My friend sent me this earlier, and I want to tell him it's a scam, but I'm really wondering how this could work against him...

"Thank you very much for your swift response and for telling me the
item is still available.I am satisfied with the conditions has you
have stated in the ad.
I have a schedule already,for i need to attend an important seminar in
Iowa so i wont be able to come to check it at your place.Since i am okay
with the condition,Payment will be made out to you through paypal
transfer that will cover the amount of the item and once you confirm
the transfer confirmation and i will like you to shipped out the item to
my son because he will need to use the item for his personnal use.
For your inconvenience,i will add $100 with the payment to be your shipping
cost.I'm always a busy woman and i will not like to miss this
item.I will like you to get back to me with your paypal account information
where you want the funds to be transfer to asap.
Kindly get back to me with the following information for issuing of
the payment........

Have A Splendid Day"

I've googled a few parts of the email and it shows a lot of similar things being scams, but this one says the money will be through paypal. Other's mention complicated things or checks that have to be cleared etc... so paypal is pretty good for protecting fraud, but what could go wrong here? (assuming his money is cleared through paypal before shipping the item).

Paypal is one of the safest for online transactions but I have seen many of these scam e-mails.

They're going to ask you to ship out the item first or something of that sort and you'll lose $$.

Paypal is one of the safest for online transactions but I have seen many of these scam e-mails.

They're going to ask you to ship out the item first or something of that sort and you'll lose $$.

Well, that's the thing... we both realize that it's probably a scam, and obviously it would be bad to ship before having the money cleared. He's definitely not shipping until he gets money, so unless they're going to be sending another email that changes things up, it seems like there's no way he can get screwed with the current "proposed plan" I guess you could call it.

Way too wordy to be true... scam in the making. I say ride the wave a bit; dont send anything until money is in your account

plz, read this if u ever wanna use paypal again ;)

http://paypalscrewsseller.blogspot.com/

the way the email just says "item" just seems weird...u would thing it would specifically say the actual item your friend is selling.

i remember getting things like this through craigs list...i would just stay away...

just my .02

That's the only thing I could think of. Obviously something is not right about the email, but the only issue I could see coming up would be if the person claimed to have not received it and asked for their money back.

Dude, if you have to ask if it's a scam... then you already know the answer.

I bet this is a response to a Craiglist ad.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is going to just say "here's 100$ for your inconvenience." Rich people didn't get rich by giving away money, and poor people are going to squeeze every dime until it bleeds. The whole premise of these scams is to throw the word "Paypal" around to make people feel secure while they're getting fucked.

Go ahead and let your friend do it, and then humor us when he takes it up the ass. Cash in hand is the only thing that's 100% guaranteed, and even then you gotta be careful with some of the people out there.

And for fuck's sake, if the broken engrish didn't give away the fact that it's a Nigerian scammer, your bud probably deserves what he has coming.

Dude, if you have to ask if it's a scam... then you already know the answer.

I bet this is a response to a Craiglist ad.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is going to just say "here's 100$ for your inconvenience." Rich people didn't get rich by giving away money, and poor people are going to squeeze every dime until it bleeds. The whole premise of these scams is to throw the word "Paypal" around to make people feel secure while they're getting fucked.

Go ahead and let your friend do it, and then humor us when he takes it up the ass. Cash in hand is the only thing that's 100% guaranteed, and even then you gotta be careful with some of the people out there.

And for fuck's sake, if the broken engrish didn't give away the fact that it's a Nigerian scammer, your bud probably deserves what he has coming.

We both knew something was wrong. It's clear that it was a rather generic email and was confirmed to have been used before by searching parts of it in google. The only thing that was different was the fact that it was paypal. I wasn't sure what he could lose if he could prove he shipped and all that. He's already working out a deal with someone else anyways. I was mostly wondering how they could make things difficult for him with paypal. The story above looks like the same thing they'd be trying here since it mentions that she wants it sent to her son (which is probably not the same address as the paypal account's address). I know it's all a mind game and trying to lure someone in just before it gets complicated. My only question was how it could go wrong.

Yeah, if it's not shipped to the confirmed address tied to the PayPal account, the seller is at fault, from reading that article. Kinda like the 419 scams, they try to play on people's greed and sucker 'em in with the thought of "money for nothing." At first it was cashier's checks, then Western Union, now Paypal. It's amazing that a lot of people are still falling for it, after all these years.

keep us posted

My friend sent me this earlier, and I want to tell him it's a scam, but I'm really wondering how this could work against him...

"Thank you very much for your swift response and for telling me the
item is still available.I am satisfied with the conditions has you
have stated in the ad.
I have a schedule already,for i need to attend an important seminar in
Iowa so i wont be able to come to check it at your place.Since i am okay
with the condition,Payment will be made out to you through paypal
transfer that will cover the amount of the item and once you confirm
the transfer confirmation and i will like you to shipped out the item to
my son because he will need to use the item for his personnal use.
For your inconvenience,i will add $100 with the payment to be your shipping
cost.I'm always a busy woman and i will not like to miss this
item.I will like you to get back to me with your paypal account information
where you want the funds to be transfer to asap.
Kindly get back to me with the following information for issuing of
the payment........

Have A Splendid Day"

I've googled a few parts of the email and it shows a lot of similar things being scams, but this one says the money will be through paypal. Other's mention complicated things or checks that have to be cleared etc... so paypal is pretty good for protecting fraud, but what could go wrong here? (assuming his money is cleared through paypal before shipping the item).

dont ASSUME its a scam. I had sold an xbox 360 on ebay and received a response like that (with tons of broken english and fragmented sentences) from someone of indian decent from down in FL. I was skeptical. But used paypal in my transaction, plus he had purchased electronics in the past and did have positive feedback. Plus when he did do the paypal transaction he did a hold on the funds until confirmation of shipping had been sent to him. He followed through and did pay and transaction was as smooth as day.

dont ASSUME its a scam. I had sold an xbox 360 on ebay and received a response like that (with tons of broken english and fragmented sentences) from someone of indian decent from down in FL. I was skeptical. But used paypal in my transaction, plus he had purchased electronics in the past and did have positive feedback. Plus when he did do the paypal transaction he did a hold on the funds until confirmation of shipping had been sent to him. He followed through and did pay and transaction was as smooth as day.

Actually, ASSUME it IS a scam first. Cav, your experience is the exception, not the rule. Things can still go wrong with Paypal, namely them filing a 'did not receive' claim with Paypal, which even if you don't lose money out of pocket, you jack up whatever credibility you may have had.

And even if the transaction goes perfectly fine for you, it is still a scam, just someone else is the one getting scammed and the buyer is converting their credit/checks/MO/whatever into hard goods that can be sold for top dollar cash.

My job brings me into contact with scammers and victims of scammers every single day, and there is nothing legitimate about this transaction.

I use Ebay, Craigslist, etc... on a personal basis, because I always follow 3 rules:
- If it's too good to be true, it's probably stolen
- If the seller or buyer can not discuss the item with some level of personal knowledge ahead of time, I don't do business further
- Every transaction must stick 100% to the agreed transfer. Any deviation in address, name, payment amount, payment method, etc... and I cancel the whole sale.


When I sold my P5 on Cars.com / Ebay, I received 191 scam attempts over 4 months, 2 real offers, 1 buyer. And the buyer came to inspect the car, and paid cash for it. They took the keys, a signed receipt, and we both took the cash to the bank to verify non-counterfeit. I even 'played' with 2 scammers for a while just to see what information I could get out of them to use on a professional level.

I've almost been burned like that, and had a similar story where I got burned by Paypal. They're complete and utter f*ckin assholes.


If he goes through with it, he WILL lose money.

Actually, ASSUME it IS a scam first. Cav, your experience is the exception, not the rule. Things can still go wrong with Paypal, namely them filing a 'did not receive' claim with Paypal, which even if you don't lose money out of pocket, you jack up whatever credibility you may have had.

And even if the transaction goes perfectly fine for you, it is still a scam, just someone else is the one getting scammed and the buyer is converting their credit/checks/MO/whatever into hard goods that can be sold for top dollar cash.

My job brings me into contact with scammers and victims of scammers every single day, and there is nothing legitimate about this transaction.

I use Ebay, Craigslist, etc... on a personal basis, because I always follow 3 rules:
- If it's too good to be true, it's probably stolen
- If the seller or buyer can not discuss the item with some level of personal knowledge ahead of time, I don't do business further
- Every transaction must stick 100% to the agreed transfer. Any deviation in address, name, payment amount, payment method, etc... and I cancel the whole sale.


When I sold my P5 on Cars.com / Ebay, I received 191 scam attempts over 4 months, 2 real offers, 1 buyer. And the buyer came to inspect the car, and paid cash for it. They took the keys, a signed receipt, and we both took the cash to the bank to verify non-counterfeit. I even 'played' with 2 scammers for a while just to see what information I could get out of them to use on a professional level.

I am referring to the OP sending something to his buddy in regards to this. not the assumption of his buddy not thinking it is a scam. use paypal, cover your but, and try to touch base with the user again and see what type of communication is sent back. ask specific questions that would not be found in your typical spam response to try and get a read on the guy. except ONLY paypal. and your buddy should be at least covered. where was this product bought from? ebay? if so does he have any positive feedback? that is one thing I always stay aware of on higher priced sales on auctions that I list.

I believe he is selling on ebay. Well, I know he is, but I'm not sure if he had it listed anywhere else or where he received the email. He hasn't received a response yet but it looks like he's got another more serious buyer. He did say he received another email that is probably spam.

Scam...I've seen this on the other forum I frequent.

found it...
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=737048
This is the email this person received

I really appreciate the quick reply. I am buying this item for a son
of mine schooling overseas and i will be adding $150 for the shipping
and handling.I would have made this transaction locally but am
presently out of town so get back to me with your PayPal email address
for me to remit the funds ASAP and once payment is being received from
PayPal you can be able to ship this item.I am doing this very fast
because i have promised my son that the item will be there soonest.Get
back tome immediately in order to speed the transaction.I will also like
to know the condition of the item.

Hope to reading from you soon.

Scam. I've gotten similar emails for items that I've sold on creigslist. Those messages tend not to pop up as much if you state in your ad cash only, pickup only, scammers beware. that works for me. Also, watch out for email responses that say they are located over overseas. If it sounds to good to be true then it is. good luck

just wait for the money to clear Paypal and get routed to your account.... then ship

thats what i did when i sold my wheels

just wait for the money to clear Paypal and get routed to your account.... then ship

thats what i did when i sold my wheels

yeah, but like they mentioned earlier, the issue is when they ask you to mail it to a different address than the official paypal address (which is what looks like they were going to ask next).

He ended up selling to another guy and never heard back from that scammer anyways, so oh well. My main question/concern was how they could scam you using paypal, which was answered above.

yeah, but like they mentioned earlier, the issue is when they ask you to mail it to a different address than the official paypal address (which is what looks like they were going to ask next).

He ended up selling to another guy and never heard back from that scammer anyways, so oh well. My main question/concern was how they could scam you using paypal, which was answered above.

It was answered, did u read the link? Seem's like they could just say they never received the item and ask for a refund, something of the sort? :dunno:

Definitely a scam.. I got a reply to a craiglist item i listed with almost exactly the same wording... (see below)I sent them a reply saying LOCAL Pickup Cash Only I was born at night, but not last night... never heard from them again..

reply I received...

Hello,

Thanks for the swift response... I'm ok with the condition and priceof
the item and am ready for its purchase. My form of payment will beby
sending you Check via UPS with a second day air delivery.I'll be
responsible for the pick-up and the movers fee will beincluded in your
payment to avoid delay and to enable pick up company to schedule an
appropriate time for the pick-up at your location aftercheck has been
cashed as I have other properties to be moved along side the item.
How i wish to come over for viewing but I'm afraid that might notbe
possible due to my work frame. If you have more pics please send so I
can have a good look. Do get back to me with your below details:
Full name to be on the check:
Full contact address with your apt#:
Zipcode:Contact numbers:

Regards .

People pretend to be other people on ebay or what not, and as soon as they say send it to a different address right there is the scam and when you run into problems with paypal protection. I bought stuff off of people then a week later saying that there account has been comprimised.

As long as the address is verified and paypal account is verified most the time you don't have to worry, but when you do something different with addresses that is when you can run into problems with paypal.

I've bought some bad items off of ebay and if it wasn't for paypal I would of been screwed, for example an mp3 player supposed to be 8 gig for 40 bucks, get it and it could barely hold 512k. Then the whole collection of csi vegas was all bootleg for 100.

This is such a scam!!!

I sold one of my cameras on ebay, the person paid the winning bid price using payal. Ok this is a very expensive camera so I waited a few days to make sure it was ok.Still there 3 days later. Ok so then I routed it to my bank account and waited for it to show up (2 days later). Ok so I even withdrew the cash from the bank account and the bank let me do it. So I had cash in hand.

Then I ship thinking that its legit. The guy wanted me to ship to him at a relative's house. I had no reason to think it was a scam so I shipped.

So everythings fine. I think wow, ebay and payal worked well.

So anyways 2 weeks later I get an email from paypal saying the guys account was stolen and that I was to provide proof I shipped to the registered address.

I can't do that since I shipped to an alt. address. So I fight with paypal, eventually they "take back the money" since I didn't absolutely verify that the guy was 100% ok to do buisness with. So my account is like -$2000 at this point and I don't want to get bad credit so I pay up and now of course I'm SOL.


NEVER DO BUISNESS WITH PAYPAL!!!

THEY OFFER ABSOLUTELY NO PROTECTION!!!

Upon further reading I have found that sometimes people will sell something expensive and ship out a brick to the buyer. Then the buyer gets the stick since the seller can provide a tracking number. You can get screwed either way by paypal!

Don't use paypal!