Scammers

[petik1]

Gather 'round the camp fire and tell us your scammer stories. Video games, computers, whatever.

I got this email today.

Hello,

Thanks for your prompt e-mail, it was just exactly what i wanted and can you assure me that i will not be disappointed buying this from you. I am really
interested in purchasing your ad. Am a merchant marine and am offshore right now. I would like you to answer this question about the item;

1. Are there any other issues with the item not mentioned on Craigslist?

I will be glad if you can tell other interested buyers that the item has been sold. I'm offering the exact price listed so please kindly withdraw the ad from Craigslist. I will be paying via PayPal. I can only pay through pay pal at the moment as i do not have access to my bank account online, but i have it attached to my pay pal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay. If this is acceptable, advice soon and if you don't have an account, you can easily create an account fast and easy at www.paypal.com. I will need you to provide the following information to facilitate the Payment

1.Your PayPal Email Address.

2.Your address for pick up.

I will be responsible for moving, I will have my mover who handle my shipping from anywhere in the world come over for the pickup after i have made the payment. Thank you for your time.

[Parodius Duh]

Im lost on this, how is this guy trying to scam you?  All I gather from the message is he wants you to take the item down so no one else can buy it and then he will paypal you, he probably has funds in paypal and not his bank account ... ....I dunno, I guess I cant see the scam here...If he pays you first, what do you think hes trying to pull here?

[UglyJoe]

Im lost on this, how is this guy trying to scam you?

It's overly vague ("your ad", "the item", etc) to the point where it's very suspicious.  Probably, if given your mailing address and paypal addy, they would send you an official-looking "paypal payment received" email, with a link to a Paypal-looking phishing site asking you to login and accept the payment.

[Parodius Duh]

Im lost on this, how is this guy trying to scam you?

It's overly vague ("your ad", "the item", etc) to the point where it's very suspicious.  Probably, if given your mailing address and paypal addy, they would send you an official-looking "paypal payment received" email, with a link to a Paypal-looking phishing site asking you to login and accept the payment.

ahhhh gotcha. Ive never used craigslist so Ive never experienced anything like that before...

[Phosphora]

Im lost on this, how is this guy trying to scam you?  All I gather from the message is he wants you to take the item down so no one else can buy it and then he will paypal you, he probably has funds in paypal and not his bank account ... ....I dunno, I guess I cant see the scam here...If he pays you first, what do you think hes trying to pull here?

I believe it's because he wants to pay by paypal, but have a 2nd party pick it up in person. Everybody knows that PayPal will refund the buyer in a heartbeat if there is no delivery confirmation.
However, if the buyer is willing to send payment as a personal paypal gift, I don't see the problem.

[Parodius Duh]

You guys familiar with Scam baiting? Im sure some of you have heard of the legendary "ANUS laptops" story?

Heres a list of some of the best  Scam baits to ever happen! Anus Laptops is #1 of course but theres quite a few hilarious ones I never knew about! For a good laugh read:

http://listverse.com/2010/09/11/10-great-scam-baiting-operations/

[Frank_fjs]

It's definitely a scam, quite a generically worded one that targets people advertising on most classified sites. I've received the exact same message myself many a time.

They do a few things:

- Try to extract as much information from you in order to hijack your PayPal or bank account
- Send you a fabricated email, designed to look like it's from PayPal and stating that the money has been paid into your account
- If they do pay you, they either collect the item and start an item not received dispute and get their money back whilst keeping the item or...
- They link their PayPal account to a bank account with fake details (think Western Union), the money goes through but it takes 3 days for PayPal to debit it from the bank account which has no funds in it so the payment is soon reversed, leaving you without the item or any money for it

[fredJ]

Ah, I would have fallen for that for sure... And I'm no fool.
In this modern day apparently you can't even be sure even if you have gotten the money in advance (in your paypal).

But it is really fraud. How to protect from paypal scams? Suppose it wasn't generically worded, they could have scammed you.
It's as difficult to protect from as a bouncing check, or a guy who shows up at your door with a gun.

At least I have my famicom revolver for protection...   

[fredJ]

funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzGOJJmrPNo 

[petik1]

That's actually not uncommon. I know they've done that with PS3's.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

Six year ago, I once bought a lot for Castlevanias 2 & 3, waited a fortnight, then discovered the seller closed their eBay account! Bloody scammer! Carpetbagger! Literally.

[Drakon]

Six year ago, I once bought a lot for Castlevanias 2 & 3, waited a fortnight, then discovered the seller closed their eBay account! Bloody scammer! Carpetbagger! Literally.

paypal claim system is your friend and mine.

[manuel]

You don't know if he used paypal, though.

[Drakon]

You don't know if he used paypal, though.

oh nevermind then.  I always paypal when using ebay.  I forgot there's other options.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

Back then PayPal didn't have as strong a grip on our balls as they do now.  So you can thank Mr. Cash-N-Go for contributing to PayPal asking to verify your bank account, credit cards, phone number, nationality, zip, pin, credit history, social security, prior employer, blood type, first born, criminal record...