed to transfer the change of ownership. This transaction is based on HUGE amount of trust and I expect to see this from your side as it is on my side. The only thing I'll like to say is that if there is any problem which you're yet to mention, please let me know now.
___________________
Beware of scammer email: cityenvoy11 @ gmail . com
I got the same e-mails from:
michealpeters18@aol.com
wlshrn211@aol.com
Hi,
thank you for having this blog. A guy named Jonathan O'grant was tying to buy my getz for his father in NZ for $1000 more than i actually ask for. I am in Australia. His Email jonathanscontact@gmail.com and phone number +644 889 0964.
I will report him to paypal and to gmail.
Watch out guys and thanks again.
ULI
Hello again,
Thank for the response,Am still interested in your listed item.i wanna make an urgent purchase of it for my client ..am presently at the sea therefore,i won't be able to come and pay you cash for,and i will like to inform you that i can only way pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i don't have internet banking with it),and if you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can set one up at www.paypal.com it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your paypal email so l can pay. I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been sorted, and also do get back to me with your best offer. l will be waiting for your reply asap.
From: Pales Sands
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 12:28 PM
Here is another SCAM.
here is one more.
Thanks so much for the mail,I would like you to know that i am really interested in buying the item,I am willing to offer you 7,650Euro for it,please let me know if you accept my offer,payment will be through paypal and the pick up will be arranged.Also don't forget to send me more details of the car,and your contact address also.Thanks and will be looking forward to hear from you sooner.
I got almost the same thing today AFTER accepting an eBay Best Offer, so now I have to relist when I had over a dozen watchers on the original!!
"Thanks for your swift respond,i really appreciate it,i am an oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my dad,i want to make it a surprise gift for him,so he won't know anything about the gift until they get delivered. I can only pay through
paypal. So please kindly get back to me immediately so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the Item up immediately after payments.......
Looking forward to hear from you soon"
Besides the bad English, on another site somebody had mentioned how these responses usually refer to the "item" which saves them the time of changing the e-mail to say exactly which "item" they're supposedly purchasing!
Besides trying to use Paypal, now they've moved into eBay too which is annoying since you can get the final value fee recredited, but you have to relist and repay any listing fees again. Even before I got that response, I should have known better to accept the offer from someone with a brand new ID who offered me MORE than my buy it now! Stupid me thought maybe this new person was thinking the BIN was the minimum price!
Same here...so happy I found this site!
i am an oceanographer and am currently at sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my Dad, i want to make it a surprise for him,he wont know anything abt the item until they get delivered to him, i can only pay through paypal as i dont have access to my bank account online as i dont have internet banking,but i have my bank acc attached to my paypal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through paypal,So pls kindly get back to me with your paypal details so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done, i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the item up after i have made the payments for the item.
>
> kindly get back to me to my private email:lcharles001@yahoo.com.
>
Thank You Gerry for posting this.
I just got a email from a ad I had placed in the buy and sell. It was a Backhoe instead we were selling.
Almost the same wording but it was for his son for Christmas. He didn't ask anything about it at all just what shape it was in. I thought it was a scam but my hubby was wishful thinking :) Anyways we haven't got to the point where he is going to put the moneys in PayPal yet. I called PayPal to ask them if there were any scams with sellers and the young girl said no. I am kind of choked that the girl never heard about this scam since I did call long distance to get information.
Anyways... It gives us something to talk about for awhile. I hope no one falls for this scam.
Thanks for the post and all have a Happy New Year!!
Yup just had one of these, your site has confirmed my suspicions!. Thanks a million...well £600 at least :-)))
I was scammed and actually sent the guy money through western Union. Any suggestions about how I can get it back or at least find the guy?
The money's gone. There's no real way to trace it.
well now.... same thing here off 2 guys in 24 hours... i knew about the scam, had to convince the other half that it wasn't legit tho...
I do have one thing to say... if you're a REAL oceanographer on a boat wanting to buy a car/bike as a gift for a family member, you're screwed.....lol
Hi everyone, this just happened to me......this is what I posted on the final reply email to them....
#########
Hi Shirley, because of your lack of reply I can only assume that you are one of these....http://gainford.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-paypal-scam.html
Like I said... you will receive what is coming to you shortly......
If you scan your system properly you will find a file called “got you” this was secretly attached to one of my emails and is now on your system....which I can now give your details ie ( location and IP address ) to the authorities......
So it wont be long before you hear from someone........better get out of there real fast if you want to avoid them.......
You will get caught eventually, its just a matter of time, as I have sent the “got you” file out to a heap of posters both on Gumtree and Ebay.......
So good luck trying not to get caught......
All the very best wishes and god bless from dave in australia
##############
So good luck everyone maybe this will slow them down
dave from australia
I appreciate everyone posting about possible scams, so I decided to post this one. I am trying to sell my car, and just received this email on 2/28/10. Before I wanted to accept his offer, I emailed him to see how he was going to pay, and this is what he said:
"I am happy you accepted my offer, i really appreciate it, i am an oceanographer and am currently at sea at the moment, i am buying the car as a gift for my dad, i want to make it a surprise for him,he wont know anything about the car until they get delivered to him, i can only pay through paypal as i don't have access to my bank account online as i don't have internet banking,but i have my bank account attached to my paypal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through paypal,So please kindly get back to me with your paypal details so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done, i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the car up after i have made the payments for the car.Also i had made arrangements with my pick up agent to get a solicitor to provide a change of ownership document so they will bring it along for you to sign."
After reading all your posts (it already felt sketchy to begin with), I pretty much know it's a scam...Thanks!
Paul in Surrey: I am selling my business online of course and like many of you have recieved almost immediate request to buy the business full price without ever seeing or sending someone to see it. The story goes like this:
" I am an british researcher in antartica and am buying this as a gift for my son"
Thats nice. Nevertheless he says he is unable to pay except thru paypal. Sound familiar? He sends money (bogus paypal site) but asks me to send funds of 1900 to a western union address in London. Sounding still so familiar? Of course the bogus site of paypal cannot release such large sum 101,000 without first recieving this money. And he cannot pay it himself because he is in "Antartica". These scams are a serious discredit to the genuine PayPal people.
Needless to say I didnt send any funds but will ask for a person to person face to face transaction.
You can forward any of these unwanted emails to spoof@paypal.com to let them know about the name of the scammer.
Hi thanks for the info I just received this request on Facebook and pegged it as a scam right away and found your blog. I am selling an item in marketplace for $300. His Facebook name is Charles Lewis
i am an oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my dad,i want to make it a surprise gift for him,he won't know anything about the gift until they get delivered to him.So i want you to reassure me that the item is in good condition as you have described. I can only pay through PayPal. So please kindly get back to immediately so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the item up immediately after payment.
HAAAA mine is a sheik who is also on a boat, marine engineer no less! and he called me "mate" a lot in his first email, i miss that :( I did not know that Australia was part of the Arab nations?!?!? here is my guys follow up letter. it links to a fake paypal page to steal your real account. good luck all and remember if he cant see the car in person and pay cash IT IS A FAKE! never use paypal, ever, ever ever ever ever!
sheik mansou wrote:
> Thanks for the prompt response.. I am ready to buy it for my uncle and
> i am at sea at the moment as i am a marine engineer and due to the
> nature of my work, phone calls making and visiting of website are
> restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you
> an email regarding it. I really want this car to be a surprise for my
> uncle so i won't let him know anything about the car until it gets
> delivered to him, i am sure he will be more happy with the car.
> Due to the nature of my work i am a very busy man working all day.i
> wont be able to come for inspection but all i really need from you is
> to be sure that the car is as describe online.i have gone through what
> you wrote on the advert and i am really satisfied with its condition I
> insisted on paypal because i don't have access to my bank account
> online as i don't have internet banking, but i can pay from my paypal
> account, as i have my bank a/c attached to it, i will need you to give
> me your paypal email address and the price so i can make the payments
> asap for the car and pls if you don't have paypal account yet, it is
> very easy to set up, go to www.paypal.com and get it set up, after you
> have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for
> registration with paypal so as to put the money through. have a pick
> up agent that will come and pick the car up after i have made the
> payments
Selling my VW Golf, and just got this email:
"Hello Mate,
I'm just asking about it to make sure its in good condition as I'm buying it as gift to someone special and no body knows about the purchase as i want it to be a full surprise. Do you think its worth a surprise gift? also no shipping involved as i have a pickup agent that will come for it once you confirm payment has cleared. Payment will be made via paypal only(if you don't have an account, paypal is very easy, safe and secure, log on to www.paypal.com) since I'm requesting this transaction to be done via paypal, i will cover all the paypal charges. I'm sorry i will not be able to come look at it in person as I'm present unavailable due to my work conditions and paypal is my only payment option as its the only payment form i can access here. I hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible?
Regards."
Sounds eerily familiar right?
Pete :)
Mine is from france.williams115@gmail.com - also a marine engineer buying my $42G truck, sight unseen - as surprise gift for his son......
Glad I found this website!
I have had the same problem today and my husband and i had a bad feeling about it from the start.
The first email was sent to my husbands mobile and because he didnt have an email setup to reply he had to use the PC...
we told him our best offer then we got this email:
Thanks so much for your warm reply.No problem i will be paying you
$2,200 with my PayPal account because it's attached to my bank account and its safe and very secure way to make payment . If my mode of payment is accepted just send me your paypal email address,(Paypal ID) so i can pay in right away. Make sure you get back to me so that i can make the payment. I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been made, so no shipping included. And if you dont have a paypal account, you can easily go to www.paypal.com.au and sign up. its very easy. I await your reply asap
NOTE:I have already contact a shipping company that will handle the pick up.
We Then replied asking for his contact details only be told this:
Thanks for your reply.I would have love to call you but i am on a the sea now working as a Marine Engineer and phone calls are restricted but i am only managing to contact you via email here and i would be very happy if you can get back to me with your PayPal email to make the payment.Let me know soon so that i can arrange with the shipping agent.Thanks.
What a crock of crap... I have told him we will only except cash...
I am soooo glad i googles paypal scam!!!
his email address is :ryangreg913@gmail.com
Also, can he do anything with my husbands name and our email address???
It's very unlikely that anything would be done with the name and email address.
G.
So this just about happened to my nephew who is selling my dad's truck. Except they claimed to be living in the U.K. We are in Canada.
What amazed me is they actually texted my nephew with some of their 'purchase' info. But I realized it wasn't a U.K. number so there was our first red flag.
Then we searched for scams and found many stories like this.
However I notice some people condemning paypal which surprises me. I have used paypal for about 10 years without a problem, both to buy and sell. It is MUCH safer than handing out your credit card on the internet.
But you must do your DUE DILIGENCE. Anyone that wants you to send money for a purchase they are making is going to be a scam.
It's just a reworking of the old telephone 'loan' scam where they will release the money after you send the 'broker' or 'finders fee'
Practice Safe Selling....
HA!,
Chieun Lee, the sailor just tried this with my trailor on Craigslist. As he caught me after an earlier morning fire response, I almost fell for this until he wanted me to send money via Western Union..... I forwarded all fake email communications to paypal and also contacted Craigslist....What anice guy trying buy a trailer, sight unseen for his son!...hahaha!
a mark scott
s.mark434@gmail.com
is doing the same thing, im messing with these people right now,
This is still going strong,
i had a similar email from someone called Bale Lee. saying the same thing that he was at sea etc.
i then got an email from 'paypal' saying the money was there waiting for me but i had to pay western union £1000 of it first.
when i clicked on the contact of the 'paypal' email address- the name of the contact was service@paypal but the actual email address was instantfundapproved@officeemail.net
its thanks to websites like these where you can come and check your gut feeling it right and that yes its too good to be true and yes its a scam!
8/29/11
Hi There,
Thank you for getting back to me. Can you assure me that it's in good state and that i will not be disappointed with it.I'm ready to pay your asking price and to be honest, i wanted to buy this for my son, but the issue is i am an oceanographer and i do have a contract to go for which starts tomorrow and am leaving any moment from now.The contract is strictly no call due to the lack of reception on the sea area. But I'm able to access email anytime as we will make use of laptop so my only quickest payment option is PayPal as i can send money via PayPal anytime.Since I'm requesting this transaction to be done via PayPal, i will be responsible for all the paypal fee/charges on this transaction and if you don't have an account with paypal, its pretty easy, safe and secured to open one. Just log on to www.paypal.com. I hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible? I have a mover that will come for it once payment clears and they will take care of very necessary paper for me. So i look forward to hear from you soon. will like to see more pics.
I need the address where the agent will meet you and your PayPal email address so i can send the money now.
Many Thanks
<<<<<<<<<< and we replied with a honest email asking for some kind of human contact to make sure it was not a scam and can u believe what they said back... >>>>>>>>>>
I told you earlier. I'm out of state, I'm offshore now, PayPal is reliable, secured and a fast way to pay money online moreover i don't have the money in CASH and I'm not around now, I can only pay via my VERIFIED PayPal account because I can't go around with such huge amount, if you don't have an account with PayPal kindly go to www.paypal.com you will be instructed on how to create a new account and get back to me when that is done. . kindly send me your PayPal email address so i can pay you for the item now.
Best Regards
Sims
<<<<<< you have all been warned now and Sims i hope life takes from you whatever u take from others... >>>>>>>>
Dang, looks like the same thing is happening to me, bummer, i think ill just ask this girl to have a friend of hers complete the transaction for her, see what she says to that. i thought it was fishy that shed buy a car before even checking it out, dang oceanographers.
I had one, here is my response once I sussed it was a scam, which wasnt hard!!!
Unfortunately you have come across a very internet savvy person. All it took was a Google search for 'Autotrader buying scam paypal pickup agent' to reveal you are just pure scum of the earth and a SCAM artist.
You need to get a life my son but before you do you most definitely need to improve on your email skills if your ever going to scam anyone.
Good luck in Heaven you piece of trash. Oh, and try not to drown at sea!
Kind regards,
Non dick head seller.
ha ha ha...please dont get caught out by these things.
Gerry..
Thanks so much for posting this. This guy has just tried the same with me only through an adress in Malaysia. It felt a little bit strange so i googled the return email adress and this is where i found your comments..
So Once again a HUGE thank you
Ann-Marie xx (£750 better off now)
I received this one today but I felt something was fishy so I did my research and found this site.
Thanks for posting.
Hi There,
Thank you for getting back to me. Can you assure me that it's in good state and that i will not be disappointed with it.I'm ready to pay your asking price and to be honest, i wanted to buy this for my son, but the issue is i am an oceanographer and i do have a contract to go for which starts tomorrow and am leaving any moment from now.The contract is strictly no call due to the lack of reception on the sea area. But I'm able to access email anytime as we will make use of laptop so my only quickest payment option is PayPal as i can send money via PayPal anytime.Since I'm requesting this transaction to be done via PayPal, i will be responsible for all the paypal fee/charges on this transaction and if you don't have an account with paypal, its pretty easy, safe and secured to open one. Just log on to www.paypal.com. I hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible? I have a mover that will come for it once payment clears and they will take care of very necessary paper for me. So i look forward to hear from you soon. will like to see more pics.
I need the address where the agent will meet you and your PayPal email address so i can send the money now.
Many Thanks
LaFrederick Sims [mailto:diffjames6@gmail.com]
ryangreg913@gmail.com
paypal scam
I have read through all of these posts with interest, unfortunately, for every post here that realised in time these were scams, there are another two or three people who didn't.
I have used paypal in business transactions for five years and never had a problem. These ar**holes are giving a very good operation a bad name. Some may think that $500 to $600 is not a lot to lose when people have been scammed out of houses costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, but when you look at the similarities of names and the way this scam is being run, they are probably answering hundreds of ads to buy every day. If one percent go for it, they make $6,000 a day, if ten percent are duped, and that is not a large figure, they make $60,000 a day. that is some income for sitting at a keyboard for a few hours.
If you get anything like this, send it to the fraud squad in your local area as well as paypal or ebay or whatever else they use.
But the main thing is get the word out to everyone you can either through sites like this, facebook, twitter or the way I found it on my local Gumtree. The more people who know the less people will get duped and maybe we can make it so time consuming without profit for these guys that they will just give up. Some hope, I know, but we can always hope.
....I knew this guys email was too good to be true: I'm selling and old Suzuki for 1500, and he wants to ship it overseas...?? gimmmeabreak.....but, the PayPal angle is what confuses..I'd have thought it was fool proof..til now....mmmmm......I too got contacted by SMS to my phone, but, curiously there is no 'caller' number, but name........how'd he get the cell network to do that ?? I think I'll play him along for a bit...... :)
watch out for an idiot named adam donnery (z3m3kz3@gmail.com). same thing as what everyone had said although nothing was said about them buying the car for their dad/son/wife/dog.. whomeever. what tipped me off was that they were willing to buy a $9000 corvette without checking it out themselves. messed around with him a little saying how i was so happy he was going to buy this as this money would help get my boyfriend out of jail as he was in there for murdering a couple of people. he's completely innocent of course but still all this money will go towards his lawyer. never heard from him again.
I got this same scam on craigslist and sent the scammer the following on an email subject: NOTIFICATION from Enforcement@DOJ.gov
COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY
FORM 10775-a-icf
This form serves as notification that the person(s) at this|these address(es)
84.41.116.26
84.41.xxx.xx
has|have been surveilled and found in violation of the following national|international code(s)|ordinance(s):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
act 1221-00-2231 -a-icf: Consp. to commit fraud using an electronic device
act 0453-22-0114 -a-icf: Crossing national borders to commit computer fraud
IPL-ct 0443-21-2253: Crossing international borders to commit computer fraud
IPL a-334-icf-2120 (Intrpl): Conspiracy to engage in a terrorist activity (3-icf)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
These activities will result in confiscation of all electronic equipment used and fines not to exceed $/Eu 250,000.00 and no more than 7 years imprisonment per violation.
Local enforcement authorities have been advised persuant criminal code(s) 221-2A-ef-10775-a-icf
FORM 10775-a-icf:::::
x Dept of Enforcement
x DOJ
x InterPoL Div III
x RedAlpha III
x 7 Red (A)
331-22-31-icf-313625
Dept of Electronic & Computer Security
(Attn: NPPD/CS&C/NCSD/US-CERT/INTERPOL
FngrPrnt: 112E 7A9E CDD9 9504 3CA7 E41E 14D4 4740 B832 BE70
It is unnecessary to reply to this communication 3.
COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY
just got a very similar email from nelsonroll2000@gmail.com, same old story, just so that you all know
i am selling my car and recieved the same email i thought it was to good to be true i was on gumtree.. this is what i recieved
Thanks for the response, I'm seriously interested in this car and i will really love to purchase it right away so kindly put off the ad right away and consider me as your favorite buyer and I will have my shipper come over for the picking up of the car down to my place after payment has completed. I will be making the payment through PayPal because PayPal is safe and secured for transactions online, please advice soon as I'm offshore at the moment as a marine engineer and due to the nature of my work, phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it. If this is acceptable kindly get back to me with your PayPal email address and the details below so i can proceed with the payment. I can only pay through paypal at the moment as i do not have access to my bank account online,but i have it attached to my PayPal account, all i will need is your PayPal email address to make the payment,and if you do not have a PayPal account yet, its pretty easy to set one up at www.paypal.com,i will be expecting your email.
I will need this following details so i can proceed with the payment right away
Are you the first owner:
Your PayPal e-Mail Address:
full name:
What is your reason for selling it?
Address:
Last price
I'm sorry, just want to be sure about the sale before i proceed
John
his email is johnpalmer21@7y7mail.com
can they do anything couse i gave him my house adresss?
From: nelsonroll2000@yahoo.com
"Thanks for the mail and that will be fine if you sell me the item, i will add 100 euro to the cost of the laptop due to the shipping fees cause am sending it abroad..so if you don't mind i will like you to end it on ebay now and get back to me with your paypal email address so that i can do the payment asap.."
At the end he offered me the price for a new laptop while mine was used:
"okay no problem i will offer you 500 euro including with the shipping cost, so kindly get back to me your paypal email address so that i can proceed with the payment.."
Thanks to this blog where i found his email address i answered:
"http://gainford.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-paypal-scam.html,
Find a job motherfucker instead of steal money,
you're the worst kind of the human race"
i had two scammers in 2 days, both with the same technique(pickup agent) they wouldnt send me their licence details for the reptile i was selling, all they cared about was the bank details, i told them i knew theywere scammers and they never talked to me again.
Another oceanographer here:
Nancy Pawel
nancypawel@o2.pl
I just received a contact from Nancy Pawel too!! The irony is that the item she picked from my website only sells for $6 anyway! and she reckons she wants to come and pick it up from Hong Kong where I live!
"Good Day", I saw your item listed on Artfire.com and am okay with the condition and the description of the item because i want to buy it for my lovely sister, and please i can only pay using paypal, and after payments has been made ,i will arrange for pick up of the item.will more than appreciate your reply, and i will want you to answer this question below:-
Do you accept PAYPAL as you mode of payment?
What is the final price of the item without shipping cost?
Get back to me in my private mail at : nancypawel@o2.pl
Best Regards
I am currently trying to sell my car on ebay motors and I got a text message second day after my post if the car is still available. I did send e-mail and I got this reply back that sounded to good to be true:
How are you doing, hope cool??? Actually I saw the listing you placed on eBay Motors regarding your Ford which is for sale. I have been looking for this type so long which i luckily found it online.
I would have loved to have a proper look, but I'm currently not in the states at the moment due to my work as i travel a lot. All the necessary titles will be signed and arrange by my pickup agent after i have made the payment.
You don't need to get worried concerning the shipping as i will be arranging that myself since the pickup agent is responsible for the title as well.
I will like you to know that i will be doing the payment through PayPal is the most secured and easiest way for me to send over the payment to you.
You can register an account if you haven't get one already by clicking on this link www.paypal.com and get back to me with this information below.
Your Name:
Your PayPal email address:
Your Last price for this item:
eBay Item Number:
Waiting,
Mr Williams
because of this I started to call ebay and paypal to find out if is legal. I was advised not to provide my paypal e-mail and request his paypal e-mail to send an invoice. he replied back and told me to use the e-mail he is using. now my concern is about the pickup agent... so I asked e-bay again what should I do and they advised me to find out who is the pickup agent. has anybody got into this situation, again, I don't have a fancy car to sell but I don't want to find myself without my car and no money for its value
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