They are persistent and clever gits, eh?

Trying to sell car on Gumtree and now had two people text and email, both total scams (when you google the email they send or names, it pops up)

So what to do with ‘Morgan Corfield’ ? morgancorfield@virginmedia.com
Thanks for the information on the car, I’m pretty ok with the car present condition and also happy with the price of £xxxx. I live in Edinburgh and this is where the car is coming. My pickup agent will come for the pickup of the car after payment have been made and cleared to your account. Get back to me with your bank details. i.e account no, sort code and account name or alternatively your PayPal email address and also the address for the car to be picked after funds have cleared to your account. thanks.

Sell the car to him, say you’ll deliver, post a corgi model of the car to his address?

Seems the wrong way round though?

They will pay you more than the asking price and ask you to send them the difference by western union money transfer.

How long can they retrieve a bank transfer if it’s fraudulent? What if you transfer it on to another account of yours?

Didn’t think you could reverse a bank transfer unless you proved the bank had made an error?

I don’t want to give my bank details to anyone I don’t trust….

This one is old as the hills. They CAN reverse the transfer. Strange but true. The clue to this scam is the “I am happy with the condition” or similar, “my agent” or similar, and they always quote verbatim your description of the item.

This one is old as the hills. They CAN reverse the transfer. Strange but true.

Yep, never worked out how, but it can be done, and IIRC for quite a while – like many weeks later.

Tell them to Paypal their agent the money and a condition of the sale is cash only on collection. Shouldn’t be an issue as the agents been Paypal’d the money.

But of course that’s not how it works is it, well not in their world anyway

Exactly as rockhopper said ! My brother was stitched up 3 years ago in the same way . The man from Lagos , Nigeria seemed really genuine though in the emails 😉

Only way I’ve seen it being done was when using international cheques.

I swear I’ve seen a few sob stories about people who’ve paid their mortgage deposits to the wrong account number. Oh well, perhaps things are different now.

Why not open a second account. When the money is transferred in, you then move it to another account before they collect the car, or maybe even turn it into old fashioned cash?

Seadog – because often the account they pay with are ‘stolen’ compromised ones, so the police will return it to it’s rightful owner, leaving you with no cash and no car.

The scammers like this method because it turns dodgy cash into an asset which can easily be turned into clean cash by selling it on.

I didn’t know that bank transfers could be reversed. Would someone please like to explain how. Thanks.

…er, sorry, missed the bit about ‘stolen’ accounts, but apart from that is there any way a bank transfer can be reversed?

They won’t do a bank transfer or PayPal, that’s just bait to reassure you. Their account will stop working at the last minute so they will offer to pay you by cheque (for more than the asking price as compensation for the problems that have caused you – you send them the difference by Western Union money transfer) It will be fake or stolen. It will appear to clear but the bank can recover the money many weeks afterwards.
No one will come for your car/bike/whatever.

My experience of scammers this week.
They are also on eBay.
charcharchar2000.
Supposedly a woman, but a size 8 safety boot wearing electrician type person.
Avoid.
Buys goods, damages them and sends back.
I’m not bitter, honest.

The send you a fake Paypal (a very good fake that is) invoice stating they’ve paid you. Hoping you’ll take that on face value and not check your actual PP account. you think you’ve been paid.

The send you a fake Paypal (a very good fake that is) invoice stating they’ve paid you. Hoping you’ll take that on face value and not check your actual PP account. you think you’ve been paid.

Even paypal / ebay say don’t used paypal for cars or any large collection only items. Their seller protection relies on postal / parcel tracking numbers so anything collected in person leaves the seller vulnerable as the buyer just has to collect in person then claim the item hasn’t turned up in the post. You can’t provide a tracking number because of course you didn’t post it so paypal refunds on that basis because tracking numbers are the only evidence their seller and buyer protection is based on.

When selling things on Gumtree I seem to get a lot of people emailing to ask if it’s still for sale and when I reply yes it is I never hear from them again. I can only assume they are trying to work out what price to sell a similar item for. 👿

Scambait them

So how long after a bank transfer is made can the buyer reverse it (if they actually can at all?).

I have a buyer for a bike I’m selling, he’s offering to pay a deposit (seems like a good idea to me) by bank transfer, so we may do half by bank transfer deposit and half cash on collection.

It was from an ebay auction that ended unsold, I got a message from him asking if I would take an offer as it didnt sell.

I just dont want to meet him, give him the bike and have the bank transfer returned.

I don’t want to give my bank details to anyone I don’t trust….

Never paid for anything by cheque?