Craigslist, Ebay and other online buying/selling scams.
#155415 by dor-dor1240 Sun Mar 10, 2013 1:10 pm
I have had the same issue today after only advertising my car on autotrader UK yesterday offering full asking price without viewing the car.. each email has read;


Customer Details:
NAME: MRS kudeti Larah
TELEPHONE:
EMAIL: [email protected]

Vehicle Details:
MAKE: SEAT
MODEL: IBIZA
PRICE: £3600

Message:
is this auto still for sale and what is the final price ?


followed by;

Thanks for the prompt response.I'm Okay with the condition of the Car, as i
have already go through it on the ad but just trying to make little inquiry
from you ready to buy it now for my Daughter, I'm at sea at the
moment as I'm a Navy Officer,and due to the nature of my Job.....phone
calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time
to check this advert and send you a Text regarding it. I really want it to
be a surprise for my Daughter i won't let her know anything about it until
it gets delivered to her, i am sure she will be more than happy with it. 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,Get back to me with your PayPal email and
the price so i can proceed with the payment quickly, and sorry if you don't
have an Account, you sign-up for a PayPal personal account
http://www.paypal.com it is very fast and easy to set up. And there is a
shipping company pick up
agent that will come for the pick up after the payment has been sorted out.

Thanks.


and then after me questioning them i got this;

Hi,
am okay with the price and the pick up agent will come for the pickup
and sign every necessary document once the payment has been made..so kindly
get back to me with your full home address or wherever you would like the
Car to be pick up, so that i can get the pick up agent ready for the pick
up once i made the payment ..and please i will advice you to go and end the
item on the list..and don't also forget to send me your Phone Number so
that i can inform you once the payment has been made the payment has been
made...



cheers



this seems to e quite a common email address to be used as scams for autotrader and paypal.
Last edited by Bubbles on Mon Mar 11, 2013 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total. Reason: Quotations added for clarity.
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#160895 by gunnerman121 Sat Apr 06, 2013 12:05 pm
here is a response to my motorcycle advert on auto trader , it clearly a scam , I hope it will help warn others .

Customer Details:
> NAME: MR Peter Graham
> TELEPHONE: 0702409149
> EMAIL: [email protected]
>


Hello,

Thanks for the reply.I will take it for 2,250 and i want you to get back to me with more pictures of this bike (if available). I work in the gas and oil industry rig in Aberdeen and because of the busy schedule i won't be able to come for the inspection due to the nature of my work. Am buying it for my holiday cos I'll be coming soon from our rig as am offshore. As for the payment..i can only pay via the fastest and secure way to pay online (PayPal) here,pls get back to me with your PayPal details and in case you don't have,you can also get back to me with your bank details so i can proceed with payment and contact the courier agent that will come to pick it up and deliver it in my country home,as regards the issue of my details, change of ownership and signing of all paperwork, that will be done by the courier service company agent so you don't have to worry about that. I await to hear from you soon. Please i would like to see pictures
#161192 by kartman Mon Apr 08, 2013 4:39 am
I advertised a van on a karting website and through autotrader. The van sold the next day through the aoutotrader advert but I had two guys try to scam me from the karting site (must be one they are targeting at the moment). The email address used ewere:-

Bill Mayer <[email protected]

[email protected]

The Bill Mayer guy stopped as soon as I said I could only proceed after he sent me full name, address and telephone numbers for himself and his Dad (he said he was buying the van as a surprise birthady present for his dad).

Lucas Bebjamin did try a lot harder and sent a fake email from paypal confirming they were holding the funds and would release them to me as soon as I sent proof that I had sent £400 by western union to Lucas's shipping agent in Cyprus.

The fake paypal email came from :- [email protected]>

Now, why would an international operation like paypal want to use a free email address service?

Anyway, I played along with this guy over the weekend asking him to release the £400 from paypal so that I could send it to his agent but as he was on an oil-rig that would not be possible and he said there was no problem as papypal had confirmed my funds were safe. Even got another fake paypal email saying they might take legal action against me for being an uncooperative customer - despite not having any paypal account details for me!

I then tried winding him up by saying I had a cousin who worked at the British High Commission in Nicosea (where he claims his agent is based) and could get him to had over the £400 in person to speed things up =- this got him a bit angry and his reply (in worse and worse English) went on about his agent having no business connection with my cousin and why did I not trust him and just send [payment by Western Union.

Next step was to send him a fictitious MTCN number for my imaginary western union transfer - this caused a bit more anger before I finally told him to go and try to scam someone else as I had sent his fake paypal email to [email protected] and they had confirmed that the email was a fake.

Obviously these scams do work or they would stop trying.
#166397 by KayDeeNYC Tue May 21, 2013 10:11 am
From [email protected]

Hi thanks for your message, I will not be coming to view it because of my working condition, i am a Marine Biologist and i am buying this for my Dad, i am at sea right now and i am glad you accepted my offer. 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 payment and if you don't have a paypal account yet, it's 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 made for it. When last was it serviced? Are you the first owner ?

Ha!
#166408 by TerranceBoyce Tue May 21, 2013 12:31 pm
Ask him if he'd like to marry your sister on the same basis - 'sight unseen' - and add that in spite of her walking stick and advanced age she can chew her own food but would prefer to marry someone who doesn't spend all day in a bar scamming for a living.

No matter how keen you may be to make a sale, if you find that the transaction requires you to make a payment yourself - stop and think - you're being scammed.

If the buyer is at sea, in outer space, on top of a mountain, locked in the rest room with a tummy bug, encased in plaster - these are all scammer excuses which come with precise instructions as to how payment will be made, including your payment to him. This last bit of information will be held back until the end, when he hopes you've taken the ad down and are fully committed to submit to his demands, which is just a trick scammers play to get their hands on your cash.

Recognise the warning signs to save wasting your time with scammers. If more information and details were so important to the buyer he wouldn't wait until he was out at sea to make a purchase.

CAR ADVERTS - If a car seller mentions escrow - he's scamming you Never ever for any reason pay anything until you have seen and inspected the vehicle
#167256 by MiAuZiNhA Wed May 29, 2013 4:07 pm
I'm trying to sell my car on auto trader. I just got this one now:

Email received from [email protected]


-------Original Message-------

From: kudeti larah
Date: 05/29/13 19:16:01
To: <Removed - CW>
Subject: Re: Enquiry

Thanks for the prompt response.I'm Okay with the condition of the Car
as i have already go through it on the ad but just trying to make
little inquiry from you ready to buy it now for my
Daughter, I'm at sea at the moment as I'm a Navy Officer,and due to
the nature of my Job.....phone calls making and visiting of website
are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send
you a Text regarding it. I really want it to be a surprise for my
Daughter i won't let her know anything about it until it gets
delivered to her, i am sure she will
be more than happy with it. 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,Get
back to me with your PayPal email and
the price so i can proceed with the payment quickly, and sorry if you
don't have an Account, you sign-up for a PayPal personal account
http://www.paypal.com it is very fast and easy to set up. And there is a
shipping company pick up agent that will come for the pick up after
the payment has been sorted out.
Thanks

----------------------

My answer:

-------Original Message-------

From: MiAuZiNhA
Date: 05/29/13 20:59:32
To: kudeti larah
Subject: Re: Enquiry

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Get a life! Not even the most stupid creature in the universe would make a blind purchase like that.

Good luck in finding the perfect idiot for your scam.

I'm reporting you on auto trader and spreading the word in the Internet about your scam attempt.



:=) :=) :=) :oh-joy: :oh-joy: :oh-joy: :bondage: :laugh-s:
Last edited by MiAuZiNhA on Wed May 29, 2013 4:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
#167262 by MiAuZiNhA Wed May 29, 2013 4:36 pm
Con Warner wrote:You don't have to be an idiot to fall for a scam, MiAuZiNhA but thanks for posting.
Please let us know the email address that the scammer used.
Thanks.


I have added the email address I received from the creature.

Well after you live a bit and see all these attempts of scam with the most odd excuses and "too good to be true proposals" you learn that only innocent people (or the ones that don't have enough experience in life) fall for them :wink:
#167688 by mrcooperman Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:22 am
Hi,

Just yesterday (only hours after placing my ad on Autotrader) I have the same email through from kudeti Larah.


Thanks for the prompt response.I'm Okay with the condition of the car
as i have already go through it on the ad but just trying to make
little inquiry from you ready to buy it now for my
Daughter, I'm at sea at the moment as I'm a Navy Officer,and due to
the nature of my Job.....phone calls making and visiting of website
are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send
you a Text regarding it. I really want it to be a surprise for my
Daughter i won't let her know anything about it until it gets
delivered to her, i am sure she will
be more than happy with it. 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,Get
back to me with your PayPal email and
the price so i can proceed with the payment quickly, and sorry if you
don't have an Account, you sign-up for a PayPal personal account
www.paypal.com it is very fast and easy to set up. And there is a
shipping company pick up agent that will come for the pick up after
the payment has been sorted out.
Thanks

Having Googled her name I can across this blog/site and I did think this was to good to be true, so I have emailed her back with the following:


Hi,

Thank for the email.

Your Daughter must be very lucky to have such a nice mother as this is a top of the range car to purchase unseen, however it must be hard to find just the right car, as recently I can see you have sent the same email through to two other Autotrader sellers asking to buy a SEAT IBIZA for £3600 in March and also a Golf in May. Either you are a lovely rich Naval Office who doesn't work to hard as you are looking through Autotrader all the time or maybe someone looking to scam me.

I won't be selling you my car,

Hopefully thats the end of that.
#167827 by leaningchimney Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:51 am
Hi this is my first post - just want to thank everyone for posting warnings about this scam. I received the following e-mail a couple of days after placing an ad in Autotrader.

I must admit I use Paypal a lot and was nearly fooled as I did actually sell a classic car once to someone who wanted it so much they just transferred the money into my account and had the car collected - so although odd, it's not beyond possibility for a buyer to do this - However, this message felt wrong mainly as I would expect an officer in the Navy to be grammatically correct so I Googled their name on the off chance and came across this wonderful site!! Thank you!! :lol:

I'm still not 100% sure what the scam is here (sorry - being dim!). Are they attempting to send a spoof payment then send someone to effectively steal the item or are they trying to trick you into sending personal/account details? Anyway, thanks for saving me a lot of potential hassle and time engaging in further dialogue with them - a spam report to Paypal and Autotrader is now on its way.



Following is e-mail I received on 3rd June

"Thanks for the prompt response.I'm Okay with the condition of the Bike, as i have already go through it on the ad but just trying to make little inquiry from you ready to buy it now as a gift for my Daughter, I'm at sea at the moment as I'm a Navy Officer,and due to the nature of my Job.....phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you a Text regarding it. I really want it to be a surprise for my Daughter i won't let her know anything about it until it gets delivered to her, i am sure she will be more than happy with it. 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,Get back to me with your paypal email and the price so i can proceed with the payment quickly, and sorry if you don't have an Account, you sign-up for a paypal personal account http://www.paypal.com it is very fast and easy to set up. And there is a shipping company pick up agent that will come for the pick up after the payment has been sorted out.

Thanks."
#167830 by Bryon Williams Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:13 am
Welcome to scamwarners leaningchimney,

When selling online scammers like to send fake Paypal payments with very realistic emails. However, they are using a free email provider to spoof Paypal email. In this scheme the scammer does not want your item (furniture, automobiles and large items). He wants to steal your money. The scammer will tell you that he sent an over payment to you. He then will instruct you to pay a third party (mover, agent and etc). The third party is the scammer himself. He will tell you that Paypal is holding your money until you provide a Western Union or Money Gram receipt. In reality he is lying again. Paypal will not hold your funds pending a scan of a Western Union or Money Gram receipt.

No one will ever come to pick up the bike. You will be out whatever money you sent via Western Union or Money Gram.

The above scam works the same way with small items like electronics and jewelry. This time he will send a fake PayPal payment and want you to send the item to him or a third party.

All these scams can also be done by sending you a fake check or money order. They will look real and your bank will cash them. Weeks later your bank will inform you of the fake and you will have to repay the money back. The bank may even close your account. You could also be reported to the Law Enforcement for fraud.

Please post the email address and the phone number the scammer used to text you. What fake name is the scammer using. This will help others when they also search for information.

Please contacta moferatorstor if you have a question or information about this post.



Please do not tell the scammer he is posted here.


Please remember the fallen. https://www.odmp.org/
#167833 by Ayesha Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:31 am
Hi,
I recently posted an ad on Gumtree (aus) to sell my car and I was surprised to receive a text message from an unknown number that informed me of 2 people having sent me an email in regards to my car. I read both emails and was impressed that they were interested in my car until I noticed they were replying basically the same thing and their grammar and spelling wasn't very good. I was suspicious when they asked for my paypal account (don't have one) or bsb and account number for my bank account to send me the money. That's when I got suspicious and decided to google their names and immediately I found their names on scam warners! Their names are: MICHAEL SEAY and JOHN S. TURNER. :evil: Both of them have gmail accounts and claim to be on an off shore rig and are some sort of engineer. Practically everybody posting about them has posted exactly what they have emailed me! I was also shocked to find that the mobile number that texted me was also listed as a scamming number! (I don't have it now because it was deleted). I have been looking through Gumtree to see whether the problem with scammers can be resolved but could not find anything useful, instead they warn you of scammers. I really hope everyone stays safe against them, and a huge thanks to scam warners for the heads up! Its a shame I will have to wait longer to sell my car :( but at least, hopefully I will know now what a scam looks like!!! :yikes:
Good luck everyone!
#167897 by nickbeam02 Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:35 am
I'd like to add the text message contents, so when others google the message it will show up as a scam. I received two within 24 hrs, and since I've dealt with Autotrader before I knew they were fake. They will be two part messages (1/2) am interested in buying your listed vehicle on autotrader,pls send the pics of the engine to my email [email protected] or (2/2) video of the vehicle.Stacey. # 903-662-7057 (TX)

The other message read: (1/2) I am interested in purchasing your vehicle. I have read all you wrote about the vehicle and the pictures too and its well (2/2) satisfactory. Do you still have it availabe for sale? Please gets back to me ASAP on: [email protected] #530-719-7683 (CA)

Douche bags........I hope this helps people who aren't aware of people that do these things.
#167923 by hercules35 Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:30 am
Please be aware of this spam, is new and not registered yet but is linked to the [email protected]

alan james [email protected]
14:24 (3 minutes ago)

to me
Hello,

How was your weekend ? I am glad to inform you am OK with the price of the Bike, I just inform my account officer to send you a cheque for the Bike which will be clear in 3 days in your account,i will like you to send me your
1,Full names
2,Address
3,Mobile number
4,Last Price/Offer
for the cheque to be issue out and send to you this week.

Reply

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