This is probably my second time writing something totally unrelated to my travels, food or events. Yesterday, I posted up an online advertisement to sell my car in free classifieds for the Wollongong area. Within several hours of posting, I started receiving several emails asking about the car that I was selling.
The first few emails read like this, showing some interests in my ads.
“Just viewed your listing and will like to purchase it.Any additional info ?”
“Hello,
I am interested in buying your car for sale as soon as possible,please what the current condition and the last price you wanna sell.”
“Just viewed your listing is it still up for sale?
if yes what is the condition and your firm price?
Am no familiar with this site do get back to me on my email markbruce1021@gmail.com”
So, thinking that they might be genuine, I reply to their questions and also arrange a time with them for an inspection. But, instead of telling me the time and date, I received the following:
“does the engine works perfectly?,just wanted to make sure all bases are covered,i will purchase at the listed price and payment will be sent using PayPal and i will be needing your email with PayPal for payment or you could send me an invoice(ill handle the PayPal surcharge,you just let me know).Make sure you get back to me so that we can arrange for pick up as i will like the item to be picked as i am out of town at the moment. I await your reply. Thanks”
“how i wish to come and view this vehicle but am out of state now....am a marine engineer busy sailing am just too busy for that,am making this enquries on behalf of my wife because she is the one that need this,am in a ship right now at Bermuda..but don't worry about that when i have you paid my shipper will come for the inspection and pick all the paper works will be done once they get to you..kindly get back to me with your paypal details for me to have you paid also the pick up can be arranged as soon as we can..many thx”
“Hi, thanks for the swift response. I am actually buying this for myself and will want the shipment handled by my shipping agent but no worries as i am going to be responsible for the shipping bills, i will add extra amount of $2000 for my shipping agent cos am out of the town for now so i won't be able to pay them upfront myself i will be glad if you can do accept this for me. The car is going to be picked up by my agent after i have made the full payment via paypal or bank transfer. All i will need is is the amount of the car and your PayPal account email or your account information so that i can remit the funds into your account as soon as you email me your agreement to this process. I will need more pictures of the car in your next mail as i won't be able to come and check out the car.I reside in London but i get fascinated buy products from abroad because it costs some fortunes here and hope we have a deal. Once again, your fast response will be grateful appreciated so that we can complete the transaction sooner.”
“Hi mate,thanks for mailing back,am ok with the condition and the price,am buying it for my vacation,cos i'll coming soon from our rig as am a petroleum engineer and am on a rig offshore,i won't be able to come for the inspection due to my work basis.i will be paying you through PayPal,pls get back to me with your PayPal details so i can proceed with payment and contact the courier agent that will come to
pick it up and deliver to location in Perth,Western Australia.
Await your reply.....”
See the similarities? All of them mentioned that they are currently away overseas, will get their agent to collect the car and also asking for my PayPal account. The funny ones are the ones in London and also in Perth. Who on earth will buy a second hand car in Australia and ship it all the way to London? And, why buy a NSW car to be used in WA?
Anyway, after replying to them saying that I would prefer to deal locally and will only accept cash payments or only release the car after cashing out from PayPal, I haven’t heard from them since (FYI, they replied me the above emails within 5 minutes of my reply).
I did a Google search on this topic and it seems that its quite common nowadays. The scammer will first pretend to be interested with your posting. Then, they will insist on paying you with PayPal. If you happen to provide them your PayPal details, they will pay you an additional sum and that extra sum needs to be paid to their shipping agent. And if unluckily you bit the bait, you would have transferred the money to their agent, and the scammers flee after that. According to the forums, chances are, I won’t be hearing from them anymore, since now I insisted on cash payments.
For unsuspecting sellers, this seem to be risk-free because the buyers will pay us in full, so, in a way, we don’t have anything to loose. But, because they will pay us more than expected, PayPal will put the money on hold. And the stupidest part is that we sellers have to help them pay their agent on their behalf. Seriously, if the buyer is able to pay us through PayPal, why can’t they pay their agents directly?
So, to all sellers out there, be aware of this PayPal scam, and especially these scammers:
- janelain140@yahoo.com.au
- janelain64@hotmail.com
- lain19799@yahoo.com.au
- el.jac100@gmail.com
- markbruce1021@gmail.com
- janeywards@gmail.com
- jhaakenson231@gmail.com
- rickheyer@gmail.com
- doncayline@googlemail.com
- guytonbrown2004@gmail.com
- richardwilcox17@gmail.com
- omo.amigos200@gmail.com
- gracealbert1125@aol.com
- timothyelson2009@googlemail.com
- rexlawson41@yahoo.com.au
- tombezauciel@yahoo.de
- nicolas.sandra9@gmail.com
- deanharry009@hotmail.com
- robartandrewson27@hotmail.com
- moss.frank59@yahoo.com
- ashleymichael66@yahoo.com
- danparrow@googlemail.com
- joemark0281@yahoo.com
- ramstar01@sify.com
- engcanavarokevin@gmail.com
- johnkelvin.kelvin1@gmail.com
- markburren@yahoo.com
- andycrofty@hotmail.com
- parris.cathy59@gmail.com
- xzust1900@gmail.com
- morgbrandy01@googlemail.com
12 comments:
Thanks for sharing it. Very useful information.
No worries. Guess what, I received another 5 more emails saying exactly the same thing over the last few hours. Sigh..
Hi *%%#
I would like buy your blog... it looks great... unfortunately i am not using a compatible browser and can't inspect the blog directly ... but no worry about about that... i need fast purchase to look like good traveller
i don't have a compatible browser because because i am researching into revolutionary OS systems... means i have many moneys ... so i will paid someone to port your blog into a code that is compatible with my OS and browser. only problem is my browser and OS isn't compatible with internet banking either so if you could just transfer $10,000 into my account i will add that on to the price of your blog and eveyone will be many happys
i look forward to doing business with you and will enjoy your money =P
funnily enough I found this after doing a search for 'timothyelson2009@googlemail.com' who sent me a very similar email within hours of my car sale going up. Thanks muchly for posting this, makes finding the scammers very easy!
No worries.. Thanks to the scammers, I guess, I have received emails from almost all of the petroleum engineers and marine biologists in this world.. Haha..
timothyelson2009@googlemail.com just sent me the exact same email.
cheers for sharing mate. you are saving lives :)
Tim R
No worries, Tim R.
With the identical emails that I have been receiving, it could be a company operating such syndicate. They could at least put in some creativity and not just copy and paste things over and over again.
thanx yah..useful information here
Just had a similar email from renedavid@gmail.com
OMG there's so many of them. This is really useful. Thanks for sharing!
jake darke [jakedarkes@gmail.com]
another for your list of email spammers !!!!!!!
Dec 2010
jake darke [mailto:jakedarkes@gmail.com]
Hi mate,thanks for mailing back,am ok with the price and the condition
and i make an offer because i want it quick sales,am buying it for my
holiday,because i'll be coming soon from our rig as am a petroleum
engineer on a rig offshore,i won't be able to come for the inspection
due to the nature of my work,i would have love to call in person but
our satellite server has been down which restrict our calls.i will be
paying you through PayPal,please get back to me with your PayPal
details so i can proceed with the payment and contact the courier
agent who will come to pick it up and deliver it in my place.
Await your reply.
On Sun, Dec 12, 2010
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