Possible car sale paypal scam

I have just sent an e-mail to Canadian Anti-Fraud: http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifr ... fraud.html.

The guy: John Romano has first contacted me by phone with a text message which I have kept, so I sent the candian anti fraud the links to this SCAM WARNERS and another site I found also talking about the same type of fraud, and all e-mails I have from this guy since September 25th.

i would urge you to do the same and give as much information as you have, should it be e-mail phone, name and so forth.

Cheers,
Marie

Welcome to ScamWarners Marichella. Yes, any name they give you will be false. Any phone number will be easily disposed of as well as any address.

Scammers lie and they make it all but impossible to be able to find them.

Exposing the scam and warning others is what we can do. It really does work and it hurts them.

Hi All,
Trying to sell my car, and received a suspicious email. Did a google search and the text of the email matched one on this page almost verbatim. Here is the latest version of the spammer's main email:

First "tester email" was a one liner:

"Is it available for sale?your last price"


When I replied to this, it triggered the main "hook" email which runs like this:



Thanks for your reply

I agree with your price and ready to purchase the car.I will offer
you 700 pound sterling for the car and about the delivery have
already contacted a pick up agent coming for the collection of the car
once payment has been from your paypal account to your bank account
... I will not be able to view the car due to my absent in town,my
shipping company will sign all necessary documents,including the Log
Book when they comes for the collection for the car and they will do
every necessary check up to know if the condition of the car is the
same as you have described it,I will like to know when the MOT is
going to expire and the TAX also.i wait your PayPal email account to
proceed with the payment.


Hope to read from you




And the current alias they're using is:

Veneicia Williams <[email protected]>

So. This is a great site. We really need to be vigilant. Its a public service to collate info on spammers to help each other!

Thanks to each one of you who added to this page to build up a picture of what this particular scam looks like.

cheers

Mat

Welcome to ScamWarners matskm. Yes, that is the kind of reply scammers give. They stay vague and when you give them your mailing information, they send a forged over payment and ask you to send the difference by Western Union. Eventually, the bank discovers the forgery and you get stuck with all of the charges which may include charges by law enforcement.

Stop communicating with him.

I've had my car on autotrader fotr the last few weeks and have recieved multiple bogus emails, all following the same format:
Thanks For Getting back to me ..Am out of state now, am a Pilot and due to the nature of my work, phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it.. I insisted on PayPal because i don't have access to my bank account online as i don't have internet banking, but i can pay from my PayPal account, as i have my bank a/c attached to it, i will need you to give me your PayPal email address and the price so i can make the payments asap for it and pls if you don't have PayPal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to www.PayPal.com. and get it set up, after you have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with PayPal so as to put the money through. I have already arrange for shipping company which company which will come and pick it up after i have made the payment..

scam email addresses and names:
[email protected] (dennis watson)
[email protected] (dennis watson)
[email protected] (Dominic Purcel)
[email protected] (jose messi)
[email protected] (Juano Chris)
[email protected] (tim moyse)

Hi all. First time posting. I just wanted to add another E-mail scam that is almost identical to the ones previously posted. I've received a few similar to this from my listings on Craigslist. For everyone's review:

Hello,

Thanks for the reply,i am interested in the purchase of this
and am buying it for my uncle, whom i promised since but i want it
to be a surprise package so i wont let him know about it until it has
been delivered to him,i would have come to your location for the
viewing but presently i am posted to Japan with the American Red Cross
Responding to Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami,I would be
responsible for the delivery to him ,i do have a pick
up agent that will pickup and deliver it to him after
payment has been settled and i will be responsible for delivery and
insurance expenses it ...Please i would like you to
answer some few questions as below and get back to me with your paypal
email so i can make the payment effectively if you don't have a
paypal account just a click to get one and it is the the most secure
means of receiving money securely online http://www.paypal.com do get back
to me as soon as possible
so i can proceed with payment.....

Are you the first owner ???
Does it have any mechanical disabilities presently?
What is your reason for selling it?
I am offering you the asking price
Do get back to me with your PayPal email so i can make the payment.


John


The E-mail is sent from [email protected]
When I asked for his mailing address & phone number so I could draft a bill of sale & send it to him plus asked for a $500.00 Non-refundable PayPal payment his/her English and ability to communicate in a manner that made any sense disappeared. His last reply was "what is all this ? sound some how for real, so wat did u think ?" LOL! Enjoy & be advised.

I'm so pleased I found this thread! I just googled 'can fraud happen if they have my paypal address' and found this just in time before I sent them it

Ok my story is I'm selling hair and on the first day my hair ad goes live I get an email.

1st email from [email protected]

"Hello seller do you still have this hair for sale and what is the last
> asking price?
>
> Regards."
>

I reply and get another email
2nd email from [email protected]
I am Perry Stone, 42 / Male / ,I am
an oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am
buying the hair as a gift for my wife,i want to make it a surprise
gift for her,she won't know anything about the hair until they get
delivered to her.So i want you to reassure me that the hair is in good
condition as you have described. I can only pay through PayPal. So
please kindly get back to immediately so i can proceed with the
payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that
will come around to pick the hair up immediately after
payments.......Get back to me with your Paypal email address and the
total cost of the Hair Looking forward to hear from you soon.
Thanks
By this point I'm pretty sure it's a scam judging by the bizarre wording but I still reply just incase and get another email

3rd email from [email protected] thanks for your mail let me have your paypal e-mail address so that i
can made the payment.

LOL so some days they're a marine engineer and today they're an oceanographer.

Hi folks,

I knew this sounded fishy. So glad I did a quick Google search and found this thread. Just to help add more details to the scam line. Here's the text from my guy (Stephen Nasso - [email protected]) claiming to want to pay full asking price for the car I'm selling.

"Thanks for the swift response...I am ok with the asking price.due to the nature of my job and location...i will not be able to come for inspection,am a very busy type as i work long hours everyday,i have gone through your advertisement and i am satisfied with it.
As for the payment..i will be paying you via the fastest and secure way to pay online(PayPal).
I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after the payment have been made ...so no shipping included.
You can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in right away and also include your address in your reply.If you don't have a paypal account, you can easily set up one...log on to www.paypal.ca and sign up. its very easy.I await your reply asap."

I sought a confirmation on one point and got this as a reply as if he hadn't read what I'd written at all.

"Ok no problem just wanna buy it down,How i wish to come and view this car but am out of state now.
i am a marine engineer sealing,am in a ship right now at Bermuda..... I will also
like you to know that i will be paying via PayPal...due to the
distance as i am in Bermuda presently...I will need you to provide me
with the following information to facilitate the Payment...Your
(PayPal email)...With the issue of my details,transferring the name of ownership
and signing of all paperwork will be done by the pick up agent so you don't have to worry about that."

Seems I got the marine engineer too. Thanks to the posters above. My search on "car sales scam Bermuda" took me directly to this thread.

Cheers,
...Mike

A couple of more points on this scam as I've received six fake offers this past week.
1. I'm always approached not by email, but by SMS/Text message.
2. Emails are from yahoo.com and gmail.com
3. I even had one use the same phone number twice with different email addresses
4. Phone numbers have so far included: (646) 535-2864 (twice), (240) 406-9281, (240) 230-6471, (503) 217-4596, (646) 543-8012 - All area codes from eastern U.S. despite me being in Western Canada.

Cheers.

Just got the same scam from a "Geraldine G Hamby" :

Good to have your reply. I am Geraldine Hamby from Gastonia, NC. and
would have loved to come and inspect this jeep at your place myself,
but I am a marine engineer and presently off-shore. I am interested in
buying this for my son in North Carolina as a surprise birthday gift
and pls just make sure it is in condition described. I will appreciate
more pictures if available and will be sending your money asap. A
preferred shipping agent will be available to pick this up after
payment is made. Do you have paypal account? because, I have a paypal
account that I can easily send money through because, its good for
business payments. Get back to me with your paypal email address and
name in order for me to have your money sent on time. Confirm sale to
me and remove the add from posting.
regards
Geraldine G Hamby
4300 Dawnwood Dr
Gastonia, NC
28056

But first I was approached by this Geraldine from
[email protected]:omobacili
([email protected])

That lot in Gastonia is owned by someone with that name, but the letter is a typical scam format.

Hi all. My dad is in the process of selling a dining suite and he received an email like this from the UK. He is swift enough to have realized something was "off". Hate to sound dumb but what do they get from pulling this scam? I realize it had something to do with the shipping but I don't get it??

[AlanJones]

Hi Nettie and welcome to ScamWarners.

The scammer will send the victim a fake paypal email, for the amount of the item plus the shipping costs. They will then ask the victim to send the additional money to the shipper by Western Union.

The "shipper" is just the scammer using a different email address and the shipping money that is sent will be stolen.

Ohhhhh. So the people who get the fake PayPal receipt don't think to log in and check if the money is actually in their account I guess? Well my dad has a dining set for sale and twice now he has had someone try this on him. What is the issue with using his email. Is he potentially on a scammers list now? He did write back and forth until he felt something was fishy

The fake PayPal email says that the money won't appear in the account until the item is shipped, so the victim isn't expecting the money to be in his account. But PayPal doesn't work that way.