Fun with scams

[Rhino]

So I put my C14 up for sale on craigslist. Almost immediately I get a text

do you still have it? 2010 Kawasaki Concours 14

                    Yes

I would like to know about the condition, are you first or
second owner? How long have you had it.

                    first owner, have had it since April 2010. Good condition.
                    runs strong. Some scratches and wear from 7 years and
                    73,000 miles.

Okay I'll take it. I have to pay you through PayPal. I'm
currently in MA and have a mover that will come for pickup
once payment is cleared in your PayPal account...

At this point I'm thinking WTF??? Who buys a used bike unseen at the asking price? Must be a scam but how would they scam me through PayPal? If the money is not in the account, no bike. So I get 2 emails from "Service PayPal" but the address is: "service.paypal06013@inbox.lv". Actual PayPal emails come from service@paypal.com.  It has a PayPal logo and says I've received a payment of $7,927.00 from Mr David Lex. Then says:

"In order to complete this transaction and get the funds approved in your account. We advice you go to nearest Walmart ,Western union, Money gram or Walmart2Walmart Transfer Office and send the $957.00 USD to the Agent and send us a Scanned Copy/Photograph of your money transfer Transaction Receipt (in .JPG Format).
NOTE: This is important as a security measure to ensure safety of this transaction.
Please, Find below the name and address of the Transport Agent where the Funds would be sent viaWalmart2Walmart,Western Union or Money gram Transfer Office."

Donnel whetstone
City : Chicago
State:Illinois
Zip Code : 60615
Country : USA

Then I get more text "Have you been notified about the payment I made?" and "How many emails did you get from PayPal?".

I thought about stringing him (or her) on for awhile. Saying it's Sunday and I'll send the "agent" the $957 tomorrow. Then say I couldn't get away from work and it will be Thursday before I can get to it. I went to walmart but that walmart said they couldn't do it and I had to go to a different walmart... But in the end I just blocked his number. I guess I just don't have the energy to deal with these low lifes anymore.

Almost as much fun as the "bank in (name of African country here) has $2,300,000 waiting to be claimed. Just need $10,000 processing fee to release the funds..." email. People must fall for this stuff or they wouldn't still be trying it.

[gPink]

Could you forward the info to PP?

[2talltim]

Buddy of mine sold his over a paypal transaction and the funds did clear and a "shipper" did indeed pick up the bike. Only to have paypal reverse the transaction a week later because the paypal account was hacked and didn't belong to the buyer. So then he was out the money and 6 months later still hasn't heard anything from the police about his bike. He filed claim through his insurance but they claim they are waiting for the cops to say its unrecoverable before they pay out.

[Rhino]

Buddy of mine sold his over a paypal transaction and the funds did clear and a "shipper" did indeed pick up the bike. Only to have paypal reverse the transaction a week later because the paypal account was hacked and didn't belong to the buyer. So then he was out the money and 6 months later still hasn't heard anything from the police about his bike. He filed claim through his insurance but they claim they are waiting for the cops to say its unrecoverable before they pay out.

Good info. I had no idea PayPal could just reverse a transaction a week after the fact. What would happen if the funds had been withdrawn from PayPal? I will not be accepting payment by PayPal.

[Conrad]

I'm confused. Why is he wanting you to pay $957 when he's the buyer?

[2talltim]

Good info. I had no idea PayPal could just reverse a transaction a week after the fact. What would happen if the funds had been withdrawn from PayPal? I will not be accepting payment by PayPal.

Not sure he hadn't tried to withdraw yet.

[mikeyw64]

I'm confused. Why is he wanting you to pay $957 when he's the buyer?

Thats the "clever" part of the scam.


He sends you "proof" (all be it faked) that he has sent you the purchase price plus extra and is asking you to transfer the extra back to him as a "security check"  before he comes for the bike.


If you don'tnotice its a fake PayPal mail and are too lazy to check your own Paypal account then potnetially not only have you lost a $7k bike but an extra $957 dollars as well

Or they may just settle for the $957 and not collect the bike

[Rhino]

Thats the "clever" part of the scam.


He sends you "proof" (all be it faked) that he has sent you the purchase price plus extra and is asking you to transfer the extra back to him as a "security check"  before he comes for the bike.


If you don'tnotice its a fake PayPal mail and are too lazy to check your own Paypal account then potnetially not only have you lost a $7k bike but an extra $957 dollars as well

Or they may just settle for the $957 and not collect the bike

That would be my guess. Risky to show up in person at a home of someone you just scammed. Even if he hires innocent movers to collect the bike, he would have to give them a valid address to deliver it to.

[B.D.F.]

Yep, I think that is the best guess also. Besides the risk, time, travel, even if it worked the thief would end up with something he no doubt does not want and converting it into cash or even moving it (riding it, moving it in the back of a truck) is really risky. On top of all of that, in the time it would take to actually pick up the bike, he / she / they can 'shotgun' another 12,000,000 people with their scam and maybe pick up that other several thousand the bike <may> be worth (stolen) without doing anything physical.

I would absolutely LOVE to see some stats. on these scams; basically, how often they work, what the average grift is, and how often they are caught AND prosecuted AND punished in any way. Unfortunately, this seems like a junk mail scam without any cost for bulk mailing. Put another way, the percentage of return is basically off the chart as there is no investment.

SIDEWAYS on the topic: I have been getting more and more 'bottom feeder' calls (solicitors and so forth) and the national Do Not Call registry is no longer working because a lot of these calls technically originate outside the US although the actual phone number is inside the US. I block them but the clever ba$tiches keep changing numbers by a single digit to hit me again. What annoys me about this whole process is that the scammers are using a device I actually pay for (the phone) to annoy me.

Brian

That would be my guess. Risky to show up in person at a home of someone you just scammed. Even if he hires innocent movers to collect the bike, he would have to give them a valid address to deliver it to.

[maxtog]

.Then says:

"In order to complete this transaction and get the funds approved in your account. We advice you go to nearest Walmart ,Western union, Money gram or Walmart2Walmart Transfer Office and send the $957.00 USD to the Agent and send us a Scanned Copy/Photograph of your money transfer Transaction Receipt (in .JPG Format).

It is hard to believe anyone would be that stupid!!

[maxtog]

Good info. I had no idea PayPal could just reverse a transaction a week after the fact. What would happen if the funds had been withdrawn from PayPal? I will not be accepting payment by PayPal.

Oh, they absolutely can.  I sold a camera on Ebay, got the money from Paypal, and shipped it to the guy WITH TRACKING and he claimed he never got it and Paypal pulled the money right back out of my account!  Why?  They said I should have also shipped it with signature verification (which EVERYONE hates).   I appealed AND LOST!  I was furious and never used Paypal since.  There are a lot of scum people out there.