Possible car sale paypal scam

Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2012 20:00:40 +0200
Subject: Re: Smart car
From: [email protected]
To:

Hi, I just thought you might have had some other buyer's interested in buying the Vehicle from you before i contacted you so i think the best way for me to outbid them all is by offering you another additional $700.CND to your asking price on the ad on Kijiji, I won't be coming for the inspection of the Vehicle my self due to present Job, I only have a pick-up Agent who will be contacting you about where and when the picking of the Vehicle will taking place after have completed the payment transaction with you my self.

Please tell me a little more about the present mechanical condition and how often you do the service or if possible the history ?. I will wait to read from and if we come to an agreement i will proceed with the payment immediately
John

and a txt message from this individual from tel: 724-392-0012

As well as the following txt message regarding my add:

Is ur car still up for sale ?
email me on [email protected]

from telephone number: 240-230-6471

thanks for posting as we got the same messagers from these claiming to be marine engineers to buy my car and pay through pay pal

I just found this site today and wanted to thank you for providing this information as we received the same types of email regarding the sale of our car.

Emails we received were from 2 different sources one was [email protected] as well as [email protected]. The phone numbers associated with the text messages are 724-932-4196 and 424-272-8629. We were warned on another site about the other email address.

The one from cscherz is offering to pay us via paypal. It will be fun to see where this goes now that we know this is a scam.

Keep up the good work!

Welcome to Scamwarners! If you want to have fun with a scammer, please join 419eater.com to learn how to do so safely. If you're communicating with him on your own email account, stop.

Anyone who uses PayPal must know that when money is sent it is not "held until shipment". Who would be fooled by that bogus email?

Removed duplicate post to this thread: viewtopic.php?p=112587#p112587. PM sent to user. Above question answered in the link above and in PM. ~Bubbles

Not everyone uses PayPal. That is what scammers count on. Please keep your posts constructive to the subject.

Anyone who uses PayPal must know that when money is sent it is not "held until shipment". Who would be fooled by that bogus email?

Take a look around the forums, and you will find plenty of people who DO fall for that bogus email. Lots of people don't read terms of service thoroughly. Sometimes they are completely new to paypal, and it simply doesn't occur to them that the supposed buyer might be lying. Other times, English is not their first language, so they don't recognize the mistakes, and maybe not even the instructions. And sometimes, if people are in an extremely tight financial situation, desperate to sell the car to pay their bills, they are just too focused on their predicament to think critically.
Whatever the reasons, people fall for this scam every day. Scammers continue to use this approach, because it is successful.

Of course a scammer can't empty your paypal account because you sent your email address. But it's amazing how much you can find out about some people from just an email address. And even if in your case the scammer can't get much personal information, he can target you with lots of other scams; sign you up for spam lists; report YOU as a scammer causing you to lose your account; send out thousands of scam emails with your address spoofed as the return address, and many other things. These are things we have seen scammers do to both victims and baiters when they were angry. That's why we will always recommend that you simply cut off contact with the scammer and move on--the more you play with him, the more likely he will get angry. When we bait scammers, we do it safely, with no connection to our real lives.

I recently listed a car for sale in cars.com. Got a text sent to my phone, asking me to correspond with email only. The guy works for the oil companies and is on a "Classified" oil rig job near Bermuda! Wants to buy the car full price and will pay all paypal fees, have shipping company pick the car up, etc, etc... Bunch of BS!

This is his fake contact info:

Gary McDonald, CAIB
Commercial Oil Rig Inspector
Chevron & Shell Oil
[email protected]
[email protected]

The phone number used for the initial text contact was: 281-544-0260

I got an offer from the same guy "Gary McDonald, CAIB Commercial Oil Rig Inspector Chevron & Shell Oil", same phone etc to buy my car (listed on cars.com) sight unseen, etc. after I gave him assurances that mechanically the car is OK. It was "too easy" - that put my radar red flags up. Thank you to the people that maintain this site.

Tom

I received an offer from the same guy, Gary McDonald, after I listed my car on cars.com. I almost fell for it but it sounded to good to be true. Luckily I found this site and know that it is a scam. Thank you!
This is the latest email I recieved:

Thanks for the pics, I will be happy if you can send me a payment invoice via paypal, and there is something i need you to be aware of, i just received an email from my carier agent that will be in charge of the shipping and insurance. They are saying i need to pay them their fees which is $1300 before they could proceed with coming for pick up and the only form of payment that they accepted is western union or Ria Money transfer and I don't have access to that as I'm offshore right now due to the nature of my job and this is the only form of payment they accept. I don't know if it will be okay, if i include this agent's fees in the payment i will be sending you now, so upon the receipt of the total funds, you will remove the additional funds of $1300 and help me send it at your nearest western union or you could send it online at http://www.westernunion.com or Ria Money transfer, Let me know if this is okay and i will proceed with the payment as soon as i receive the payment invoice via paypal from you. I await your news


Gary

Gary McDonald, CAIB

Commercial Oil Rig Inspector
Chevron & Shell Oil
[email protected]
[email protected]

After searching for this so called "Gary McDonald" after his reply to my car ad on cars.com, I now know to just have fun with it

I should add that the contact number used to text my cell phone was (401) 684-4724....says it's a Rhode Island number, but the company used to register that phone number deals with calling cards and VOIP numbers. So I know it's fake just because of that. Besides, I'm in Chicago and I'm sure my make and model of car that I'm selling exists in effin' Rhode Island.

If you want to have fun with a scammer, please don't do so with your own address or phone number! Come to 419eater and learn about safe baiting.

Just that a phone number belongs to a mobile or VoIP company doesn't mean that it isn't where it appears to be. A while ago there was a scam site which had mobile numbers with a New York area code listed. The email headers showed that they came from a Road Runner address in New York. On the other hand, I know someone with an Ohio area code living in North Carolina. She moved from Ohio a few years ago.

Had the following e-mail via gumtree from person called 'Elizabeth Rhymes' giving email address as - [email protected]..
Thanks for the prompt response.. I am quite okay with the condition and I am ready to buy it urgently for birthday gift for my brother in-law an. I am at sea at the moment due to my work as private sailor, as am in-charge of my boss ship, i would have come to check and see it myself 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 really want it to be a surprise for brother in-law so i wont let him know anything about it until it gets delivered to him, i am sure he will be more than happy with it. I insisted on paying you via 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 so i can make the payments asap. Pls if you don't have paypal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to http://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 a pick up agent that will come and pick it up after i have made the payments...

All you have to give me is Your
1)Full Name
2)PayPal e-mail Account
3)Exact Amount.

NOTE: Please note that I have a shipper/mover who handles my shipping arrangement anywhere in the world, the shipping agent would be coming for the pickup, after you have received payment, which would be through paypal, If this is acceptable, get back to me.
Soon as I read this I guessed it was a scam, glad I found this site to confirm it.

I got almost identical emails from someone claiming to be Gary McDonald. I was suspicious initially because he texted me first, then emailed. Also he spelled his last name wrong. I will not answer any more emails from him.