Help. Am I being scammed?

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 12 Jan 2012 Posts: 2

I advertise hand-made chandeliers on etsy.com. A possible buyer, one Sarah Smith emailed me saying she wants to buy one for her mum. We've been corresponding for a while now and I was not alarmed until I received this email from her this morning:

Quote:

"I'm about to make the payments when i had this little problem with the picking up of the Item, I think you remember what i said in my previous mail that I'm working presently on the sea, so i tried to secure booking with my pick up agent, but they asked me to pay first before they can make the booking, and they only accept Western Union Money Transfer for payments and they don't accept PayPal or bank transfer.
So I tried to send the money online but it's not going through and I am on the sea there is no way i can find a western union agent to make the transfer to my pick up agent, so i wanted to ask if it will be OK for me to include my pick up agent's fees together with your payments through PayPal,So you will help me wire the pick up fee to them via western Union Money Transfer immediately i pay you.I don't mean to bother you I'm sure you understand that I'm presently on the sea and there is nothing i can do to that.The bottom line is after I have made the payments via PayPal,you will help me wire my pick up agent fee to them through western union money transfer, I just wanted to seek your consent before going ahead with the payments,I will be very happy if my offer is given a favorable consideration,Respond as soon as possible so that i can send out your Payment."

I did a bit of searching on the internet which more or less confirmed my suspicions and sent her the following email in reply:

Quote:

"Hi Sarah

Excuse my ignorance, but I am not familiar with Western Union Money Transfers. I quickly went onto their website and they warn about scams of overpayment, ie

Overpayment: A common fraud in which the victim is sent a check in payment of a service or product ‎that appears to be valid, but will eventually bounce. Typically the amount of the check ‎exceeds what the victim expects to receive and he or she is instructed to send the ‎excess to the fraudster. When the check bounces the victim is left responsible.‎

So, as much as I would love to assist you with organizing your pick-up payment, I’m afraid it’s just too risky since I don’t know you personally. Please advise asap whether you’d be able to arrange something else regarding pick-up or whether I should cancel the order."

To which I got the following response just now:

Quote:

"i want to assure you that am not one of those who do such thing,and besides,am using PayPal and not check,and with PayPal i think we are both 100 per save,so kindly get back to me soon so i can proceed with the payment. Regards."

Am I being scammed? What do you think?

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Nov 2011 Posts: 1

.... yes... yes you are

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:29 am

Hi Nastie,

I posted a fuller response to your post on ScamWarners, but yes as kman2795 says you are being scammed.

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Jun 2011 Posts: 1066

PayPal is also a common method of payment used by scammers. A lot of them are suggesting it as an alternative, now that so many people are aware of Western Union being used in scams.

In other words, my colleagues are right. This is definitely a scam.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 12 Jan 2012 Posts: 2

I only realized it was a scam after I sent my contact info and a PayPal invoice to the scammer. He/she can't do anything harmful to me with that info, right?

I read on some forum on the internet that they can 'hack into your PayPal account'. Is that possible?

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 Jan 2012 Posts: 1

not unless you sent your user name and password.

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:59 pm

I am curious to know how the scammer could pay money into paypal, don't they have to use a card? Or can they send a dud cheque to a paypal account?

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:31 pm

In this particular case the scammer doesn't pay any money. What they usually do is send a spoofed email that looks like it has come from PayPal saying that money has been received, but is being held until the shipper is paid.

So the victim thinks that everything is OK and pays the shipper (the scammer) only to find that no money has been received.

In other variations, they can use a phished PayPal account to send the money, which would then be clawed back when the real owner of the account complains to PayPal.

Help. Am I being scammed?	View next topic View previous topic