Just thought it worth posting here, as I’ve had an attempted scam via email, and after a quick Google, it would appear to be quite active.
Basically, I’ve got my car up for sale at the moment, and late last night the following email chain started, which ended quite quickly once I stated I would only accept cash:
Cash only.
Gavin
On 12 Apr 2011, at 03:44, colin joce <colin003@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> Thanks for your quick response,Can you assure me that it’s in good
> state and that i will not be disappointed with it.I’m ready to pay
> your asking price and to be honest, i wanted to buy this for someone
> very close to me living in brazil, but the issue is i am not in state
> presently to complete this transaction with you locally by cash so am
> purchasing this item as a gift for someone very close to me living in
> brazil.. and am willing to make deal with a serious and legitimate
> seller due to too many scam out there..Since I’m requesting this
> transaction to be done via PayPal, i will be responsible for all the
> paypal fee/charges on this transaction and if you don’t have an
> account with paypal its pretty easy, safe and secured to open one.
> Just log on to http://www.paypal.com. I hope we can make the purchase as fast
> as possible? I have a mover that will come for it once payment clears
> in from your paypal account to your bank account.You can send me your
> PayPal email ID or a PayPal money request via PayPal and i’ll make the
> Payment right away…
>
> Hope to hear from you soonest
> Thanks
>
> On 4/11/11, Gavinxx xxxxx<gavinxxxxxxx@xxxxx.com> wrote:
>> Hi Colin,
>>
>> Yes, it is still available.
>>
>> Let me know when you would like to come and see it, or give me a call in the
>> morning to talk it over.
>>
>> Thanks for your interest.
>>
>> Yours,
>> Gavin
>> On 11 Apr 2011, at 22:30, Colin Joce wrote:
>>
>>> I’m interested in purchasing this vehicle,
>>> Let me know if you have it available
>>> Thanks
The scary thing is, a quick check shows loads of people falling for this, giving these guys their Paypal details, only to be overpaid, with a request to pay some Credit Union type service for shipping agents. Someone then calls, colects the car, then raises a dispute on Paypal. Paypal then take back the money from your bank account (which they can now do), and you are left without your car and about £1000 down too.
So, basically, back to old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it is!