AutoTrader Paypal Scam

Hi All,

Thanks so much for posting these comments, it's been very helpfull.
I am currently selling a classic car on eBay and just had a message from a "Scammer" that appears on your list.

His eBay name is "thegarlicks" but he posted the follwing message which I'm sure you will all see as familiar.

"is this still available for sale and what your best price get back to me with this email tjspropane@outlookcom pls is bcos dont check my ebay thanks"

My response before I read your forum was as follows;

"Yes this is still available as you can see the Auction doesn't finish until 10th November. I suggest if you want to buy the car you place a bid, That's how eBay works and it wouldn't be fair to the 52 other people watching this auction who also need to bid if they want to win the car. Good Luck.
Many thanks".

I have also been contacted by someone in the USA called "quickcarnut" wanting to buy the car and has asked how close I am to Southampton and would I be prepared to take the car there to be shipped to the states!

I can't find anything out about this "quickcarnut" so I'm hoping someone might be able to help.

Cheers.

I was trying to sell my car on the normal routes of Ebay and Autotrader, The only replies I had were from scammers, trouble is the the first 4 gave me their phone numbers so when I called them they sounded like the same person including the lady who was a gent. They also used the same speil as the many posts on here have said :live to far to come and see it but the price is fine, just send pictures and can I pay with paypal. If though I told the ebay interests that the ebay already posted my paypal link. I actually sent them invoices that I later cancelled via ebay.

Contact 1 was ebay user prescottroy07roy who then said his name was Jodie Williams and his email was [email protected] tel 07438782401
Contact 2 was ebay user marsden103newyou who said his name was Richard Gardner and his email was [email protected] tel 07774168511
Contact 3 was ebay user suzyc24 who then said his name was Mark Hancock and his email was [email protected] tel 07405351488 when asked to go through paypal the name was Tommy Mathieson when I questioned was this his name he said yes.
Contact 4 was ebay user tamurilpalantir who the said his name was Jade Reuben and his email was [email protected] and tel is 07438782401
Contact 5 was Autotrader called [email protected] didnt want to even talk but said he was in France. However, when realised he was a scammer just played along. I even told him that I was aware of scammers and how they operated so he better be genuine and he carried on. Then he must have realised when he sent me the email and told me to look for the email in my spam and junk mail for Paypal confirmation.
All of these can be dangerous and hurtful so thank you to this site for at least helping bring to others attention.

I have a van on eBay and was contacted by suzyc24 asking if I still had the van and to contact on [email protected] as they didn't check eBay often, I replied via the given email address, I was asked to give PayPal details and they would give the buy it now price. At first I was excited as I'm selling the van because of a severe injury and can't work and the money would be very very handy for Xmas, as I was reading thru the email the spelling and phrases became apparent that the writer definitely wasn't English. I then googled the email address which led me here, I definitely don't think they are a football coach as stated in the email. The name one,ail is mark Hancock which at first didn't sound alarm bells as I know a mark Hancock. Keep your eyes open people.

Yes, it is a scam attempt. Please keep all your communication within the Ebay mail system. Do not reply to anyone asking you to email them at their personal email address. Once a buyer buys they can pay through the system. Please read Ebay policies.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/rfe ... -sale.html

Some examples of activities that aren't allowed include:

Using member contact information obtained from eBay or using any eBay system to offer to sell any listed item outside of eBay

Canceling a listing to sell to a buyer who found the item on eBay

Ending a listing early to sell the item to the winning bidder a price higher than the current bid

Including contact information or an offer to buy or sell an item outside of eBay within a Best Offer

Offering to sell an item to a non-winning bidder without using Second Chance Offer

I am so glad I read this: weird thing though I got a text mesaage first from a 210 number asking if the car is available and to send pic of engine and pumpurs. So I did and got in return the below email. I won't even bother responding any more but I still do not get what they get out of transferring money to my Pay pall account..if let say someone lets them...either way..nice place to find out details.


"Do you have the extra keys, Do you have the spare tire, Where did you
get your car serviced, Have you ever had any transmission repairs and
Is there any rust on the vehicle? I'm ready to pay your asking price
but not cash in person because I'm currently in a conference and calls
are restricted at the moment and my only quickest payment option is
PayPal, its safe fast and secure and i will be responsible for the
PayPal transaction charges so you can get your expected amount. If you
don't have an account with PayPal, its pretty easy to open one,Just
log onto www.paypal.com and sign up. I hope we can make the purchase
as fast as possible? As I am buying the vehicle for someone and I'm
very sure he will love this vehicle, his a mechanic and a handy man,
so if there is anything that need to be fixed in it just let me know
he will handle it. I have a mover that will come for the pick up once
payment clears in your account and he will handle the title for me. I
look forward to hear from you with the information below.

Your PayPal e-Mail Address :
Full name:
Firm Price:
Zip code for pickup

I just placed a classified on Ebay and it's risky because you don't have the normal safeguards and buyers can contact you direct. I had two immediate replies, one from "Tommy Mattieson" and another from Mary George <[email protected]> which is apparently a Nigerian based scam. They seem eager to send money to your Paypal account and the idea is they have the goods collected before you realise the payment advice is fictitious and your account was never credited.

Here's the latest version of the scam. I got it yesterday:

Don Cox
03:14 (8 hours ago)
to me

Thanks for the swift reply, there is no doubt about it, i like the vehicle and do as well advise on the least amount you will like to give it away as i am buying this for Dad and due to the nature of my job and location...i will not be able to come for inspection,am 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(PayPal) here.I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after the payment have 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.
You can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in right away and also include your address in your reply.If you don't have a paypal account, you can easily set up one...log on to www.paypal.com and sign up its very easy.... I have a pick up agent that will come and pick the car up after i have made the payments.

Thanks

Don.

Date: Sun, 8 Dec 2013 09:45:13 -0800
Subject: 2002 Silverado Duramax
From:
To: [email protected]

[email protected] - 201-829-3037
[email protected] - 404-736-9696
[email protected] - 979-922-5016

I placed an AutoTrader ad less than 24 hours ago and I already have 3 scammers utilizing same language as described here.

I have had two scam attempts from my autotrader post from the following addresses:
[email protected]
[email protected]

The text of the emails have varied however in the end they both offer full price and ask for paypal details. When I respond that I will require a certified cheque, I don't hear from them again.

I today got a text message from [email protected] about a vehicle I just listed on AutoTrader.com.
The text came from 201 215 5518

The text said:

"Do you still have the vehicle that you listed on autotrader.com? If yes kindly email me at [email protected] Thanks, Mark."

I did not email them and replied that my car was not available

.

Re: Michael Trey and James Olivia

In the past six months I have been contacted by one well known scamer Michael Trey, and just this week another new scamer using the name James Olivia.

Both of these scamers are trying the "send me your Paypal information and after the deposit is made, the shippers will show up for the car" scam. Apparently, what they do is deposit, then quickly cancel. They will tell you there is a problem with Paypal and they want you to transfer money to cover the shipping costs.

In the case of James Olivia, he responded saying he was shipping the car to S. Carolina. It made no sense to do this as these vehicles are in abundant supply on the east coast, and for a lot less money. Why would someone pay more, ship the car over 3000 miles, pay import duties, and have to have the car pass an inspection?
He showed little interest in the car, just my Paypal account.
He stopped calling when I said I did not have a Paypal account and would not be getting one.

I have just received e-mails from Bobby Ritwak which I believe to be a scam from email address [email protected]
The e-mails said:
just wanted to make sure nothing has been left out
What is your final asking price and do you have a PayPal account,as i will be paying the with PayPal and have pick up done from your location as i am away at the moment.In the meantime,can you send me more pictures?
Regards
Bobby

Then a few more e-mails before this one:

Before i make the payment,there is something i need you to be aware of,i was notified the shipping company that will be in charge of the pick up.They are saying i need to pay them their fees which is $1500 before they proceed with coming for it and the only form of payment that they accept is WU Money Transfer.Where i am,the nearest union office is 8hrs where i am overseas,I dont know if it will be ok,if i include this agent's fees in the payment i will be sending you now,so on receipt of the total funds,you will remove the additional funds of $1500 and help me send it at your local WU office.Let me know if this is ok and i will proceed with the payment.

Really glad I looked on this website before falling for this trick.

Welcome to Scamwarners lozaroony.

It's useful to unpick the scam and how this criminal is trying to work it.

It's based on the underlying fact that he has the ability to send you a spoofed message making it appear that you receive a message from Paypal confirming receipt of money from this criminal. Obviosly if you check your account or check with Paypal you'll confirm that o such money he has been received, but he's relying on the fact that you won't check, that's why often the crook suggests you open a paypal account, hoping he's come across a Paypal newbie who doesn't know hot the system operates.

Still, just sending a spoofed Paypal message doesn't get the scammer anything unless he wants you to send him the goods but, if that's the case, he only wants high value goods or electronics. Mostly he has to find an excuse why you have to pay him some money, which is where inventing the story about him having to arrange a third party to collect the goods comes in.

The problem is that if he can pay you, there's no reason why he can't pay the carrier too. He can either rely on your excitement at making a sale to make you overlook this fact, or he can devise a reason why he can't do this, which is what this scammer has done. The problem is that his story starts appearing very contrived and convoluted.

The fact that the scammer is doing this suggests that the standard scam isn't working as well as it used to and they're trying different tactics. The trouble is that a scammer can send out hundreds of offers to buy a day and he only needs a few victims to 'bite' a week to make it worth his while.

I think I just got hit by this [email protected] as well. Just listed my car on trademe today and this avo I get a text from 'Bobby' saying:

"interested in your car on trademe, is there anything else to add? Please contact me further on [email protected]. Regards Bobby"

Naturally, I was excited, thinking I might have a buyer already. So I texted him straight back saying that I don't think there is anything else to add and then emailed him with the same information.

After I had done that I thought hang on, that's a bit odd really. So I googled his email address and the last post about him came up - thanks so much for that. I'll wait now to see if he follows trend. Stupid people, why can't they just get a real job.

This is a good website, thanks.

Yip, sure enough - [email protected] cam straight back to me with this just now;

just wanted to make sure nothing has been left out
What is your final asking price and do you have a PayPal account,as i will be paying the with PayPal and have pick up done from your location as i am away at the moment.In the meantime,can you send me more pictures?
Regards
Bobby

What a loser. Thanks to the guy who posted the warning about him!

Hi, i had am email from this matthew guy, first of all - Hope this auto is still available and what is the best price and the recent condition of the car. get back to me at ( matthewjamesbat @ gmail). Thanks. Stupidly i was rushing about today and i just quickly copied the email address and sent my response direct from my email, instead of replying through the autotrader email... i then realised it says do not send using your own email address. there wasnt much info on the first email so i didnt think anything of it, then the 2nd email came through about all this bollox i am buying this car for my daughter for her bday i am over seas dont have internet banking can u send paypal address n all this... right, well, they now have my email address that i use for paypal because i sent them a response to their first email using my private email address... just want to know can they do anything with just my email address? whats the next stage after receiving my email address. i will probably get a lot of scams come through to my email now wont i, so i will have to block his email and any others...

thanks for responses!