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Beware of emails like this if you're selling on eBay....

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bhimpele

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 16, 2008
91
0
I received this email when posting my iPhone on eBay. This is the second from him. After his first, I told him to bid on it through eBay.

hello,
*** Please is just because i need it urgently for my client in West Africa....Please if you are willing to sell this item to me..All you need is to get back to me with your paypal account email and the total cost of the item including shipment cost or just ascertain if your paypal account email address is xxxxxxxxx@xxx.com so that i can remit funds into your account.

here is my client address,

Name: Adeogun Matthew
Add: No 20 Abimbola Street Odo-Ona
City: Ibadan
State: Oyo State
Zip Code: 23402
Country: Nigeria


Not sure how, but I know it's a scam of some sort.
 
G

gzillaration

macrumors member
Jun 16, 2009
62
0
also if you get the 21 day hold period when you get money in paypal make sure the shipping address is confirmed and seller protection is eligible. as long as those are correct you have nothing to fear because with paypals new policy even if he used a stolen credit card you would still get the money.

paypal recamended to never ship outside of your own country also
 
B

bhimpele

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 16, 2008
91
0
I suppose I should mention that he offered over $500 more than the listing price of $250.
 
tilmonabbott

tilmonabbott

macrumors regular
Jan 14, 2009
111
0
Worcester Ma
Dont even bother selling it to him or even doing anything. My cousin sold his laptop on ebay and got screwed this way, everything that was sent to him looked authentic and looked like it was actually being sent from ebay and paypal but now he's out 1500 because of it. Its a scam, 100% positive.
 
Tannerozzy

Tannerozzy

macrumors regular
Feb 2, 2008
109
13
Waco, Texas
I got scammed selling my :apple:book air back in october on ebay. Something to note:
You're 100% covered by paypal as long as you ship to the address that the buyer has listed through paypal. That's how they got me. After they won the bidding they emailed me a prepaid shipping label. That's pretty much the biggest thing to watch for. Ship like you should and there should be no problems; if there are, at least you're covered.

[If anyone's curious, my insurance finally caved and accepted that it was a form of theft. They paid me what it 'worth', not what it sold for, so I actually came out about $200 on top of what it sold for on ebay. Got a $1,955 check a few weeks later :D]
 
Phil A.

Phil A.

Moderator emeritus
Apr 2, 2006
5,799
3,094
Shropshire, UK
bhimpele said:
I received this email when posting my iPhone on eBay. This is the second from him. After his first, I told him to bid on it through eBay.

hello,
*** Please is just because i need it urgently for my client in West Africa....Please if you are willing to sell this item to me..All you need is to get back to me with your paypal account email and the total cost of the item including shipment cost or just ascertain if your paypal account email address is xxxxxxxxx@xxx.com so that i can remit funds into your account.

here is my client address,

Name: Adeogun Matthew
Add: No 20 Abimbola Street Odo-Ona
City: Ibadan
State: Oyo State
Zip Code: 23402
Country: Nigeria


Not sure how, but I know it's a scam of some sort.
Click to expand...

It is, without a shadow of doubt, a scam
What would happen next if you agreed to sell to him is that you would get a fake paypal "confirmation" that says the funds have been remitted but won't be put into your account until you confirm dispatch of the item. If they have caught you, you send the goods out and never see them again, and payment is never forthcoming.

The reason they offer so much over the odds is because they have no intention of actually paying for the goods so they can offer as much as they want!

We recently sold my wife's iPod touch on eBay and someone tried to scam us in this way: They bought the iPod with buy it now for £199 (UK eBay) but from a US registered account that was created on the same day they bid. As soon as we asked for payment, we got a fake confirmation from PayPal and they asked us to ship it to Nigeria. Instead, we reported it to eBay and relisted the iPod which sold second time around with absolutely no problems at all.
 
G

gzillaration

macrumors member
Jun 16, 2009
62
0
Tannerozzy said:
[If anyone's curious, my insurance finally caved and accepted that it was a form of theft. They paid me what it 'worth', not what it sold for, so I actually came out about $200 on top of what it sold for on ebay. Got a $1,955 check a few weeks later :D]
Click to expand...


damn i never tried that, i got screwed selling my iphone 3g last yr to canada for 800 bucks. the guy used a stolen credit card and i never go the money.

i figured it wasnt really theft cuz i shipped it at my own will
 
N

notjustgc

macrumors 6502
Jun 18, 2009
271
0
I've gotten some AMAZINGLY convincing fraudulent emails, formatted quite well to appear as though they came from eBay, PayPal, etc. directly. The only thing that gives some of them away are statements like "PayPal uses Western Union as it's approved money wiring service, so wire money right now with confidence!" Riiiiight. :cool:
 
labman

labman

macrumors 604
Jun 9, 2009
7,786
2
Mich near Detroit
Well fyi

beware of anything from africa I get about 30 emails a week relitives that passed all have left me fortunes all I have to give them is my personal info and in some case pay a small holding fee any where from $50 $300 odd thing I am Scottish Irish and German. but everybody in Africa seem rich never trust a money order they can be faked even to fool a bank at least for a short time. usally they over pay to cover the shipper there choice and have you prepay them you think you are paying with ther money till the bank sas the money order was a fruad..

never click a link for ebay or paypal only go directly too there sites. I also got fake ebay memo's saying they paid for there item they are going to report me for fraud that I never got paid nor I never listed it's all Phishing one in 1000 will bite but it pays enough.

BUt how do they all have internet access!
 
rushmere

rushmere

macrumors 6502
Jul 28, 2006
482
242
New Zealand
...or even worse, they really do pay you, but from a hacked Paypal account.

Then when the hack is discovered by the real owner of the account, Paypal claim the money back because you haven't shipped the goods to the registered address.
 
aforty

aforty

macrumors 65816
Nov 27, 2007
1,481
773
Brooklyn, NY
Life lesson: beware of anything that originated from Nigeria.

Seriously with all the spam and kings in exile from Nigeria willing to give you their fortune, who takes anything seriously when it comes from there?
 
E

Eddyisgreat

macrumors 601
Oct 24, 2007
4,851
2
If you keep in mind that you should never deal outside of ebay and paypal and the fact that paypal DOES NOT do business in Nigeria, period, you should be ok. Some nigerians have backdoored the system by getting a bank card and using their US address (don't ask me how they pull that one off) but this is also illegal and against paypal policy.
 
tatyiona

tatyiona

macrumors 6502
Jun 21, 2009
278
250
cleveland, ohio
same thing with craigslist after I put my ipod and portable dvd on there yesterday I received 8 emails within two hours and everyone gave some story about how they'll pay me double through paypal because they need it sent to their mother, brother, or somebody in West Africa
 
J

Jeremy81

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2007
354
22
Oklahoma
I've been an eBay seller and sometimes power seller for almost 10 years. A few things to consider:

1. Never take an offer outside of eBay under any circumstances
2. Never ship to an address that isn't confirmed with Paypal
3. Never ship valuable electronics or cellphones internationally
4. Buy Delivery Confirmation/tracking(Paypal Seller Protection is no good without it)
5. If you take Money Orders accept USPS Money Orders only and cash at the P.O. prior to shipping.
6. Setup buyer requirements. No feedback less than zero, no policy violations, no unpaid item strikes, and no one from countries which you don't ship.

Getting proof of delivery is very important. Keep the tracking numbers in a safe place for at least 3 months or more. Some buyers will wait until the delivery confirmation number is out of the database(about 3 months) and then file a chargeback with their credit card company. If they do this you can now ask the USPS to retrieve the proof of delivery from a back-up database. There is a form on usps.com to do this. Without it Paypal and/or the credit card company will decide in the favor of the buyer.
 
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