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Is this too good to be true? (eBay story)

N

nlivo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 18, 2007
914
3
Ballarat, Australia
I put my iPhone up on eBay and just got this email:

"Hi,I'm a Doctor,based in USA,but out of the country due to official duties. Good product needs special attention. I was impressed going through the description of your item. This item is urgently needed and i can't wait till the auction ends, I am ready to pay $1140 USD for the item for ending the auction early and shipping fee via Australian Post international Express mail. I want to buy the item for my grandson who is currently studying in West Africa as a Birthday gift and since he's so crazy about this item. I would have love to get this myself at the store but the nature of my job will not allow me to do this at the moment.So please if you are interested in selling this item to me, kindly get back to me with your PayPal email address so l can tell my personal assistant to send out payment immediately via PayPal as it is very fast and reliable. I want the item shipped out as quickly as possible. Hope to hear from you soonest. Regards"

Is this too good to be true? I am just perplexed. I live in Australia. I had a buy it now for $700 Aussie dollars. Why would he do this?
 
Something like this have been posted only recently. The content is similar except for name of the country etc.

Do not respond to this guy. Do a search for the thread I mentioned.
 
Ahh I dunno... sounds kinda sketchy. He never refers specifically to the iphone, he only says "this item", which would lead me to believe he is a scam artist. I mean, come on. West Africa? The more I write the more I think this guy is a fraud. I wouldn't do it! But that's just me.
 
Its a scam stay away I have had many of these just remember if it sounds too good to be true it DEFINATELY is!
 
AHHH, not this again. You must be new to eBay, but these scam messages happen all the time and I get them all the time from craigslist the most. So just ignore it or respond with a rude message
 
nlivo said:
I put my iPhone up on eBay and just got this email:

"Hi,I'm a Doctor,based in USA,but out of the country due to official duties. Good product needs special attention. I was impressed going through the description of your item. This item is urgently needed and i can't wait till the auction ends, I am ready to pay $1140 USD for the item for ending the auction early and shipping fee via Australian Post international Express mail. I want to buy the item for my grandson who is currently studying in West Africa as a Birthday gift and since he's so crazy about this item. I would have love to get this myself at the store but the nature of my job will not allow me to do this at the moment.So please if you are interested in selling this item to me, kindly get back to me with your PayPal email address so l can tell my personal assistant to send out payment immediately via PayPal as it is very fast and reliable. I want the item shipped out as quickly as possible. Hope to hear from you soonest. Regards"

Is this too good to be true? I am just perplexed. I live in Australia. I had a buy it now for $700 Aussie dollars. Why would he do this?
Click to expand...

A scam, without a doubt. The fact that this person never once mentions the iPhone by name makes it seem like this is a canned email copied and pasted to many people.
 
nlivo said:
I put my iPhone up on eBay and just got this email:

"Hi,I'm a Doctor,based in USA,but out of the country due to official duties. Good product needs special attention. I was impressed going through the description of your item. This item is urgently needed and i can't wait till the auction ends, I am ready to pay $1140 USD for the item for ending the auction early and shipping fee via Australian Post international Express mail. I want to buy the item for my grandson who is currently studying in West Africa as a Birthday gift and since he's so crazy about this item. I would have love to get this myself at the store but the nature of my job will not allow me to do this at the moment.So please if you are interested in selling this item to me, kindly get back to me with your PayPal email address so l can tell my personal assistant to send out payment immediately via PayPal as it is very fast and reliable. I want the item shipped out as quickly as possible. Hope to hear from you soonest. Regards"

Is this too good to be true? I am just perplexed. I live in Australia. I had a buy it now for $700 Aussie dollars. Why would he do this?
Click to expand...

"West Africa" is code for SCAM. That's where Nigeria is, which is where every member of a royal family on the planet that wants to give you a bunch of money lives. Don't even think about doing that deal, especially with a $700 bid coming at ya. (Although I don't know how Aussie dollars are in comparison with US dollars)
 
As others have said, it's a scam. If you email back saying 'no' odds are that he'll email back offering more cash.
 
Definitely a scam attempt. Do not respond, because then he will know your email address (as will evryone he sells his mailing list to).

HB
 
SCAM!

Dont go near it, you always get these on ebay with people in africa wanting to buy your auction at a silly price!

Scum of the earth!:mad::D
 
I've sold a lot of things in my life, and there is a really strong way to know if it is a scam or not, and I know this sounds stupid, but it is how they use sentences after commas. If there are no sentences, then it is for sure a scam. I promise you this is a scam, as it looks identical to all those other people that tried to scam me.
 
Oh god, i must have seen about 5 of these threads on macrumors, almost identical and they all ended in scams.. dont do it...
 
Reply that you'll sell it to him if he posts a picture of himself holding a sign saying something slightly profane and funny, then increase the laugh-factor every time until he refuses and post the photos here :D
 
I always respond to these with a sincere "**** you." You can check the option in eBay messages to hide your email address.
 
Pookieinc said:
I've sold a lot of things in my life, and there is a really strong way to know if it is a scam or not, and I know this sounds stupid, but it is how they use sentences after commas. If there are no sentences, then it is for sure a scam. I promise you this is a scam, as it looks identical to all those other people that tried to scam me.
Click to expand...

What the hell are you talking about man?
 
nlivo said:
I want to buy the item for my grandson
Click to expand...

1

nlivo said:
who is currently studying
Click to expand...

2

nlivo said:
in West Africa
Click to expand...

3

nlivo said:
as a Birthday gift
Click to expand...

4

nlivo said:
since he's so crazy about this item.
Click to expand...

5!

Lookie there...FIVE totally irrelevant facts all within a single sentence! (This dude is good.)

The only reason for these type of "facts" is to put you at ease and make you think it's not a scam. No normal human being would include details like this, much less 5 of them all within the same sentence.

Scam.
 
This SCAM is going to send you a PayPal email (paypal@ultimatemail.com), that tells you that the funds are waiting to be released by PayPal, as soon as you send your iPhone via International FEDEX or International UPS with Tracking Number. Well, PayPal never holds money, EVER! If PayPal receives money for you, it is immediately posted. Once you send your iPhone to "wherever" there's no way to get your iPhone back, unless you "STOP" shipment and have it returned. Also, you'll notice that the Buyer never calls you during the entire transaction. This is a SCAM, in capital letters! SELLER BEWARE! :cool:
 
Guaranteed 100% fraud. His "personal assistant" will "accidentally" make the cheque out for $11,400 instead of $1,140. He'll then notice the mistake, and request you send the overpayment back, along with the iPhone. Meanwhile it will take a week for his cheque -- drawn on some made-up African bank -- to work through the system and prove fake. So you're out an iPhone and your bank account is empty, and your local police are investigating you for cashing a fake cheque. Believe it or not, it happens all the time. A friend of mine was caught-up in this exact same thing with a piece of industrial equipment he was selling and he fell for it hook line and sinker, and he's out $75,000 and nearly bankrupt over it.
 
eRondeau said:
Guaranteed 100% fraud. His "personal assistant" will "accidentally" make the cheque out for $11,400 instead of $1,140. He'll then notice the mistake, and request you send the overpayment back, along with the iPhone. Meanwhile it will take a week for his cheque -- drawn on some made-up African bank -- to work through the system and prove fake. So you're out an iPhone and your bank account is empty, and your local police are investigating you for cashing a fake cheque. Believe it or not, it happens all the time. A friend of mine was caught-up in this exact same thing with a piece of industrial equipment he was selling and he fell for it hook line and sinker, and he's out $75,000 and nearly bankrupt over it.
Click to expand...

Holy smokes!
 
SFStateStudent said:
This SCAM is going to send you a PayPal email (paypal@ultimatemail.com), that tells you that the funds are waiting to be released by PayPal, as soon as you send your iPhone via International FEDEX or International UPS with Tracking Number. Well, PayPal never holds money, EVER! If PayPal receives money for you, it is immediately posted. Once you send your iPhone to "wherever" there's no way to get your iPhone back, unless you "STOP" shipment and have it returned. Also, you'll notice that the Buyer never calls you during the entire transaction. This is a SCAM, in capital letters! SELLER BEWARE! :cool:
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right.

You should also report him to eBay.

What I would do though, is getting him excited and then send him some crap.
 
nlivo said:
I put my iPhone up on eBay and just got this email:

"Hi,I'm a Doctor,based in USA,but out of the country due to official duties. Good product needs special attention. I was impressed going through the description of your item. This item is urgently needed and i can't wait till the auction ends, I am ready to pay $1140 USD for the item for ending the auction early and shipping fee via Australian Post international Express mail. I want to buy the item for my grandson who is currently studying in West Africa as a Birthday gift and since he's so crazy about this item. I would have love to get this myself at the store but the nature of my job will not allow me to do this at the moment.So please if you are interested in selling this item to me, kindly get back to me with your PayPal email address so l can tell my personal assistant to send out payment immediately via PayPal as it is very fast and reliable. I want the item shipped out as quickly as possible. Hope to hear from you soonest. Regards"

Is this too good to be true? I am just perplexed. I live in Australia. I had a buy it now for $700 Aussie dollars. Why would he do this?
Click to expand...

100% scam, stay well away. I sold a phone on ebay and got a similar e mail just with different places mentioned.

The guy used the buy it now I had set and then I began to get e mails supposedly from pay pal saying they would hold the money and when I provided a postal transaction reference they wouls release it into my account.

It's a lot of *****, do not even e mail this person or contact them in any way and report it to ebay immediately
 
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