Is this a scam.

[tinng321]

I posted my psp on craigslist and this is what
i received from a potential buyer.
The oversea thing got me worry.

"Dear seller,
* I saw your item on Craiglists and i wish i could purchase it for my fiancee who study overseas (West Africa).
Is it still available for sale also i will like to know it's status.
I will add $100 for shipping and insurance..."
kindly get* back to me with your PayPal email address for payment. Hope to hear from you soon... Best Regards.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Alex]

Yes.

[DarkNinja52]

Survey says.... *ding*... scam

[muffinman]

It's a scam.

Wierd how the payment method of choice has gone from money wires to PayPal 0_o

[andrewexd]

probably. the point of craigslist is to deal locally...

[camaroz1985]

If you get payment before you ship it, the buyer is the one taking the risk that you won't ship it.

[Cedilla]

Don't do it, seems like everything out of Africa is a scam.

[Racer x]

Even after the bank says his check is good it can come back a month later as not good . And the bank will not be held responsible. I got a check from some guy trying to but a go cart. He sent me a check for 2400 dollars and the cart cost 1400 . He said it was a mistake . Then he asked me to send him 1000 dollars after the check cleared. I said I would give him the 1000 dollars when he came to pick up the cart . Or I would hold the check and he could pay me the 1400 in cash .

The response was a riot. First his English went all to hell then he got hostel . I told him I was not going to give him anything and his money was nonrefundable . That sent him into a tailspin. I turned the whole thing over to the states attorneys office . The check came back 27 days later as no good. I still have the cart.

[sombo]

Well Racer X that's true with checks. However it's a little different with PayPal or other electronic money transfer systems. The transactions usually take place within 24hrs at most. If he were to send the money via paypal then the money has transferred and there's no check to bounce. If the account doesn't have the money in it to start with then the transaction doesn't take place. This is why many places have steadily moved over to electronic transfers, it allows banks and merchants to deal with the money much faster and eliminates much of the fraud that checks create.

That said, I agree it sounds like a scam to try and get your paypal info in order to hack into it and steal funds. I've heard of it being done before and since on paypals end it all appears to be done legally there's nothing they can do. If someone gets your paypal info and can log into it as if they were you then they can take money from whatever account is linked to it and there won't be anything you can do to get it back.

[emt250]

Id say its a big ol' scam.

[tinng321]

here's another email i got. Does anyone knows anything regarding the scam?

"Hello i really appreciate your response to my earlier mail. like i said i will like to buy this item so pls do withdraw the advert from Craigslist.and i want to use the medium to tell you i* wont be able to come and inspect the item or pay for it i cash,that is why i brought up this* idea though i am a united states citizen i am willing to buy this item as a soon as* possible,However am buying this for a son as Birthday gift, i would appreciate if you allow me* to pay through paypal and i will add $120 as shipping cost..However if you don't have pay pal* account you can just log on to paypal.com and set up an account it is free easy and secure to* pay and receive* money through paypal.get* back to me asap."
Posted via Mobile Device

[sombo]

Not sure on all the details of the various PayPal scams. However, I would like to suggest maybe changing the CL add to say you will only sell it to the interested party in person. You don't have to, but I think that's probably what I would do if I were selling my PSP on CL and started receiving emails like those.

[Alex]

They'll add $120 for shipping cost? Stop responding to these emails. Really.

[AnarchoMoltov]

I'm surprised u even have to ask if it's a scam...

[emt250]

Anyone willing to do something extra-ordinary for a very ordinary item is probably trying to scam you. Just wait until someone legitimate comes around who has cash in hand. Don't be tempted by "easy money" because you'll just get screwed.

[Racer x]

The thing that gets me is the constant reference to Your Craig's list "item"Ask the scammer if it even knows what the" Item" is.

[JaeL]

tell him to put cash in a envelope and mail it to you! ha

[Mo1981]

It is quite the scam as I almost got caught up in one when selling my wife's Rebel. Dude wanted me to send me some extra cash to pay his "shipper". In contacting the company whose name was on the check, they confirmed that their name was being used illegally. I just kept all the information plus the two different checks that came in the mail as proof in case s*** hit the fan and I needed to contact the authorities.

[Nexion]

I was selling my PSP a few months before Christmas and I had an email that was exactly the same. Best to hit the [delete] button!

[girlracerphoto]

I work using eBay and Craigslist daily. I see these emails everyday!

Things to look for.
-Pre Payment
-Buyer wanting your address and telephone # to send payment too
-Always asking if it's still for sale?, Condition? when you just listed it with all that information (scammers don't read!!)
-Buyer will send a money order over the amount (way over!) Say's it's for shipping and ask you to send back the difference. They will send you a MO and it will look real!! Don't cash it!!!!
-Most scammers end the email with "Best Regards" and no name
-A lot of scammers emails are @gmail.com (sorry for those legit gmail users).


-Paypal -
Buyers receive item, but tell paypal they did not and receive credit back. You get the shaft!


**I always respond to Craigslist ads with my name, location to show I am local or willing to drive to pick up and ask for a phone number or give my own so they can call me or vice versa. Always deal face to face!

Please, be careful and good luck on the sale. Hope this helps you and others!

[andrewexd]

My brother listed his phone on facebook marketplace and some dude sent a check for $2400 but the thing is he actually called my brother and talked to him. Obviously my brother didn't send the phone or cash the check...

[girlracerphoto]

Originally Posted by andrewexd

My brother listed his phone on facebook marketplace and some dude sent a check for $2400 but the thing is he actually called my brother and talked to him. Obviously my brother didn't send the phone or cash the check...

They will call to ask if you have received the check and cashed it. If you don't respond they will call or email daily.

[andrewexd]

This was like a month ago and I don't think they called back, at least he hasn't said anything.

[Rayme]

Go through with the instruction and mail him a bag of manure or something with no return adresse... There ya go

[BlueRaven]

We had someone here that was selling his laptop online and someone from overseas wanted to purchase it through PayPal. He sent the laptop but the PayPal account was not a real one although it seemed legit. He learned his lesson and lost a $1200 laptop in the process. He did go to the authorities and even tried to track the package to have it returned before it reaches its destination but with no luck. Canada Post said they couldn't locate the package. It makes you think why do we pay extra for a tracking number.

[karlosdajackal]

Originally Posted by Racer x

Even after the bank says his check is good it can come back a month later as not good . And the bank will not be held responsible. I got a check from some guy trying to but a go cart. He sent me a check for 2400 dollars and the cart cost 1400 . He said it was a mistake . Then he asked me to send him 1000 dollars after the check cleared. I said I would give him the 1000 dollars when he came to pick up the cart . Or I would hold the check and he could pay me the 1400 in cash .

The response was a riot. First his English went all to hell then he got hostel . I told him I was not going to give him anything and his money was nonrefundable . That sent him into a tailspin. I turned the whole thing over to the states attorneys office . The check came back 27 days later as no good. I still have the cart.

And that folks is how you launder money, take your dodgy money accidentally pay someone too much, get back not dodgy money.

Happens on just about every site where you can sell stuff. I tried sell an chair once for €400, guys says oh i'm buying furniture for my client but he gave me a cheque for €4000, can I just give you the cheque and you can give the a cheque for €3600. So i replied to him "sounds like money laundering to me" and he stopped mailing me

[demp]

Originally Posted by rayme

go through with the instruction and mail him a bag of manure or something with no return adresse... There ya go

+1 :d

[patw]

I was told there were only 1 valid think a seller can say and only 1 valid thing a buyer can say:

Seller: "When would you like to come and see it?"
Buyer: "When can I come and see it?"

Supposedly these 2 simple phrases can cut down 95% of the scams for buyer or seller.

[billmi]

Originally Posted by sombo

Well Racer X that's true with checks. However it's a little different with PayPal or other electronic money transfer systems.

Not exactly true.

PayPal has a method by which you can write an electronic check to PayPal. It is not instant, and it does not depend on the funds being there to show up to the payee. I had a client from NY do this about a month ago. PayPal showed the payment, but it was flagged (literally, with a little red flag Icon on my PayPal account summary) because the check had not cleared yet. It took 3 business days for it to clear. PayPal had a warning, not to trust it until it had cleared. PayPal showed the payment, but it didn't credit me the funds until the check cleared.

Someone could definitely pull the Nigerian check scam ( http://www.warpig.com/paintball/arti...nigerian.shtml ) with PayPal this way, if you assume the money is secure while it's still flagged as processing.

Some other ways of scamming you via PayPal:

Setting up the sale, then sending you a fake PayPal e-mail telling you you have received payment. Anyone can send you an e-mail with PayPal.com as the return address. It's easy enough to protect yourself from this - just make sure you log into PayPal to verify that a payment was made and has cleared. These are sometimes followed up with fake attorney's e-mails saying you had better ship the item right away, because it was paid for.

Sending you a fake PayPal e-mail telling you that PayPal asking you to verify a large payment you have requested to a porn website or something similar. They are nice enough to include a link for you to log in and cancel the payment if you want. But the link isn't really to paypal, it will be something like www.paypal.com.XYZ.net/security. Always look at what is right before the first slash - that's the domain address - that URL isn't going to paypal.com, it's going to the paypal.com subnet at XYZ.net, and guess who is running a fake PayPal web site there? Our friendly neighborhood scammers, and when you type in your account name and password to log in and cancel the payment that never existed, you've just given the scammers your account name and password. I know someone who fell for this, and their PayPal account was drained within minutes, so fast it's probably a program that charges PayPal the moment it gets the password. This is easy enough to protect against too. Don't follow links to financial related web sites sent to you by e-mail - type in the URL, or go to your bookmark for the site as well. If PayPal, eBay, etc. has an important notice for you, they will show it to you right when you log in, you don't need to follow a special link to see it.

[backinthesaddleagain]

Saw a scam using Craigslist to list a bike. I figured it was a scam due to price (2008 R6 with 1000 miles for $3200), but hey i figured I would bring a friend with me to see it. Seller of the bike said she will use ebay protection services to protect both of us. Bike was not on ebay. Reading the ebay protection services rules it only applies to ebay sales. Also like how it was a female (lure buyer into assuming the bike would be ridden less hard, though I know some of you can get it going pretty good). Also she said she works on a cruise ship and has no time to ride. And of course she lives no where near where she posted it. Also gave me too much info about the bike that I didn't ask for.

BEWARE!

[camaroz1985]

I saw something similar while looking for a truck today on autotrader. I emailed the seller and he said the same thing about ebay (though it was listed on ebay also). The addresses didn't match, and he was "too busy" for me to come see it, so ebay would arrange shipping, and upon receiving the truck if it didn't meet my satisfaction I could return it at his cost. If it was ok with me the money would be transferred from ebay to him.

I told him it seemed shady, and I reported it to Autotrader.

[backinthesaddleagain]

yeah the bike i saw is off craigslist today so someone must have flagged it. I always assume if the price is too good to be true it probably is, but if its local, in a safe area, and I bring someone along I will check as you just never know (especially in this economy).

[Greg_E]

I had to go to Cleveland to get my Buell, sometimes Craigslist stuff does go a little farther than one would normally think of as local. He ended up bringing it to me so it was all good, otherwise I would have never been able to ride it home with the exhaust that he had on it. Come to find out that too many of the mounts were missing to put the stock muffler back on and that was why he didn't change the muffler and have me come and get it. Price didn't turn out to be the bargain I thought it would be, only going rate by the time I'm done.

[backinthesaddleagain]

I know some folks post in a couple bordering areas or states. This was just too fishy, bike already in shipping crate, owner away at sea, etc, etc.

[Daeldren]

Whenever I see anything online that is fishy and mentions africa at all I am reminded of those Nigerian Email scams. Those crazy Nigerians

[backinthesaddleagain]

Originally Posted by Daeldren

Whenever I see anything online that is fishy and mentions africa at all I am reminded of those Nigerian Email scams. Those crazy Nigerians

yeah we have $50K for you. just send $10k to process it.

[Wade]

i say string them along see what the scam is exactly.

[CZroe]

First he says that it's for his fiance then he says it's a b-day gift for his son.

[DarkNinja52]

Originally Posted by DarkNinja52

Survey says.... *ding*... scam

[noche_caliente]

here's one of my favorite time-killing websites where they bait these folks all the time

http://www.419eater.com/