What is this scam?

[sleepyrascal]

I put an ipod up for sale on ebay last night. Woke up today, (as i do most mornings) and it had been sold using the 'buy it now' option.

GREAT, I thought, but the buyer sent me this with through Ebay....

Hello,
Season'S greeting to you,how is business and all other things?,hope all are in good condition. well I'm maryrolex from sc, but Presently i'm leading a trade fair program in Austrialia. I saw your item (170022216368) and i'll like to buy it to a relative on mine that works with an oil company in africa whom will be celebrating his birthday Next week as a gift.Do not worry about the shipping of the item, i have an account with FEDEX and i'll be sending you my FEDEX account number for the shipping and if you decedided in sending the item to hard the shipping cost on the product you can still do it.Moreover i would have prefer to send you a cheque but simply because i want you to ship the item first thing tomorrow morning,i will be sending you the payment vaiPAYPAL, and so make sure you get the package ready for tomorrow shipment ok? And kindly send me your paypal addressandyourphysicalcontact,so i can make the payment right away.


I'm sure it's a scam, i'm just not entirely sure how it works... This person has offered to pay by paypal so I assume if they do, they cannot then withdraw the payment or block it in any way???

It seems so similar to those car scams you see a lot on ebay. Also, the broken english and the fact that Africa is involved, rings alarms bells instantly.

[Burple]

quote:
It seems so similar to those car scams you see a lot on ebay. Also, the broken english and the fact that Africa is involved, rings alarms bells instantly.


Totally! Have you Contacted Ebay about this?
If it *is* a scam, how on earth can they get round the Paypal part? Unless of course they try to claim from Paypal that you sent the wrong item, or it never arrived, and Paypal refund them...

weird..

[The Dogfather]

Identity Fraud?

[sleepyrascal]

quote:Originally posted by Vidal Buffoon

Identity Fraud?

I thought that but the person doesnt really ask for actual info about me. just my paypal address (fair enough its public anyway) and my phone number...

I thought that maybe the idea is I get tricked into thinking the person needs the ipod quickly so i post it before the paypal transaction ever occurs. But you would have to be fairly dumb to do that!

[sleepyrascal]

quote:Originally posted by low_n_loud1


quote:
It seems so similar to those car scams you see a lot on ebay. Also, the broken english and the fact that Africa is involved, rings alarms bells instantly.


Totally! Have you Contacted Ebay about this?
If it *is* a scam, how on earth can they get round the Paypal part? Unless of course they try to claim from Paypal that you sent the wrong item, or it never arrived, and Paypal refund them...

weird..





I dont think Paypal would refund on those basis. I'm not sure. They would say there should have been postal insurance etc.

I havn't reported it yet because im not sure its a scam. It might be genuine, you never know. The other thing is, what am i supposed to report. The buyer has done nothing wrong... yet.

[MartinSullivan]

Lots of people have had paypal payments "bounce" - ask Aimee_s

[MartinSullivan]

or read this thread from her (http://www.newminiscotland.co.uk/snitzforums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6797)

[Smitty]

He'll send you a fake email, pretending to be from PayPal confirming the payment.

Anyone with half a brain relises to check their paypal account, before progressing, and of course it will have nothing it it. But some people will fall for it!

I had something similair, was so obvious though, the emails were so poorly formatted gave it away instantly!

Report them to eBay!!

[Gismo]

Defo a scam, they will pay you with either a hacked account or a real one, either way they will say that they never received the goods and get their money back from paypal which leaves you nowt :disapprove:
Don't send it

[monkimagic]

Clearly a scam, but play along and scam them, the ****ers. Kid on you sent it, play the game and watch how they do it.

[minimadtez]

They will no doubt try to claim the money back through paypal. Rik sold a modified astra bonnet on ebay, the money came through paypal and then we were away on holiday, rik emailed the guy to say we would post it when we got back....by the time we had posted the bonnet, the guy had complained to paypal, and the money was refunded to him, and as the bonnet was in the post, he got it for free....we were furious, and riks paypal account has been blocked as it actually cost rik money....ie ebay took back the cost of the bonnet, but had already charged paypal fees for us receiving the money to start with. FURIOUS wasnt the word!!!

[Moonshine]

this is the funniest reply to an ebay scam i've seen!

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

You could try the same.

Gerry:D

[X30YES]

It is a scam , guy at work had the same sort of mail last week when he was selling his ipod ,even down to the relative working in Africa.