Can I trust this buyer?

[toef]

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

LMAO! Hilarious!

A couple of years ago, after I finished undergrad, I tried to find somebody to fill my spot on my apartment's lease (there's a long story about why my lease was extended past the date that I had long planned to be done with school). Since my roommate was too lazy to find a new roommate, and since he had to agree to take me off the lease, it ended up becoming my job to find the replacement. Before this story gets too long, I'll just mention that I got a response from some "woman" in London who was moving to the US, and needed a place to stay.

I gave the scammer a little bit of credit because they seemed to research the area I was living in, to sound as though they were familiar with it, and got a job working for a specific company that is located there. But what started to give it away:

-"she" kept telling me about her BMW she planned on buying once she got here
-"she" said she had a ton of furniture to ship over... too much to fit into the apartment I was living in
-I could put a random sentence from any of her emails into Google, and find the rest of the email on various websites (why write a separate email for each person you are trying to scam, if you can just hit Copy + Paste?)

Anyhow, I convinced "her" that I was willing to go through with the plan, so she mailed me a check, to cover her expenses (the scam is to mail a check that will bounce, but convince someone to deposit it, and then pay your bills, before the check bounces). The return address on the letter was somewhere in Nigeria, and the postage was over $15. So I was somewhat glad to have made them waste some money.

[katharsis]

Seems like there have been a lot scams like this these past few months!

You know, you can always contact PayPal and check if the payment is legit.

Also whenever you send something out via USPS, make sure it is insured and that it needs signing for!! In case something should ever go haywire you have proof of signature

But in this case .. just dismiss the transaction!

[quexos]

I don't know how Paypal works and I don't know if this is a scam or not but I would most definitely NOT send the pack UNTIL the money is on MY account !!!
Personally I would have not dealt through Paypal but directly by money order. because when the money is on YOUR Bank Account it is really yours and ONLY THEN would I send the pack. But that's just how I do things.

[RealSkyDiver]

Lol the scamer send me these 2 mails after my email and he wrote exactly what I predicted.

Hi,

Thanks for your quick response to my mail,i really appreciate
it.i'll want you to shipped the item out via USPS express Mail and get
back to me with the shipment info as proof.....Thank you for
understand me...

Get back to me asap...

and

Hi Seller,
I have sent your payment successfully using paypal and i know
you would have been notify.I have contact the paypal customer care and
they told me that you have not yet send the shipment code and that
your payment will be left pending unless you do so.They told me that
they have stated this earlier on at the payment notification and that
they suddenly took this policy so as to secure both buyer and seller
from fraud.They just sent me the receipt of the payment,and they said
that they will mail you the confirmation and i know you would have
receive it now.My account has been deducted,i will like you to ship my
item immediately as you can see am fast to pay,Ship my item out today
though USPS Express Mail and release me from this stress,after all i
have done my part in this transaction.

Here is Reciever's Address Below :

Name : Tunde Adewale
Home Address : Sw5/10 Ogo Oluwa Oke-Bola
Town : Ibadan
State : Oyo
Country : Nigeria
Zip Code : 23402

Hope to receive from you soonest

I'm also gone try to make a screenshot from the fake paypal emails. This is just too amusing
This is how I responded

I'm sorry but can you at least send me part of the shipment money directly to my account? We had to buy food for our kids and pay the rent so I don't even have enough to ship it.
My local post office told me it's gona be 80$ so I need at least 40$ from you in advance.

Thank You!

Maybe I can even scam some money out of them

[quexos]

Nigeria ???
Dude I have no bias against the good people of Nigeria but There is a lot of scams coming specifically from Nigeria. Those are known as the Nigerian Scams and there are lots of warnings about those. So be extra careful there.

Anyways could someone explain in simple words, something I just don't understand ? I don't know Paypal so forgive my ignorance but If Paypal confirms they received money from the buyer isn't that good enough ? How can a scam be done if the money is in Paypal's hands ? And I am assuming Paypal is not part of the scam.

Edit: Oh, fake Paypal e-mails. Sorry I had not read that when making this post. Please let us see the fake mails, It would be helpful to learn to spot the differences between fake and real.

[becomingwater]

Originally Posted by RealSkyDiver

A buyer responded to my Craigslist ad and wants to send me money over paypal so I can ship my product to a certain place. Usually people come over to see it first but this buyer didn't even come over. I assume he lives overseas.
Got an email by PayPal that the money has been send but will only be added to my account once I give them the tracking number. At least it seems legit up to this point but I'm still not sure.
btw what does he mean buy "my account has been deducted"??

Here is the email I just received:

Hi Seller,
I just sent your payment successfully using paypal and i send
$360 to your account with the shipping cost via USPS Express Mail and
i'll want you to get the item for shipped immediately you received my
payment notification from paypal.and i'll want you to shipped the item
out today,Cos My account has been deducted...

Here Is The Shipping Address :

XXX

I want the package to be sent by USPS Express Mail Service only
because its very cheap,secure and reliable,I will be waiting for the
tracking number.I will like to do more business with you after you
have completed this transaction by Shipping out the item.Thank you

Please Note : Thet shipment tracking info will start with EB,EH,EQ,EE and EA.

Hope to hear from you soon.


1 second ago

I got a payment and it says at the Paypal site - On Hold - Ship Now
PayPal and eBay are working together to make payments for eBay items even safer. Because we want both buyers and sellers to feel confident about sending and receiving payments through PayPal, we may temporarily hold payments for items sold on eBay.

Make sure to ship the item right away, so you'll have access to the funds sooner. We'll release the hold in 21 days unless you receive a dispute, claim, chargeback, or reversal on the transaction subject to the hold. We may release the hold earlier if either of the following occurs:

The buyer leaves you positive feedback on eBay.
We confirm that the item was delivered.* We can confirm delivery if you ship the item with USPS, FedEx, or UPS and either use PayPal shipping labels or upload tracking information from the transaction details page. This applies to transactions within the United States.

[becomingwater]

Originally Posted by RealSkyDiver

I'm pretty sure (100%) that I won't sent this buyer anything because of my bad gut feeling but am still curious and want to let him hang as long as possible.
Here is the Email I received by services@paypal.com

Dear Valued Customer (xxx@xxx.com),

You have an Instant Payment of $360.00 USD from xxx (xxx@xxx.com)

xxx is a Verified Buyer.
Payment Details


Purchased From : xxx@xxx.com
Transaction ID:75848272WC001670H




Item #

Item Title

Quantity

Price

Subtotal
Not Include

Sony STR-K870P 5.1/6.1

1

$270.00 USD

$270.00 USD


Shipping & Handling via USPS Priority Mail to 368XX
(includes any seller handling fees)

$90.00 USD
Shipping Insurance (not offered):

--
Total:

$360.00 USD





Shipping Information
Address:


xxx
Shipping Method:




Address status:


Confirmed




For security purposes,

This PayPal payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been " APPROVED " but will not be credited to your account until the shipment reference/tracking number is sent to us for shipment verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller. Below are the necessary information requested before your account will be credited. Send tracking number to us or email us through this mail shippment.information@accountant.com and our customer service care will attend to you. As soon as you send us the shipment's tracking number to us for security purposes and the safety of the buyer and the seller,the money will be credited to your account.

**PLEASE NOTE**
Once shipment has been verified and the tracking number has been sent to us, You will receive a "CONFIRMATION Email" from PayPal informing you that the Money has been credited to your PayPal account.


Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team


PayPal Email ID PP753

I got the same e-mail.

[jw]

your first mistake is not checking your paypal first. If theres anything pending, ever it will show in your account activity, even pending transactions. You are getting a fake email from a fake source and if you mail anything you are a fool. You have been warned by me and several others.

[becomingwater]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

your first mistake is not checking your paypal first. If theres anything pending, ever it will show in your account activity, even pending transactions. You are getting a fake email from a fake source and if you mail anything you are a fool. You have been warned by me and several others.

My status of the payment received say On Hold - Ship Now have you ever received that status? this is on paypal

[ground chuck]

SCAM.... over the x-mas holiday i had posted wii consoles and wii fits and i got the same thing w/ shipping addresses to nigeria. if you need anymore info check out "To catch a thief," w/ chris hanson, it's rather amusing, but true.

[jw]

Originally Posted by becomingwater

My status of the payment received say On Hold - Ship Now have you ever received that status? this is on paypal

in your actual account? I have never seen paypal wait til you ship something to release funds. I have sent thousands of dollars via paypal and never heard of that

[badboi]

I'd be sending a box full of used cat litter to Nigeria right about now . . .

[Sussudio]

i'm not 100% sure why you're continuing with this transaction, even if you're doing it to be silly and have no intention of actually shipping anything out since it's obviously a fraud. why drag something like this out??

[lutefisk69]

Originally Posted by becomingwater

My status of the payment received say On Hold - Ship Now have you ever received that status? this is on paypal

I have never seen a ship now, I have seen a hold on a payment received like someone paid by Echeck or something like that. But paypal does this per their user agreement:

"Payment Review. Payment Review is a process by which PayPal reviews certain potentially high-risk transactions. If a payment is subject to Payment Review, PayPal will place a hold on the payment and provide notice to the seller to delay shipping the item. PayPal will conduct a review and either clear or cancel the payment. If the payment is cleared, PayPal will provide notice to the seller to ship the item. Otherwise, PayPal will cancel the payment and the funds will be returned to the buyer."


So I guess they reviewed the payment (may be a new user) and they cleared it for shipping.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by becomingwater

My status of the payment received say On Hold - Ship Now have you ever received that status? this is on paypal

Is this your account accessed by going to PayPal directly, or did you link to "PayPal" through the email? It probably does not need to be said, but fraudulant emails will also link to fraudulant websites.

[KamiAmaya]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Is this your account accessed by going to PayPal directly, or did you link to "PayPal" through the email? It probably does not need to be said, but fraudulant emails will also link to fraudulant websites.

I was about to suggest the same thing.
Some of those fake PayPal e-mails can look so convincing I never click any links in any PayPal e-mails anymore.

[PanasonicPlasmaMan]

NO!

I use Craigslit alot. whenever someone sends me that "I live in Africa and will pay some crazy price for shipping" I just ignore the message.

[RealSkyDiver]

THIS was the first fake email by PayPal received. Note that scammers always use two first names which makes it just the more obvious.

SECOND email.

THIRD one with pictures that where linked right off the official site to make it look more legit.

FORTH and the most hilarious one! FBI WTF?? Obviously those people don't know that FBI is a domestic agency with no jurisdiction regarding banking to Africa what so ever -.-.

You can basically copy and paste any parts of the email to Google and it'll scream scammer.

[Stephie_is_a_dork]

forward all emails to spoof@paypal.com

[RealSkyDiver]

Originally Posted by DoYouBlu

i'm not 100% sure why you're continuing with this transaction, even if you're doing it to be silly and have no intention of actually shipping anything out since it's obviously a fraud. why drag something like this out??

Because of THIS. It's the single most hilarious and ingeniously planned thread I've ever read! He basically shipped a washer, dryer, stove and fridge to Nigeria, causing the poor scammer to lose over 40'000$ in shipping