[Serious] Scammer?

[I_Love_My_Vans]

Is this one a scammer? Serious please?

Dear Seller,

Good day to you,I am interested in your item displayed on eBay,but i want to get this item for my uncle son who is currently studying in Africa as a congratulatory gift.I would have love to bid like others but the nature of my job (Nurse)will not allow me to do this at this time, I will be offering you £250.00 for this item.
So please if you are interested in selling this item to me, kindly send me your PayPal email address so that I can send out payment immediately via PayPal or Nochex Money Order, As i said earlier am offering you £250.00 for this item,this will include both the shipping and handling cost to Africa via Royal Mail International Signed For.

Your urgent response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks and God bless.
~Ray~

I have my suspitions (sp?)

[grilkip]

Personally I'd ignore the message and never find out if it's a scammer or not.

[mendhak]

Being a nurse is no excuse for not being able to bid. Ignore it.

If you have your doubts, email back and ask for their details and reasons.

[grilkip]

btw if you sell stuff on ebay, you get heartbreaking messages like that all of the time.

[visualAd]

Dear Seller,

Good day to you,I am interested in your item displayed on eBay,but i want to get this item for my uncle son (bad English) who is currently studying in Africa as a congratulatory gift.I would have love to bid like others but the nature of my job (Nurse) (rubbish - although they could be working and unable to bid at end of auction) will not allow me to do this at this time, I will be offering you £250.00 (is this much more than the price you expected?) for this item.
So please if you are interested in selling this item to me, kindly send me your PayPal email address (possibly in ownership of a stolen card) so that I can send out payment immediately via PayPal or Nochex Money Order, As i said earlier am offering you £250.00 (why re-iterate this?) for this item,this will include both the shipping and handling cost to Africa via Royal Mail International Signed For.

Your urgent response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks and God bless.
~Ray~

I have my suspicions (sp?)

It is probably a scammer. Worst case scenario, he has a stolen credit card and put £500 in your Paypal account claiming an error and asks you to send the difference along with the product. Several weeks later the owner of the card notices the fraudulent transaction and the bank reclaims it. You end up £250 worse off and without the item you were selling.

If you want to be sure the following reply should tell you weather or not they are genuine:

Thank you for your generous offer of £250 for my item. If you are unable to bid in the auction and still wish to buy the item i will require you to do the following.

• Have a cheque made out to myself for the above amount by a reputable national / international bank on your behalf (less any charges you have incurred for this service).
  
  
• Send the cheque to the address below with your full name and address and the address to which you wish me to send the item to. I will also include a card and personal message sent by yourself if you wish (well it is a gift).
  
  
• Upon clearance of the funds in my account I shall send the item to your chosen address.

I understand that his may seem a bit over cautious. However I have been caught by a scammer before and must assume that you cannot be trusted.

I hope to hear from you soon.

[I_Love_My_Vans]

I basically said...

"Due to the massive decrease in security for the seller when processing sales without the assistance of eBay, I have to decline on your offer to take an payment in the scenario of which you requested. Please bid in the ordinary fasion."

I did this before I saw your post VisioAd. However if someone who isn't from nigeria really wants to pay £250 ($500ish) I am more than happy to accept it in coins.

Thanks

[learning c]

never send an item until you have the funds cleared and confirmed in your account, same goes with any buyer.

[NotLKH]

VA,

Can you explain more about why it would be a bad thing to send your paypal address to somebody claiming to want to give you money?

And/Or, why a "Nochex" money order would be suspect?

[visualAd]

VA,

Can you explain more about why it would be a bad thing to send your paypal address to somebody claiming to want to give you money?

And/Or, why a "Nochex" money order would be suspect?

If the person at the other end uses a stolen/cloned (more likely cloned) card via Paypal - your funds will appear in your Paypal account. Often it is a few weeks (when the real card owner gets their statement) that the fraud is noticed. The Credit Card company will then void the transaction and claim the money back off Paypal who will then remove the funds from your Paypal account.

In this case I am unsure weather Paypal will refund the monies. There is every possibility they will if the owner of the Paypal account is verified.

[learning c]

as far as i know a cc company can't void a transaction... but you can pay for insurance in case a card is stolen usually as a monthly fee... and sometimes the bank will track the fraud for you especially if it is a domestic transaction... but i don't know the specifics of paypal.

i haven't used paypal but i found this and it may be true maybe someone can confirm?
http://www.aboutpaypal.org/paypal_ripped_me_off
is paypal fake?

[Pino]

We get it here at work on occasions think its called a chargeback. Basicly somone uses a stolen card and the real owner find out contacts there bank. We then have to prove we sent the goods to that customer if not they get there money back.

Lots of new security methods comming such as Visa's 3dSecure.

[FunkyDexter]

i found this and it may be true

I wouldn't take it seriously, that site is basically advertising an alternative to Paypal so it's obviously partisan. At worst it's miss-representation (ie the stories are made up) and at best it's unprofessional. In fact, given the tone of the site I wouldn't be surprised to find it's a scam itself.

[visualAd]

as far as i know a cc company can't void a transaction... but you can pay for insurance in case a card is stolen usually as a monthly fee... and sometimes the bank will track the fraud for you especially if it is a domestic transaction... but i don't know the specifics of paypal.

i haven't used paypal but i found this and it may be true maybe someone can confirm?
http://www.aboutpaypal.org/paypal_ripped_me_off
is paypal fake?

Here, the CC company is libel for any fraud, provided the owner of the card has taken reasonable precautions to prevent it (i.e: report the card stolen as soon as they realise / report suspicious transactions asap).

[bgmacaw]

Typical Nigerian scam letter. Ignore it, don't even bother to answer it unless you want to be deluged with similar crap.

[Pino]

While reading the posts at the link below I came accross this comment... Some interesting posts about samming in there lol!

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thre...429&#paginator

I think it's time for the internet to be closed down. What is the point of it? You have all these so called 'experts' giving advice. None of it is researched properly.
This technology has not enriched society in any way whatsoever. In fact it has had an adverse effect.

w00t!

[newprogram]

It a scam I git that crap all the time and i don't even sell on ebay

[AsmIscool]

If anybody doubts that is a scam then you might want to look up thescambaiter. They deal with these things by the thousands each day in a rather humorous way. This is %100 scam. The paypal is most likely phished or purchased from the phishers on one of the many carder sites. Credit card details can be purchased for about US$5. Any cheque you recieve will be a forgery of greatly varying quality. It will usually be for more than the price and you will be asked to send the remainder to a shipping agent by (Untraceable) Western Union. The cheque will initially clear but will later be found to be fraudulent. The bank will recover all the money from you and you may even face criminal charges. Some have even gone to jail while the scammer gets away scott free with the money and your item. This is just one of an incalculable number of different scam formats sent out each day by the 419ers. I get 300 a day in one account alone. It is their third largest source of national income. Be very careful on any auction site or the internet in general. Straightening my tin foil beanie.

[AsmIscool]

I will also add that he refers to it as the item. He does not even know what he is bidding for. He expects an Urgent response. This is a standard technique used to pressure the victim and cause them to make hasty decisions. Wrong ones.