Craigslist, Ebay and other online buying/selling scams.
#118322 by zenchick Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:21 am
I just got this one from a William Gill, I responded by saying that I could only accept cash for my car and I'm sure he understood as there's a lot of warnings about paypal scammers at the moment. Haven't heard back yet, I won't be holding my breath! :

Thanks for the response, I'm seriously interested in this posted AD and i will really love to purchase it right away. Kindly put off the ad right away and consider me as your favorite buyer and I will have my shipper come over for the handling of the shipping down to my place after payment has been received. I will be making the payment through PayPal as paypal is safe and secured for transactions online, advice soon as I'm at sea at the moment as a marine engineer and due to the nature of my work, phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it. I'm buying this for my personal use, If this is acceptable kindly get back to me with your paypal email address and the details below so i can proceed with the payment. I can only pay through paypal at the moment as i do not have access to my bank account online,but i have it attached to my paypal account, and this is why i insisted on using paypal to pay all i will need is your paypal email address to make the payments,and if you do not have a paypal account yet,its pretty easy to set one up at www.paypal.com/ie,i will be expecting your email. I will need this following details so i can proceed with the payment right away.
Are you the first owner:
Your PayPal e-Mail Address:
full name:
What is your reason for selling it?
Address:
Last price
I'm sorry, just want to be sure about the sale before i proceed
Thanks






patrickpatrick1 wrote:This email was sent to me by a person, Luke Brown, allegedly interested in purchasing my car which was advertised online. There a a few ways the scam works, if you receive a similar response to an advertisement you placed suggest u approach with caution. If u want to see how the scam works you can google it there a few blogs setting out the scam in detail. As usual it is possible it is a genuine purchaser.....but unlikely.
Was kind of interesting that he could send me lots of emails from his 'oil rig' but was unable to call me.....perhaps his satellite server allows the sending of text messages but doesn't allow telephone calls who knows !.


from:
[email protected]

Hi thanks for mailing back,am ok with the price and the condition,am
buying it for my holiday,because i'll be coming soon from our rig as
am a petroleum project engineer on a rig offshore,i won't be able to come for
the inspection due to the nature of my work,i would have love to call
in person but we have call restriction due to bad weather condition our satellite server has been down.
i will be paying you through PayPal,pls get back to me with your
PayPal details so i can proceed with the payment and contact the
courier agent who will come to pick it up and deliver it in my place.
Await your reply.
Luke Brown
Advertisement

#118334 by da_shee Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:46 am
Hi

Just going to chip in with my own story, hopefully it might help someone else avoid a potential scammer. I received an enquiry for my item which is on donedeal.ie which is an irish selling site. Email was from [email protected] The name of the person associated with the email address is Ben Moore.

See details below of his proposed method of payment:

"I am very interested in purchasing this from you. At present I am
currently out of town due to the work I do, I am based in Calais and
work as an engineer on ships. Now what I propose to you is this; Due
to the fact that I am so far away right now I will gladly transfer you
the amount via PayPal plus any excess transfer charges, what I would
then also do is arrange for a private courier company to pick up from
your address once you have received the payment into your Paypal
account. The reason I choose paypal is that it is a reliable and
secure way of making a payment online so works out better for both
parties.
Ben Moore
Age:
45
Date of Birth:
09/30/1967
Most Recent Address:
Calle san Pedro n 2 portal 6 2B Villanueva del pardillo Madrid,28229
Criminal Records:
0 records found
Aliases/Name Variations:
Ben Moore
So in order to enable me to proceed with the payment could you please
provide me with the following information:
Name
Your PayPal e-Mail Address :
Phone Number
Amount:
Kind regards,
Ben"


Naturally, I will not be continuing my communication with this person. I reported him to Paypal and donedeal.

After a quick google search of "paypal fraud courier" it can be seen that this type of thing is not unknown to happen, this site being one of the ones I found.
#118826 by momma5brandy Thu Aug 09, 2012 5:29 pm
[email protected]
benjamin frank

this is who has emailed my husband about our van for sell, thought it was kind of weird so i copied the whole email reply from him and to my surprise it was almost exactly as the rest of them. it say:

Hello, I will be happy to buy it but i will not be able to come and view it in your place because I'm not in town now.Note that you will not be responsible for shipping and handling and i can only pay through paypal as i don't have access to my bank account online cos i don't have internet banking,but i have my bank account attached to my paypal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through paypal. My shipping company will come to your location for the pick up. Kindly provide me with the address where it will be picked up so that i can forward it to the shipping company to calculate the cost of pick up for me.Also with your paypal email address.Do get back to me as soon as possible so that i can proceed with the payment via PayPal.


We replied we would only take cash or a check when the people came to pick it up and he follows by saying:

i can only pay through paypal as i don't have access to my bank account online cos i don't have internet banking,but i have my bank account attached to my paypal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through paypal.It's very easy and secured...just visit http://www.paypal.com and click on sign up, after that you will need to send me the name and email address you have used to registered with PayPal so I can make the payment ASAP. Thanks and get back to me asap so that i can send the payment today.


not sure what to do now but i dont want anyone getting frauded. i guess till he changes his name again?
Last edited by Bubbles on Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:41 am, edited 1 time in total. Reason: Quotations added for clarity.
#118845 by Bubbles Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:43 am
Welcome to ScamWarners momma5brandy. Yes, posting scammers up like this is what we can do to slow them down. You are correct, they often change their name, but we keep after them. This post will help someone!

Bubbles, former Scamwarners moderator.

Rest in Peace 24 June 2015.

Gone, but never forgotten.
#118849 by hailst0rm Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:37 am
I was emailed nearly minutes after placing my ad for my car on Craigslist.
They started the first email asking for the full specs and the final asking price.
Once I replied with the information, I received this second email from them:

"Hello,
I will be happy to buy it but i will not be able to come and
view it in your place because I'm not in town now. Note that you will
not be responsible for shipping and handling and the payment will be
made through PayPal.My shipping company will come to your location for
the pick up. Kindly provide me with the address where it will be
picked up so that i can forward it to the shipping company to
calculate the cost of pick up for me. Do get back to me as soon as
possible so that i can proceed with the payment via PayPal.Hope it is
till in good condition,please kindly get back to me with the pictures.
Best Regards."

The emailer is [email protected].

Of course red flags went up immediately.
Why anyone would pay for a car, site unseen, from a total stranger is beyond me.
I doubt I will get a reply once I deny his PayPal scamming butt. :P

** I also just noticed that the email is WORD FOR WORD the exact same as the post above mine. Unbelievable.
#118944 by momma5brandy Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:04 pm
Make sure you flag him as spam and report his email address to pay pal this will stop him from scamming someone today seems like this person is pretty busy will all these email addresses you would think they would comeup with some different lines.
#119615 by garyisaliar Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:34 am
Thank god I decided to Google search this CAIB company and out came scamwarners results. I just recently was emailed by a guy named Gary McGill [email protected]. He wanted to buy my car that I posted on cars.com. I did not expect it to be fraud because out how meticulous he was about getting information about the history of my car making it seem like a he was a serious buyer. It all is becoming very clear in retrospect because when I kept emailing him back if I can get his mailing address so that I can make a bill of sale with a notary public but his replies never gave me that. He gave me all the bs of how he is out of town ( HUGE RED FLAG) and he will send me the fees for the shipping. Thank god I did not proceed to sending him an invoice from paypal and I quickly deleted my banking information from paypal. Damn what a scary world we live in. I just hope the next person who is emailed by this guy is smart enough or lucky enough that the search results include this website. This is the latest email he sent before I decided to google search him for the second time.... Good Luck and "Caveat venditor"

I will be glad if you can send me a payment request invoice via Paypal so as for me to complete the payment at once, and there is something i need you to be aware of, i just received an email from my carrier company that will be in charge of the pick up of the vehicle.

I was told that i needed to pay them their shipment fee which is $1350 before they could proceed with the pick up and the only form of payment they require is western union which I don't have access to right now because i am offshore and due to the nature of my job.

This is the only form of payment they required. I don't know if it would be okay by you, if i include the carrier charges in the fund that would be sent to you, So upon the receipt of the total funds, you will send the additional funds of $1350 via any nearest western union outlet,

Let me know if this is okay with you and i will proceed with the payment as soon as i receive the payment invoice via Paypal from you.

Regards

Gary McGill, CAIB
Commercial Oil Rig Inspector

This message (including any attachments) is confidential and may be privileged. If you have received it by mistake please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete this message from your system. Any unauthorized use or dissemination of this message in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.

Please note that e-mails are susceptible to change.

We shall not be liable for the improper or incomplete transmission of the information contained in this communication nor for any delay in its receipt or damage to your system.

CAIB does not guarantee that the integrity of this communication has been maintained nor that this communication is free of viruses, interceptions, or interference.
#119763 by seechelle2 Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:50 am
[email protected] has been emailing me as well regarding my car on cars.com. Thank you so much for posting it because as soon as I got the "I'll pay via paypal and my shipping company will pick it up" I googled his email address and found your post.

Another red flag came up because I disclosed about some damage on the car and he didn't ask anything specific about it. . .

I was using temp email and phone number for this ad just in case, so none of my "real" information is out there.
#120119 by ThatGuy Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:25 am
Hi everyone! I have the same thing going on..what should I do? just not even reply to the emails? I had same email sent to me by a guy named Paul Rubin with email address: [email protected]
But when I went to his Google profile it had a different name attached to that email that name was Alex Ray.
This first email simply said "I'm interested please reply." So I did. Then the next email came and was from [email protected] and that email said :
Thanks for the mail, I'm interested in buying this item for my father
and I'm okay with the price, I'm a Subsea Engineer and currently
offshore I want this as a surprise gift for my father so I won't let
him to be aware until delivery. I feel more comfortable to handle the
payment through PayPal due to their various security measures and
ensuring safety and secured transaction between both buyers and seller
and kindly reply me with your paypal email address for me to processed
with the payment, incase you do not have an account with paypal you
can easily set-up an account with them today as it's secured and
reliable in terms of transaction arrangement. Visit their website on
http://www.paypal.com I will be responsible for the paypal charges. My movers
would come around for the pick up as soon as possible, after the
payment has been sent to you and your full address and phone number
will be needed for the freight arrangement I would love to speak with
you through the phone but due to the nature of my work as a Subsea
Engineer i work mainly at the Sea of Okhotsk and our phone is down on
the rig right now due to bad weather, We can still communicate through
the email exchange for now.

I will be looking forward to read from you in real soon with the
paypal email address

Thanks and reply asap.

Why does it always have to be "I'm buying as a surprise for my father, brother" whatever...Yes these people are obviously not american by the way they type. I'm guessing it's from Russia, Australia or the UK but the phone numbers I see you guys have posted for some of these people..+44 is for United Kingdom, so obviously they are just going through American "for sale" websites and try to scam us from across the pond. But I don't think these guys are native speakers of English. Probably they are Albanian or Russian mafia trying to get funds. Because seriously who else would even know about the Sea of Okhotsk (which is a real place on the coast of Russia) Anyway I have not replied to the second email and I wont.
#120274 by dbagshaw Sat Aug 18, 2012 7:37 pm
He's changed his name; or maybe this is from a copycat. The wording is obviously taken from the same script as the earlier postings on this thread. Beware people!!

From: James palm <[email protected]>
Hi mate thanks for mailing back, i will like to come for the inspection in person but due to the nature of my job as a supervisor on the oil rig because i am working with Gulfport Energy Cooperation so i can't come as am off shore right now, so am okay with the price and the condition,because i am buying it for my vacation and i will be coming home very soon i would have love to call in person but we have a bad weather condition our satellite server is not stable. So i will be paying you through PayPal,kindly get back to me with your PayPal details and more pictures so i can proceed with the payment and contact the courier agent who will come to pick it up and deliver it in my place at Oklahoma. And i insisted on PayPal because i don't have access to my bank account online as i don't have internet banking, but i can pay from my PayPal account, as i have my bank a/c attached to it, and please if you don't have PayPal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to WWW.PayPal.com and get it set up, after you have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with PayPal so as to put the money through, and the agent will come for the vehicle pick up and signing of all necessary documents after i have made the payments.
Await your reply.
James Palm..
#120443 by nystira Sun Aug 19, 2012 10:02 pm
This is an email received yesterday about a car we had for sale. Thanks to this website we are not selling the car to these guys.


From: [email protected]

> Hello,
>
> Thanks for the swift response, I need you to understand that i am
> willing and ready to purchase it right away as i really appreciate the
> price stated in the AD, however i will like you to re-confirm the
> price by stating it in your return e-mail for verification, possibly
> have more pictures of it, put it off the AD site and consider me as
> your favorite buyer as i am buying this for my Dad and due to the
> nature of my job and my present location as i am a marine engineer...i
> will not be able to come for inspection,i'm a very busy type as i work
> long hours everyday,i have gone through your advertisement and i am
> satisfied with it.
>
> As for the payment..i can only pay via the fastest and secure way to
> pay online i.e (PayPal) here, 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 pay pal to pay.
>
> I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after
> the payment has been made ...so no shipping included and With the
> issue of my details,transferring the name of ownership and signing of
> all paperwork will be done by the courier services company agent so
> you don't have to worry about that.
>
> It will be so sweet if you can send me your PayPal email now so i can
> pay in right away and also include your address in your reply as i
> don't really have much time on here.If you don't have a paypal
> account, you can easily set up one...log on to www.paypal.com.au and
> sign up its very easy... i would have loved to talk to you on phone
> but i work mainly on the sea and our phone network is down on the sea
> right now due to bad stormy weather, that was why i sent you a text, i
> even wonder how my message delivered to your phone but for now we can
> only communicate through the same mailing channel.await your reply
> asap.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ken.
#120607 by JWatson174 Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:05 pm
Got this one today via ebay car listing:

From: Fadzli Derrick <[email protected]>

Hi thanks for mailing back,I am a marine engineer on a rig offshore and do not have much time on me and i am buying this for Dad, i am at sea right now,Can i pay you $11,500 for it?.I can only pay through paypal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online,but i have it attached to my paypal account, and this is why i insisted on using paypal to pay,all i will need is your paypal email address to make the payments,as you don't have a paypal account yet,its pretty easy to set one up at www.paypal.com, i will be expecting your email.I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payment has been sorted Waiting to read from you soon


From: Fadzli Derrick <[email protected]>
#120693 by bek Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:43 pm
Looks like this old scam is still going around, just with the story changed. I got an email today from Lynn Adkins <[email protected]>, and when I responded, this is what I received:

Hey!

Thank for your mail. I'm satisfied with the condition of it as
advertised in the listing,i will like to add $100 to your final price
for you to keep off from all offer and consider it sold to me alone as
i am serious with this.I would like you to know that i am really
interested in buying this for my father, payment will be through
PayPal and the pick up will be arranged by me as i will have my agent
come down to pick it up...i will be waiting to hear from you and i
will like you to send me the name and email address on the PayPal
account to send the payment and send me more pics of this item if
available since i would not be able to see it in person so i can pay
it right away, I am a busy at work and do not have much time around
me.if you don't have paypal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go
to http://www.paypal.com and get it set up.. looking forward to your
response.

Thanks and reply asap.

Lynn


I responded with:

Lynn,

I'd like to call you and discuss the sale. Can you send me your phone number?

Thanks.


They responded:

Hi Layna,

I'm very sorry, i'm currently in the Military Camp and i would have
loved to come and do the check up and talk to you but due to the
nature of my work phone calls making are restricted but i squeezed out
time to check this advert and send you an email regarding so I am not
allowed to get out of the unit or give calls whenever I want. please
let me know if you accept my offer also am online and i will reply you
whenever you send me message. so let me have your paypal email address
so that i can transfer the money into your account...

Thanks


Btw, my name is not Layna. I guess that's a copy/paste error from someone else they're trying to scam.

Thought I'd sold my car. :(
#121173 by rlua21 Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:03 am
I Just got an email from the same guy [email protected]


From:
benjamin frank <[email protected]>

Hello, I will be happy to buy it but i will not be able to come and
view it in your place because I'm not in town now.Note that you will
not be responsible for shipping and handling and i can only pay
through paypal as i don't have access to my bank account online cos i
don't have internet banking,but i have my bank account attached to my
paypal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through
paypal. My shipping company will come to your location for the pick
up. Kindly provide me with the address where it will be picked up so
that i can forward it to the shipping company to calculate the cost of
pick up for me.Also with your paypal email address.Do get back to me
as soon as possible so that i can proceed with the payment via PayPal.

Best Regards.

--
Hi seller,
i will like to know if your ad is still available for sale,i
have been looking for this specification for a while.let me know its
present condition and send me pics.

Thanks

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