Car Scam - Gumtree - THOMAS COLE

I'm trying to sell my car via autotrader and gumtree.

I had an email from a guy called 'Thomas Cole'

i have interest in your advert, is it still for sale? tell me it's condition.

I replied to this email, not thinking too much about about it and then received the following response.

thank you for the fast reply.
i am willing to proceed with the transaction now. kindly login to your paypal account and select the request money button located at the top of your paypal account homepage and send the money request directly to my paypal account id which is [email protected] so that i can submit payment to you via paypal right now as paypal is safe, fast and easy to send and receive money online.

If you dont have a paypal account just logon to http://www.paypal.com and set up your paypal account, after setting up your paypal account you locate the request money button located at the top of your paypal account home page, use it to request money directly from my
paypal account which is [email protected] once I receive your money request from paypal, I will submit payment to you immediately via paypal asap.

I'll be responsible for the pick-up,my movers pick up company will handle everything, they are international and i prefer them because they offer first class pick up that is not a problem my mover's will schedule an appropriate time for the pick-up at your location, also all required documents will be signed by my pick up company on my behalf...all what you need to know will be done by my movers pick up company.
Get back asap.

At this point I thought it a bit odd that he didnt want to view the car etc, but sent the paypal money request to the email address provided.

i then received this email.

Dear Delete personal information. ~Bubbles

I just want to inform you that i have just completed the payment and i hope you must have been notified in your email about the payment i made through PayPal, you can check your e-mail for confirmation of payment, I have just make the payment of £1,100.00 GBP, i have add the amount of £300.00 GBP. which i paid through PayPal, So please i will like you to help me wire the sum of £300.00 GBP online to my agent via western union so he can be able to come for the pick up. i will need you to send the £300.00 GBP to my pick up agent Headquarters where they normally confirm any commission payment to via western union money transfer(this can be done from the post office,or online at http://www.westernunion.com) as they usually have a western union agent there) Here is my pick up agent Headquarter info needed to get the money sent through western union money transfer


ARMADA GROUP OF COMPANIES
Kelvin joe
Lorong Batu Nilam 3f
Bandar Bukit Tinggi,
41200 Klang, Selangor.
Malaysia

Please kindly email the necessary details to PayPal : the MTCN which you will be given at the western union after the £300.00 GBP has been sent as well as the sender's name and address used to send the money through western union, so i can forward it to PayPal or better still you can email it to PayPal directly.
kindly treat this as urgent because i will like the pick-up agent to get to you asap

Thanks
Thomas
Note: Please provide me your details so i can forward it to my pick-up agent so they can have your details and called you on there arrival

I also received a couple of emails, supposedly from paypal, but with the sender address of [email protected]

I knew that the was something not right so googled some of the names provided in the email and came across this forum. It sounds the same as a lot of the scams already posted in here, just with a different name - THOMAS COLE !!

I've forwarded the phoney emails to paypal and alerted them to the scam email address.

Hope this helps others out there. Feel like a bit of a fool for going along with it as far as i did!!

Dont feel bad or embarassed at all. I made my way here for similiar reasons. Just be grateful you discovered what was going on. Many good people dont in time. Definately a scam though. Good luck and thanks for posting! Please post any other scams you find. Andy