Hi, I listed a product for sale on an online classified website. I received an email from a woman who asked if the product was still for sale. I replied back to inform her that the item is still for sale at such and such price.
I then received another email from her and this is what it said:
"Since you still have the above item available for
sale because i need to get this for a friend in Africa and seeing that am
presently on a research here in Australia, then i will not be able
to conduct the posting so please i would really appreciate it if
you help me out.Please am willing to pay $2200:00 for the entire
package (including shipping fee) and I’ll do that as soon as i get the
necessary information for making a paypal transfer.
And all you have to do is provide me with your PayPal Id so that i
can make the Payment.
Best Wishes…"
I don’t understand what she is trying to say? Is this a scam? does she want me to ship the item to her before she pays? and if she does pay and I ship the item can she file a dispute with paypal where she gets her money back with out mailing back the item?
I am thinking this is a scam but I need confirmation.
You could run a trace on “her” IP, it will probably lead to some place in China or Africa (or random locations from hacked machines, check the IP from other emails as well).
Did you Google the first line of text from the first email? (with quotation marks before and after the sentence)
I did a search on the IP address. the provider is satilite dealer or something based in Florida. A google search of her email address doesn’t turn up a single result…
If I was to send a request for money, Could he/she hack my account or get some information about who I am?
USPS does deliver to African countries. If I was to send the item via registered mail so someone would have to sign for it, could someone still file a dispute with Paypal and get there money back and the item?
If there is anybody that feels strongly that this is a scam I wont go through with the transaction.
I sell computer products and consumer electronics but on this deal I was selling a Lenovo ThinkPad X301 Notebook. If you google it, it goes for around $2,299 and up. I’m selling it for $2,098 on a online classified website because I can’t afford a website right now. but, She offered me $2,200 to ship it to her friend in Africa. Which I don’t think I’m going to do now… I had a pro Amazon merchant account but I felt it was to hard to get noticed so I discontinued it in favor of listing on free websites… bad move…
A google search of her email address doesn’t turn up a single result…
Google the text in her email, not the address
If I was to send a request for money, Could he/she hack my account or get some information about who I am?
Well, first off, you’re not sure what’s going to happen yet. Some scammers will ask you to visit a website that looks like Paypal, but isn’t (yes, she asked for your Id, but she might still ask you to fill in the Id at such a site). And there are more ways to make it look like “she” really paid, but actually didn’t.
USPS does deliver to African countries. If I was to send the item via registered mail so someone would have to sign for it, could someone still file a dispute with Paypal and get there money back and the item?
Can’t tell you anything about that, sorry.
If there is anybody that feels strongly that this is a scam I wont go through with the transaction.
Well, like I said, “she” is lying about “her” location, “her” message contains bad grammar (not the typical mistakes you get to see from actual native Americans/English(wo)men/Australians) and the story just doesn’t make sense. Do you know anyone who would buy something for a friend in Africa, worth 2200 USD? (being a whole lot of money as well, so, it’s a present??)
If it ain’t a scam, you may slap me and call me Betty :spin:
I sent a reply back to ‘her’ just now and told her I couldn’t ship it to Africa and it would probably be cheaper to send her friend the money instead. I ended it nice, so I shouldn’t get spammed to bad. I use yahoo accounts when listing on classifieds so I can just sign-up for a new one if I need to.
I should of stuck with Amazon or something… I hate dealing with nut-jobs…
You had good instincts. This is a version of the Craigslist “overpayment scam.” The scammer “pays” extra to cover shipping, tariffs, or other odd costs. Payment will usually be with a bad check, or a stolen credit card # (as in your case). The seller is eventually asked to return the “excess” payment and is left holding the bag for the balance. Even worse, in the US it takes several weeks for a check to truly clear. When they find it’s fake YOU are held liable, no matter where you got the check from.
It’s common for overseas scammers’ IPs to show as originating with a satellite provider. A lot of the cybercafes use them to link up. In West Africa it’s usually an Israeli satellite provider (Gilat I think).
Anyone suspecting a scam can check the excellent resources at www.scamwarners.com for more information.
Just a note on shipping stuff overseas. You can mail stuff via USPS, but USPS does not actually handle the delivery in the foreign country. It’s handed off to the actual postal agency (aka the “foreign post”) in the destination country at some point and they handle the routing and delivery within the country. USPS does not have the ability to track/trace with all countries, so you should check before assuming you can trace something to the destination. Note that this is not the case for mailing to an APO/FPO/DPO address, as these are controlled by the US military(APO/FPO) or US State Department (DPO). It’s almost like mailing to a US address.
You know that no legitimate business transaction will ever ask you to divulge any confidential information that belongs to you … namely, your PayPal ID. Also, someone who wants to buy something from you has no legitimate need to “ask you a favor.”
