buying a car with pay pal scam

Carseller You need to join www.419eater. We don't encourage scam baiting here although we like to have the email addresses, mails, and mail headers to see where they come from so to warn others. Most people who come here are victims looking for help and advice but obviously there is a hard core of very experienced 419 internet fraud experts here who post a lot of information so it can be found. I also hope you are using email addresses that srtip off your IP number, such as Gmail and Fastmail and keep away personal information.

I have just had the same issues. But am not selling to them of course.
I first got a text from someone names Linda who apparently works offshore. The phone number was nonsense and the email an odd gmail one!

I then requested more information and got some funny emails back. through you might like them

here they are in order:
me:
If interested please send valid phone number and time when you would like to come and look

Linda:
Hi,

Thank you for the swift reply. Below are my questions:

1. What is the present condition?
2. What is your last selling price?

I will await your urgent response and do also send me more pictures if available.

I will however be needing your city, state and postal code so that I can forward it to my shipping agent here in Malaysia who will be coming over there for the inspection and the pick up as soon as we finalize the sale.

Regards,

Linda

Me:
Linda, all the details are on the for sale notice.
Condition as stated is in great condition with full service records current selling price is $20,500 where did you see the ad? As we have it listed in 3 places?

Linda:
I confirm the receipt of your email and I am glad to know that the car is in good condition. I saw it on eBay..

I have actually tried to get this car here earlier but most of the ones I got either had one huge fault or the other while some have even had accidents in the past while the rest were really very exorbitant.

I am actually trying to get this car for my first son who will be adding a year to his age in about 3 weeks. So I think its worth paying whatever the shipping charges will be just to put a laughter on his face.

As to the price, the $20,500 AUD seems to be very reasonable. To seal this transaction in earnest, I will be very glad to make the payment asap through my PayPal account as I am currently offshore and I won't definitely be able to make it to my bank to make bank wire across to you.

As to shipping, you need not worry yourself about how the car will get to me here in Malaysia as I will contact a shipping company here who will handle that.

Do get back to me asap with your PayPal Email address and Full name so that I can remit the payment asap.

Cheers,

Linda

ME:
Linda, I am glad you are keen but unfortunately Pay Pal isn't an option at all for us. We would need a Bank transfer which would need to be cleared into our account and confirmed by our bank before releasing the car or by cash in our hands. Perhaps your shipping agent could bring the cash on your behalf?

Boxer , please give us the scammers email address and details used. The best scam hint is mentioning Malaysia which is almost as obvious as Senegal, Nigeria, and Ghana. See anything that mentions those and it is time to cut and run.

she replied again!

the email address is

Linda Trent <[email protected]>

I would have sincerely preferred an on-line bank transfer due to a lower transfer rate but to such over there I will have to sign some documents with my financial institution before they will activate international bank transfer in my on-line banking access.

PayPal is the safer, easier way to pay and get paid online. The service allows anyone to pay in any way they prefer, including through credit cards, bank accounts, buyer credit or account balances, without sharing financial information. Please visit www.paypal.com.au and register an account with them, as soon as you are done with the registration please get back to me with your registered email address so I can remit the funds asap. I am also aware of the pay pal charges which I will be paying when transferring the funds into your account. They charge 3.4% on international transfers.

I will really like a smooth and prompt transaction as I previously explained, I want to give my son as a birthday gift. Once payment has been made and funds have cleared, then I am confident we can initiate the shipping process asap.

I will await your urgent response.

Regards,

Linda

eek not sure what you mean exactly. I using email from my own domain...

You are dealing with a scammer. All he wants to do is take your money. He has no products or services to offer you. Stop all communications to this person. Nothing good will come from staying in contact with them.

Got the same message...
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Thanks for your response, I am sorry I am not available to view due to the nature of my job, I am in the United States Army and serve as a CBRN Specialist (74D). I want to buy this for future use. I am currently deployed wont be back till July. We are not allowed to make or receive calls frequently for security reasons but we have internet access and that is our major means of communication to the outside world. I am OK with your asking price and if you don't mind, I can only pay through PayPal at the moment be cause its the most secure way to make or receive payment online this is why I'll prefer using PayPal to pay you, all I need is your PayPal email to make the payment and if you don't have a PayPal account, its pretty easy to set up at www.paypal.com. I also have a few questions for you.

Whats its condition, any damages? Can I see a few closely taken pictures? Are you the original owner and what is your reason for selling?

I hope you consider my offer. I am ready to buy, so you can take the add off Craigslist. I'll have a courier person come for pick up and storage after I make payment and money is in your hand. Thanks for understanding, hope to read from you soon.

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From e-mail... [email protected]
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Darn scammers gotta question everything these days. Didn't fall for it, there was too much red flags.

Hello,
I tried to sell a car on Kijiji and this guy tried to scam me:
email address:[email protected]
scam email:
"I made an additional payment of 600 which is required for the freight charges, you'll have to send the extra amount to the Shipping Company through Money gram as soon as possible so that they can come for the pick up and also you should send the Money gram receipt and your home address to paypal and they'll schedule a date of which the pick-up will commence. '' i cant send the money to the agent by myself because i'm offshore and i'd need to get into a post office to use Money gram''
Here is the agent details which you're required to send the money to through Money gram
Name: Daniel joseph molina
Address: 1032 Collingwood drive
City: San diego
State: California
Zip Code: 92117
Country: United States.
You should send the money soon and send a picture of the western union receipt to paypal via email, Also the courier will not come to pick the car until paypal has deposited the whole money into your bank account. you have to send your bank information to paypal alongside the Money gram details if your bank account is not registered with paypal already
It's Nice Doing Business With You.
Get back to me soon with your address."

please be aware.
Andrei

I recently posted an ad on wheels.ca. I received a reply from a Louis Lars Bjorn. The email first email i received looked like this:

Hi, is it still up for sale? you can please reply me on [email protected] Regards, Louis.

This seemed legit at first glance due to the fact that it was sent through the wheels.ca website. After replying and saying it was available i received a second email as follows:

I'm interested in buying it.. But first i have few questions for you :
Are you the first owner:
How long have you owned it?
When last was it checked for faults?
Is there any visible scratch or defect on the body that i should know about?
How much is your best offer for it?
I won't be able to view it but can you guarantee me it is in a good condition?
Sorry about the too much of question. I hope to hear from you soon, and i will make all transportation preparations for it to be transported to my new home in America.
Thanks, Louis.

I was beginning to get suspicious after this email due to the fact that it was not local. I replied to the email stating the condition of the vehicle then waited for another reply. The next email that i received was:

I agree with the price and i'm satisfied with the condition too. I am buying it internationally to America and i would pay you through PayPal as it is the fastest & easiest way for me to make payment at this moment, do not worry about paypal charges, i will take care of that and about the trasportation, i shall arrange for a transport agent to come to your home directly for the pickup .
So if you accept this transaction, you should send me your info requested below if you have an account already with paypal:-
Name :
PayPal Email :
Mobile Number:
Total Price :
or you should send me a PayPal money request, so that i can proceed with the transfer and then we can arrange for my transport agent to come for the pick up, after you receive your money. I will need your home address too for the pick up to be arranged.
i expect your reply soon .

I didnt feel comfortable doing a transaction for a vehicle via PayPal so I left it at that and began looking into scams with regards to PayPal transactions. I noticed i was not the first to be contacted by one of these scammers and hope that the information above will prevent anyone from falling into a scammers trap.

Hi,

This scammer has just attempted to fool me. A woman going by the name of Jessica Knowles (superbowl performance last Sunday must have played a part in picking the name!!) she was too busy to come see the car for real but would transfer the sum by PayPal while her handler would lift afterwards. Once I informed her of having no PayPal she suddenly went very "dry" on the car queries. I've pasted a copy of her e-mail below. I also contacted the car website Im selling through and this has been reported to them at least 50 times this week alone. Be careful peeps!

[email protected] ([email protected])

Thanks for the response,i am very okay with your response and the price, can you assure me that i will not be disappointed with it,cos i will not be able to come and inspect in person,due to the nature of my job,i will be requesting this transaction should be done via PayPal,so i will be responsible for all the PayPal fee/charges on this transaction. I hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible? I have a mover that will come for it once payment clears and they will be handling the title for me.

So i look forward to hear from you with the details below.

Your PayPal e-Mail address:
Full name:

Thanks

Could this be a scam?

My car is advertised online. Yesterday I received an sms inquiry from Sarah Tornqvist and she included her e-mail adress: [email protected]

I replie by email that the car is still for sale.

Today I receive this e-mail from her:

Hello,

Thanks for getting back to me, I am happy with the condition and the price. I will be paying directly through Bank to Bank transfer or via PayPal. I'm currently working overseas in the Mining Outskirts of Bosnia with my Company euro max resources so I wont be able to come and do things personally,But I'll make sure that all costs will be fully covered by me and I will arrange for the pick up and document changes. I have a Courier agent that handles this all the time. I'll add the 4.6% paypal surcharge to the total amount I'm paying you. If you could just send me a paypal payment invoice or create an account at http://www.paypal.com if you don't already have one. I will make a confirmed pick up arrangement with my Courier shipping agent who will be coming over for pick up once you receive full payment into your Bank account or your PayPal account. My shipping agent will handle everything perfectly & take care of all documents whenever they come for the pick up, as I mentioned before I have used them before and trust that they know exactly what they are doing.

Please can you provide me with the following information:

Name
PayPal Email address
Cell Phone No
Total Amount

Or

Account Name
Bank Name
Account Number
IBAN
Total Amount

As soon as you get back to me with the info I will make the payment and instruct my agent to handle all documents and pick up. Excited to be dealing with you.

Sarah.

When I check the persons IP Adress it is coming from Redmont Washington US, not Bosnia where she is supposed to be working now....

Hello fietsbel and welcome to Scamwarners,

Yes, it is 100% scam. The scammer is attempting to steal your money. He does not want your vehicle.
He will send you a fake PayPal Payment that looks real. If he sends a Bank Transfer it will be from a stolen account or he will just flash your account.

He will instruct you to take the over payment and pay his shipper / mover or agent via Western Union or Money Gram.

The fake PayPal email will instruct you that your payment will be released when you send a scanned copy of a Western Union or Money Gram Payment.

If you send money via Western Union or Money Gram you will never get it back. If he uses a stolen bank account to pay you. The bank eventually will reverse the payment back to the account holder. You will have to re-pay the bank.

To be safe. Sell locally face to face.

Thanks for the reply; I already thought it was a scammer.

In all honesty, if the buyer is abroad, marooned on a desert island, on a boat in the middle of an ocean, up a mountain or on an oil rig, then he's either a time waster or a scammer - and if he's a scammer he's going to waste your time as well as steal money from you.

It's best to just drop him and say nothing, as letting him know you know what's wrong with his story will only alert him to using an improved version in future.

I missed out the other scammer favourite - buying a present for my son/father - and I'm abroad/at sea/on an oil rig etc.

I have my car up for sale on autotrader and a few days back received the following message from 'Freddie Butland <[email protected]>':
am interested in buying your car what is its condition and final price? Thanks, Freddie.

I responded with the details and a few days later (yesterday) I received the following message from 'Freddie':

Hi,
Thanks for the prompt response and please do consider me as the buyer. I am ready to buy it now as a birthday gift for my brother in-law. Though, I am on the sea at the moment as I am a marine engineer and due to the nature of my work, phone call making and visiting of website are restricted but I just have to squeezed out time to check this advert and decided to contact you regarding it. I really want the car to be a surprise package for brother in-law so I won't let him know anything about the car until it gets delivered to him, I am sure he will be more than happy with the car. I insisted on PayPal as my mode of payment because I don't have access to my bank account online and also, I don't have internet banking, but I can pay from my PayPal account. I have my bank account attached to my PayPal account, so I will need you to get back to me with your PayPal email address and your final price so I can make the payment asap for the car. Also, in your response, please include your phone number again in case I misplace the one I have so I can send you a text as soon as the payment is sent via PayPal.
Nevertheless, if you don't have a PayPal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to paypal.com and get it set up, after you have set it up I will only need the e-mail address you used for the registration with PayPal so as to put the money through. I have a pick up agent that will come and pick the car up after I have made the payments for the car.

My Regards.

Fortunately I searched on some of the key words and came across this site before things went any further!