Almost Got Scammed

[xr6t4life]

as the topic sais I almost got scammed trying to sell a car, I posted a ford falcon on gumtree and within 3 hours I had a txt msg saying is the car sold yet I would like an email bak to (tony.larry48@gmail.com) so I emailed him and he replied saying iam happy with your advert please tell me the least you would pay and I will pay through the safest and fastest way PAYPAL

so I gave him a price, he "sent" the money and I got an email from paypal but when I put my mouse over the email address it said on the behalf of paypal but was really from some other email address saying the money has been deducted from his account and will be put into mine once I send $750 of my own money through western union transfer to a house in the uk for a courior service to pik up the car and deliver it to him paypal would then release the funds into my account.

this guy sais he works offshore and is buying the car for his dad, he is to busy and is getting a courior agent to pik up the car.

PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR THIS IF YOUR TRYING TO SELL A CAR

if there is no history of the transfer on your paypal account it has not been sent dont rely just on emails

Cheers Sean

[matt036]

Yeah I was almost scammed by the same thing (different person same story) when I was selling my scooter. Not even a couple hours after I listed I got the email saying the usual how is it and what condition but when it came to it he wanted me to do the same thing and send $750 via western union money transfer to the UK and was address to some apartment blocks. When I got the email "on behalf" of paypal about saying the money was deducted I checked paypal and there was no account activity at all so I told him to piss off. After him I got a least 4 more of them but only sent back payment as being direct deposit or C.O.D. Funniest part that fella said he was an engineer on an off shore trawler and had no access to online banking only paypal, but funny that he can get on the net to email and use paypal but blow me down not internet banking (if he was actually legit) and was buying it for his son and another one that springs to mind was he said he was a doctor in Afghanistan and wanted to buy it for his son to cheer him up cause he was depressed he was away so much

[Rancidpunx]

It is well documented on Carsales.

When selling my missus car recently ever time I made a revision to the add within a day would have 2-3 texts asking for the best price to be sent to what looks like a legitimate email address. When you get a reply its always claims they are working off shore and that an Agent on their behalf will pick the car up. The forged paypal email has caught a lot of people out.

Buyers are getting caught out as well.

The same sort of thing has happened with carsales as well, with forged emails from Carsales telling potential buyers that an add is genuine for a fake car.

They have bought domains like carsales.net.au and the like so they can set up emails from the domain and they look like a genuine address at a quick glance. Forge the email layout that is sent through and many non-savy interwebbers would have no reason to doubt it and send through a deposit.

[4DZILR]

Its very simple guys, if sombody is interested, they will call you! Not sms you... if you cant call the bloke and tell him the price then dont bother.. They are not sending an sms, they are sending web sms! Which is a web filtered number via a website..

Edited 10/04/11 11:53 PM by 4DZILR

[Tobey]

These have been happening for years... Have a search on the net for them...

[Rockatansky]

Here's an actual email I received when the scammers made an enquiry on my last vehicle:

Sent: Fri May 28 18:18:20 2010

Received: Fri May 28 18:18:25 2010

From: Leigh Crozier <leighcrozier@y7mail.com>

To: X

Subject: About Your 1997 FORD FALCON SEDAN $8750

Part(s): Message Source Save As

Thanks for the prompt response..I am ready to buy it now as a birthday gift for my Great

Father and I am at sea at the moment as I am a marine engineer and due to the nature of my

work, phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but I squeezed out time to

check this advert and send you an email regarding it. I really want the car to be a surprise

for my father so I wont let him know anything about the car until it gets delivered to him,

I am sure he will be more than happy with the car. 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, I will need you to give me

your paypal email address and the price so I can make the payments asap for the car and pls

if you don't have paypal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to

www.paypal.com.au and get it set up, after you have set it up I will only need the

e-mail address you use for registration with paypal so as to put the money through. I have

a pick up agent that will come and pick the car up after I have made the payments...

Thanks

What a load of rubbish!

Edited 11/04/11 05:59 AM by Rockatansky

[Damo_BF]

I had one offer me $5,500 for a bike that was advertised for $4,250 silly Nigerian scamming *beep*

[hrick]

About a year or maybe even 2 years ago a mate of mine was looking at an early Monaro (GTS) on ebay, it would have been worth about $25-$30,000.

The list price was $8,500. I told him it was too good to be true, and NOT to part with any money until he has actually inspected the car. After many doggy emails from the seller to him (the old fake paypal email), he forking deposited 8.5 large into a Western Union account, this IS after ebay emailed him informing him that the listing was doddgy, and of course he never saw the car or is money again. To this day I still give him heaps about being such a dickhead, I warned him several times, ebay did, but still he was lured in by the prospect of getting the car cheap.

That`ll teach him for wanting a Holden.

[ofa180]

I sold my territory turbo through txt message last month. It was all legit.

[Corzza]

Funny enough I was genuinely selling my Dads Volvo and I got calls from people asking me if I was a scam artist and I had one guy come check out the car and ask me for all sorts of ID. I was quite taken back. But I can understand why now