Beware Paypal Scammers!

[Guest TheHowells]

Hi all,

 

I guess this may not be news to everyone, however, I think its still worth posting to those who may not be aware of this scam...

 

I advertised my brand new Toyota RAV4 for sale on Gumtree a few days ago - unfortunately we are having to sell this car after our house sale fell thru at the last minute (that'll teach me to jump the gun assuming the house would be sold, even tho the contracts were due to exchanged the following day!!) - anyway I received a reponse by email from someone saying:-

 

That they were working on the ship overseas as an oceanographer and that they were very interested in buying the car as a surprise pressie for their Dad (yeah, lucky Dad). The guy wanted to pay by Paypal as this was secure for both him and me. He would organise an agent to come and inspect/pick up the car on his behalf and sort out its delivery.

 

It was a bit of an odd story but having used Paypal alot thru Ebay in the UK then I thought it was safe. We exchanged a few emails and I was about to proceed on the sale when I received an email from someone else with a spookily similar story ie.

 

They were working overseas as a hydropgrapher, wanted to buy the car for their son, would arrange an agent to pick up the car and wished to pay by Paypal...

 

Hmmmm.... this didn't smell right at all!! I phoned Paypal who after not being completely helpful, did then admit that there have been scams like this where once the sale is agreed the "purchaser" sends a spoof email from paypal that $x,000 dollars have been transferred into their account. If you actually checked your paypal account then the funds would not be there but this scam relies on you believing the email you've been sent & not checking your paypal account. The agent would then pick the car up even tho no actual payment has been made & hey presto you've been seriously scammed!!

 

I like to think I would have checked my paypal account but I don't really know... which is quite scarey as I haven't been able to find a job yet and we certainly could not afford to lose this sort of money.

 

The email below is an exerpt from the Gumtree moderator:-

 

"My advice is be very cautious of replies from people who state they are overseas, request payment via PayPal or Western Union. Please conduct all Gumtree transactions face to face in person using cash only. Remember Gumtree should be used for local, face-to-face buying and selling."

 

As you can imagine I was extremely angry about this scam and I hope this helps anyone reading this from recognising straight away this sort of scam (please also tell friends and family as well).

 

Cheers,

Dave.

[Guest kangomik]

It's been going for a while mate, but well worth a heads up.

I threw a bike on last year through bikesales, i had nothing but scammers, they asked what the best price was so i added 10K and they would buy it. It's fun to string them along for a while. I was thinking of letting "the agent" turn up and then hold them for ransom untill the agreed price was paid in cash.

I did offer them the mother in law as down payment saying that they would have to keep her if they did not pay up.

 

You may get some scams via email soon claiming that pay pal want to update your account or it will be closed, 5 days later you get a warning email saying it is due to be closed. Mine still works several months later.:GEEK:

The same old rule applies, if it's too good to be true it usually is. Dealing face to face is easiest and thats why gum tree was set up.

[Guest TheHowells]

Cheers for your story, I guessed it wasn't the first time this had occurred. I do particularly like the mother-in-law option!! :-)

[Guest kangomik]

I had an old editor write a superb answer to this type of scam, basically it involved taking charge of the mother in law and paying a daily rate for the privilidge.

 

Do a search on google regarding paypal, ebay, gumtree scams etc and it makes for some interesting reading and could save you some serious cash.

[ian mc]

Just had the same scam tried on us about 10mins ago with a car send some more pictures and I will put the money into your paypal account. Told him don't have a paypal acount cash only. See what the reply will be

[Guest kangomik]

99.9% certain you won't get one:biglaugh:

 

There used to be a scam like this done in the UK regarding cars, bikes, jet ski's etc.

They would actually electronically, put money into your account, you then sent the item on it's merry way only for the banks to then inform you that the money is no longer in your account as something was fradulent or a system had been hacked, or funds were not in the original account.

I know one guy who had all sorts of threats because he hadn't shipped on time and thankfully kept his car, the threats seemed very real and you have to remember that these people have all of your details, they are not bothered about breaking the law or your legs LOL

 

I had a man once tell me that he would take payment for the goods and the goods would be delivered to ebay for them to inspect once they were happy they would then post the item on to me.

Can you imagine how many items ebay would have going through their offices if this was for real.?

I asked him to send the item and once ebay and myself where happy i would then forward the money to ebay for them to inspect and if they were happy.........

 

Never heard off him again either.

[ian mc]

Still tagging this person along said they have put money in paypal account gave them some other email want me to transfare $1000 for shipping that he has sent to my paypal account by western union to someone in London.