Gumtree/Paypal

Hi
I'm new to this forum and need advice. I wanted to sell some furniture and put it on Gumtree...got a weird response from someone who said the wanted to purchase it as they knew from pic it was what they wanted and didn't have time to come and see it in person. Gave some excuse about being out of town, far too busy and they needed it urgently. Said if I gave them my Paypal account they would transfer money and arrange courier to pick up immediately. I was a bit suspicious given the urgency, the general tone of the messages and rang Paypal. They said that it was secure and once someone had deposited funds in my account they couldn't be taken out but my gut instinct is that something isn't right....has anyone else had experience of this type of thing - the guy messaged me to begin with (phone number withheld) but asked me to email him back on [email protected].
Thanks....

When selling online scammers like to send fake Paypal payments with very realistic emails. However, they are using a free email provider to spoof Paypal email. In this scheme the scammer does not want your item (furniture, automobiles and large items). He wants to steal your money. The scammer will tell you that he sent an over payment to you. He then will instruct you to pay a third party (mover, agent and etc). The third party is the scammer himself. He will tell you that Paypal is holding your money until you provide a Western Union or Money Gram receipt. In reality he is lying again. Paypal will not hold your funds pending a scan of a Western Union or Money Gram receipt.

The above scam works the same way with small items like electronics and jewelry. This time he will send a fake PayPal payment and want you to send the item to him or a third party.

All these scams can also be done by sending you a fake check or money order. They will look real and your bank will cash them. Weeks later your bank will inform you of the fake and you will have to repay the money back. You could also be reported to the Law Enforcement for fraud.

Please post the phone number he text you with. This will help others when they search the phone number.

Bryon

yeah this guy id a fraud.
i am trying to sell some items on another site and he approached me by text asking me to email him.
not only did his email sound suspicious, i had nothing to do with my ad.

later that day, the site moderator sent me an email saying the latest sms that i have received ([email protected]) is a fraud.

i would ignore the buyer because he is clearly a fraud and a scammer. he sent probably the exact same email to me as he did to you.
it consisted of his online back not working so i should use paypal. if you dot have paypal you can go to this site to create an account and so on.

so this guy is a scammer so just ignore him altogether

Yep, been scammed as well for a boat/motor/trailer sale. Sent the invoice through PayPal earlier today, and the money seems to be in the Paypal account BUT there are instructions to pay $750 to the purchaser through Western Union. So I guess when I don't pay for pick up, I'll receive further emails from John Lewis - Beijing, China - asking what the hold up is!!! What should I do?

Hello jenweb,

There is no money in your PayPal account. You only have a fake PayPal email that the scammer sent you. You will have to log into Paypal directly with out using any links or call PayPal directly. PayPal will never hold your funds.
You have been in communication with the scammer in every email. He plays all roles.

Stop communicating with him and block him. With every email you send him he will write back. You now will receive threats from the scammer by email telling you that he is going to report you to the FBI, Law Enforcement, Lawyer etc. Just ignore him. Conduct your business face to face in a public place with cash.

What email address did the scammer use? Please post the email address used for the fake PayPal email and his script email address.

When selling online scammers like to send fake Paypal payments with very realistic emails. However, they are using a free email provider to spoof Paypal email. In this scheme the scammer does not want your item (furniture, automobiles and large items). He wants to steal your money. The scammer will tell you that he sent an over payment to you. He then will instruct you to pay a third party (mover, agent and etc). The third party is the scammer himself. He will tell you that Paypal is holding your money until you provide a Western Union or Money Gram receipt. In reality he is lying again. Paypal will not hold your funds pending a scan of a Western Union or Money Gram receipt.

The above scam works the same way with small items like electronics and jewelry. This time he will send a fake PayPal payment and want you to send the item to him or a third party.

All these scams can also be done by sending you a fake check or money order. They will look real and your bank will cash them. Weeks later your bank will inform you of the fake and you will have to repay the money back. You could also be reported to the Law Enforcement for fraud.

Hi. I too am new to both this forum and to selling online. I posted furniture on Gumtree and almost immediately received a reply asking me to respond to [email protected]. A couple of emails were exchanged until I became even more suspicious. 'Peter' didn't specify which items he was interested in or agree to my price exactly - then when he started talking about wanting my PayPal or bank account details, collection of goods, him being overseas, offshore in Malaysia and unable to use his phone, I became completely disinterested. That's when I did a google search on his email and found this website. The guy is obviously a scammer, judging by yours and other posts. I then received another text to my phone this morning along the same initial lines, from a [email protected] - I sent a reply to 'her' to bugger off. I searched that email and the closest I came was a seemingly legit one of a blogger named jen.belzer..... but am sure it was a scam as well. The message came from WEBSMS. The other suspicious thing is that they both mentioned 'interested in the goods you have listed', without specifying which goods they were interested in!
Can't believe at my first attempt to sell online, two out of the three replies I have had, are scammers. Am pretty pissed off at this, particularly as it seems they are very well organised and crafty - heaven help the really gullible who are so often caught out. If posting this helps anyone else, the hassle will have been worth it.

Hello pattyking17 and welcome to Scamwarners.

I am glad that you searched and found out the emails were scam attempts. Please post the phone number [email protected] used to text you. This will also help other when they search.

Bryon

Jennifer Belzer
[email protected]

From: Jennifer Belzer <[email protected]>
Thanks for your swift reply. I am interested and I would have loved to come for viewing and inspection but i am currently overseas at the moment and i want this item picked up before i get back. Due to my inability to make a bank deposit, I would be paying via PayPal which is safer for me. Kindly send me a paypal payment invoice or create an account at http://www.paypal.com.au if you dont have one. I will make a concrete pick up arrangement with my transport agent who will be coming over for pick up once you receive full payment into your PayPal account and if you have agreed to sell to me, kindly remove the listing on gumtree and i want to assure me if it's worth buying unseen.
Have a nice day.
Cheers

In this scam the scammer does not want your item. His goal is to steal your money. He wants to send you a fake realistic Paypal email stating payment has been made. The email is not from Paypal. It is from the scammer. The screenshot will look real. The only way you can be sure you were paid is to log into Paypal directly without clicking any links or to call Paypal directly through their contacts link. The scammer will want you to pay a mover,agent or shipper via Western Union or Money Gram. He will tell you that your Paypal funds can not be released until you provide a MTCN number or Reference number. These are all lies. Paypal will never hold your funds.

Further to my previous post, there was no phone number evident when [email protected] contacted me. It just came up as WEBSMS. I have received another scam message this morning which I have already checked and yes, another try-hard scammer! This one showed the phone number as 02 44444444 and asked for a reply to [email protected]. Interestingly, they wrote fk0230 at gmail.com....in itself an indication to me that they are not for real.. Of course when I tried to send a return message (unrepeatable here..!), is failed to deliver. I am hoping I may yet manage to receive an offer for my goods that isn't a scam!

Hello, I also received from [email protected]...lucky a workmate asked me to google it and this site came up...thanks for your help...unfortunately the text came blocked so can't give you his phone number but here is the email he sent to me.

"Thanks a lot.I have actually tried to get this kind of Merchandise here earlier from here but most of the ones I got either have one fault or the other and some have even had accidents in the past while some are extremely exorbitant.As to the price, Price is Ok. So if you deem the offer good enough, If this is acceptable kindly get back to me with your paypal email address and the details below so i can proceed with the payment. I can only pay through paypal or bank transfer at the moment as i do have access to my bank account online, but i have it attached to my paypal account, and this is why i insisted on using paypal or bank transfer to pay,all i will need is your paypal email address to make the payments via PayPal and if you do not have a paypal account yet,its pretty easy to set one up at www.paypal.com and if you want the payment to be made via bank transfer send me your bank name,Account name,bank account, bsb for the payment..

i will be expecting your email.
I will need this following details so i can proceed with the payment right away
Are you the first owner?
What is your reason for selling it?
Your PayPal e-Mail Address :full name:
I'm sorry, just want to be sure about the sale before i proceed.
If you would like to talk more about this item, you can chat or send me an email via this yahoo id ([email protected])"

Welcome to Scamwarners heidi35.

Thank you for your post.

Bryon

If you're selling goods - NEVER EVER make any payment to a third party.

If anyone asks you to make a payment they're a scammer.

The buyer could make the payment himself. Fooling you in to making a payment to him is the scam.

Hi,
there is one more person called Donald Legan - [email protected] . Who do the same. In order to work for him he send you some money threw PayPal and before you get the money he makes you to send some money threw Western Union to this address:
RAMANATHAN SALVERINATHAN
Lot PT 3917,Jalan Terminal KLIA (Outbound),
City: Sepang
Postal code: 64000
Country: Malaysia

please do not waste your time.

Eva

Hello prochev3 and welcome to Scamwarners.

Yes, it is a scam. He is trying to steal your money.

In this Scam the thief will send you a fake PayPal payment. He will use a free email service spoofing Paypal. The email will look real but it is fake. He then will write to you from either email address telling you that Paypal is holding your pay. He will want you to send an over payment to a third party (cleaner,painter,agent,mover and etc). These are all lies. Paypal would never hold your funds. The third party is the scammer himself or an accomplice.

Thank you for posting the email address ( [email protected] ).

Please post the emails he sent to you. Remove your personal information from those emails.

Bryon

Hi we have had the same replies from [email protected] but have also had also had them from [email protected] and [email protected]

After looking at this web site we are definitely ignoring them, we did think it sounded to be to good to be true.