Fraud Help

Cheesesailor77 said:
And don't see anywhere in the guy's quote where he implies that they do. And while your right that craigslist has no protection, Dillon doesn't need any, the guy out of the country does. If he's willing to forgo it then it's all good. Just wait until payment clears, withdraw the funds, and send the camera.

By all means, decline the offer if your not comfortable with it, but i dont see anything fishy here. If he didn't mention he was buying it for his brother in West Africa it would read like any other offer and no one would care... right?
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True he did not say anywhere that the "buyer" was claiming he was using PAYPAL as an escrow service. However, it will come to that soon I think.

Part of the scam is usually a bogus email from "PAYPAL" that says that the funds have been verified and that they will pay as soon as they get a tracking number verifying the goods are on the way.

As others have said, it could be that the money actually does arrive in the account and then the buyer claims that he never got the item and PAYPAL does a chargeback.

The only way to get the money away from PAYPAL so they can't get it is to withdraw the money and literally cancel your checking account. And even then I think PAYPAL can sue you for the 4000.
 
atlfilmguy said:
Part of the scam is usually a bogus email from "PAYPAL" that says that the funds have been verified and that they will pay as soon as they get a tracking number verifying the goods are on the way.
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Now THAT I understand and would recognize immediately.

Well, you guys seem to know what you're talking about and I admittedly don't. so, sry Dillon, I guess this one's a no go :(
 
Why on earth would anyone even consider moving forward with something so fishy - if you find yourself having to videotape yourself bosing up an item because you suspect the buyer might try to scam you.... maybe you should stop, take a step back and ask why you're dealing with a seller you even suspect is going to scam you.
 
Haha, i was just toying with the idea and asking for your guys' help and it has been very informative. Thank you to all of you guys. I will NOT be going through with this transaction.


-Dillon.
 
I had a Canon XLH1 listed on ebay and someone used the buy-it-now option and sent me a letter that was almost WORD-FOR-WORD the same as this. I immediately sent it to ebay and they confirmed that it was a common scam.

The part of the letter that is important is where they ask you to change the price or the shipping amount. This means they can't immediately pay (like on ebay, you can just click 'pay' and send the money) they have to ask you for a new invoice, then they send you a fake email that appears to come from PayPal that tells you you have been paid. Then you ship the camera (they always want you to rush, so you dont' have time to find out the payment was never made) and only then, you find out Paypal never received anything from them.

They want you to use the postal service instead of Fed-ex or UPS because it is much harder, if not impossible, to stop the shipment.
 
Make sure that both accounts (yours and his are verified), then make sure that even with verified accounts, that the type of deal youre making is covered under the Paypal Seller/Buyer protection plan. VERIFIED address is ALWAYS important. Try "sending" money to has address, like a $1, and before you submit the transaction you can see whether or not his address is verified.
 
Happy ending, buyer in my area wants it. And i will meet him in person, nothing should go wrong then.




unless he kills me or something, then that's just a waste of gas.
 
"Hello,

i want to in testify my desire in the immediate purchase and payment of your item,i will be making the immediate payment via a certified Check,i also want to inform you that we have contacted a private mover that will be handling the shipment of the item to its destination. Check payment which will be sent to you will include the shipping fees of the shipper because we will be unable to draw another Check for them,so after you must have gotten the check you deduct your amount for the item and send the remaining funds to the mover for the shipping of the item via Western Union Money Transfer.So if you agree kindly get back asap with the below so that the immediate payment be mailed out to you..

Name:
Contact Address:
City:
State:
Zip-Code:
Telephone-Number:

I expect your swift response...
Regards

Note- you will have the funds in your hand before you send the item ok"




scam? just would like to fugure out also if you can get ripped off this way



and im guessing....probably.
 
The bad thing about cashier's checks is that the bank has to make the funds immediately available. Several weeks later, when the check does not clear, any monies you have spent/returned are recouped from your personal account.
 
NoNoob said:
Oh yeah! Thatz one for stinking up the whole neighborhood!


Sometimes, for fun, I keep stringing those lying bastards on with drawn out email 'business interruptus' exchanges. Figuring, the longer I keep them wasting time, the less time they'll have trying to steal from someone else.
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haha yeah thats what ive started to do, ANOTHER guy was like " is it still avaliable ?????IF YES,pls do u accept payment with paypal? can u ship to west africa? its for my patner abroad on an inspection work for his company and its meant to be a birthday gift for him,am presently in need of it for him and let me know if u are ready, i will add $120for shipping,reply awaited.thanks"


and i just sent him a page long "hahaha"


thanks guys you have pretty much saved me for making a reaalllllly bad decision.
 
I recently saw a post on the Toronto Craigslist page for a Panasonic HVX200 and additional gear for $3200 Canadian. The person had pics to show (8 hours on the camera) and I immediately wanted to buy it ASAP.

Until... I sat down and wondered why this person was selling it so cheap. I mean, $3200 Canadian for a camera that he could easily get $1000+ more for it, it just didn't make sense. He was also selling a firestore 120 as well for $1200, which I was also interested in getting at first.

When I started asking questions, I got nothing concrete back in terms of replies. When I suggested that I would go through a law firm (as an escrow service) since the seller was 22 hours away by car (Thunder Bay to Toronto is a looooong way from one another), I got no reply back. He stated he needed to sell it immediately to pay for school and even told me where he purchased it (yet, he spelled the name of the store wrong). Nothing added up and the more questions I asked, the less things made sense.

In the end, I passed on this and later saw this person removed the post from craigslist entirely. Maybe he found a scam victim or maybe he got scared and took it off, who knows?

All I can say is trust your initial instincts because they are usually correct. As the cliche goes, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Dillion, trust no one and then go from there (when it comes to business). I'm too trusting and it has cost me $$$ in the past. Craigslist is great for face to face interactions, ebay for national purchases and the dvxusers.com site looks pretty reputable too. However, if you are uncertain about one single thing a person says, press them on it. If their answers don't make sense or they avoid answering questions or change the subject, they are hiding something. Trust your instincts and you'll be fine.
 
Dillon Novak said:
haha yeah thats what ive started to do, ANOTHER guy was like " is it still avaliable ?????IF YES,pls do u accept payment with paypal? can u ship to west africa? its for my patner abroad on an inspection work for his company and its meant to be a birthday gift for him,am presently in need of it for him and let me know if u are ready, i will add $120for shipping,reply awaited.thanks"


and i just sent him a page long "hahaha"


thanks guys you have pretty much saved me for making a reaalllllly bad decision.
Click to expand...

Same here, those rat b@stards
 
ANY TIME a buyer has all sorts of weird conditions I will pass and consider them a flake or a fraud. Any mention of Africa is definitely a scam!
 
haha, this is like the 7th one now..

i'm just having too much fun



Scammer:
Hey, I am intrested in your item and will love to buy from you. What is your final selling price?

Me:
my final price is 3,299, where are you located?

Scammer:

Hey

I thank you for the reply to let me know you still have this.I will take it at that price and pay also for shipping. I am presently in calgary.

The Camera is for my son's birthday present. He is currently in africa living with the mom.
I'll be paying you through ORIONPAY online Money Order an e-pay money.or Paypal. It's secure and protects two parties in a transaction.It does not require any fee for the recipient and they deliver to you in person.

Full Name:
Full contact address:

All this information should be provided correctly to avoid wrong payment. I will forward my wife's residential address to you for shipping as soon as the payment reaches you. I will be very grateful to hear from you soonest. Warm regards,

Mr. Kelvin Axel

NB: I will be paying you the total of $3599.00 for both the cost price and the shipping fee...I hope this covers shipping cost.Let me know.

Thanks

Me:

Mr. Kelvin Axel,

okay! sounds like a deal, it's too good to be true!!! here's all of my shipping address and money order info! in this link below please check it out, it will explain everything.

http://yourfacetees.com/files/imagecache/product_list/files/go_fist_yourself_m.jpg

hope it is helpful!

-warmer regards
Mr Dillon novak
 
Hey Dillon, That was happened to me too. A scammer from Africa contacted me when he saw my HVX200a at craigslist. Here it is.

Hi, Thanks but I only accept cash, thats why I am selling it local. If you really want to buy and ship it overseas, you have to pay by Western Union.

Jun


-----Original Message-----
From: Young David <ydavid30@gmail.com>
To: jun
Sent: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 11:00 am
Subject: Re: FS: Panasonic HVX200a Package 2-16gig P2 Card - $5600 (Auburn, Washington)


thanks for your mail,i am buying the item for my son who school in oversea.i will
add $500 for shipping,i will have do it local transaction but i am out of town
presently...so you can get me back with your paypal email account so i can pay
now.hope to hear from you soon
best regard


​
After saying to pay by Western Union, I never heared of him again, lol.

Jun
 
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Funny, my wife breeds dogs and these things come up all of the time, and the only place she advertises is the newspaper! this is the latest one...

"hello how are you today and your family, We just move to United State of America in Two Months Ago? My Wife is an America Citizen Her name is Han, She is Deaf , But we love our self and we married each other, and Lord Bless us with love Daugther Her name is Kari 3 Years of age..please we just want to know if you still have your Puppie for sale? please kindly get back to us.

And let us know the right condition of the Puppie and the last price you want to sale for our family have a nice weekend with smile.get back to us via our family email address kevinhanpl@yahoo.com with your name and your full address, phone number , and let us know your Last Price?

Please don't hesitate to reply back to us, cus we realy need this Puppie in our Family, so our family can be four in number with the Puppie
regards
Kevin Family"

Another scary thing... we once met a lady who had called to buy a puppy (through newspaper, she doesn't use craigslist for this) and she gave us a cashier's check. 2 months later i swipe my check card at the grocery store and its declined. turns out the bank took the money out of our account. 6 months later, still no money back, they caught the women, FBI investigated te fraudulent cashier's check and didn't have enough evidence to convict, even though my wife picked her out of a photo lineup. DONT TAKE CHANCES. YOU WILL LOSE. and if you win, YOU WILL LOSE.

Now any transaction we make through websites we take cash ONLY, and bought a pen for like $5 that can detect counterfit bills.
 
Haven't read thru this whole thing, but paypal isn't safe for BUYERS no matter what people tell me. I've been scammed twice thru paypal and they "couldn't recover funds at this time" but would "keep trying" and let me know if they got anything. It was in my favor and all.

Load of crap really. Paypal is for convenience more than safety.
 
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