STEVE POLLARD Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 I just wanted to make the membership aware of a scam that I experience yesterday. I currently have a vehicle listed for sale over on Ebay, that I posted yesterday. Within 2hrs of the listing, I received a text message from an individual that was interested, he asked the normal questions about the vehicle. He said that he was an engineer working off-shore in Canada and he could only communicate via email or text ( 1st Red Flag ). After asking me if I had a PayPal account and what I was looking to get for my vehicle, within 10 mins I had a email from PayPal stating that $27,000 was in my account on HOLD ( Red Flag ). The name of this individual is Marvin Jackson (marvinjackson890@yahoo.com). The email goes on to state that I needed to send $2000 USD ( shipping & handling ) to the following address: Carson Bailey, Anaheim, California 92801 via RIA Money Transfer. Once received, the HOLD on the $27,000 would be released.At this point, I stopped texting and updated my auction that states that I will not respond to any texts. Makes you wonder how many people out there that get taken by these dirt bag / low life's.This was my first time listing an item for sale... what an experience!Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GARY F Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 yea, they all work offshore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Rule #1 Never respond to an E-Mail from Paypal, your credit card company or your bank.Rule# 2 Always go to an official site to contact the above, never use an E-mailed address. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capngrog Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Steve,What was the rationale/explanation for the required $2,000.00 fee? Were all of the transaction details worked out prior to the request for the $2,000.00, or was everything pending the transfer of the $2,000.00? Did the Paypal email you received actually come from Paypal? Does Paypal even have a "hold" option? What was the arrangement for the pick up of the car? I know that the above questions were not necessary to spot this "deal" as a scam, but I was just interested in some of the details. If the email really came from Paypal, that's a scary degree of sophistication for a scammer scum like this one .Well done Steve, and thanks for the heads up on this scam.Cheers,Grog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE POLLARD Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 Grog - The price that I was asking was $25K, the scammer sends $27K ( $2K was for shipping fees ) The Paypal email was a fake...the other tip off was that the largest sum that can go thru PayPal is $3000 according to a friend of mine that is in law enforcement. Never got into the arrangements for the pick up of the vehicle since I realized this was a scam. Google "PayPal scams", it will give you more specific details like this one.Good Rules Roger !Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Reading the scam alerts, I see that "being off-shore"is becoming a common ruse. Or being unreachablein some other way.I can't see myself EVER buying a sight-unseen car from Ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1925Stanley Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 When I get one of these, I reply "Meet me at the bank with cash." They never do!Visit the Virtual Steam Car Museum!Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 And do those criminals claiming to be off-shore really thinkthat those huge off-shore oil platforms--virtual cities ladenwith technology--offer their workers no way to communicatewith the mainland?Criminals think they're smart--though at some point they willpay horribly for their crimes--but many of them are stupid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlCapone Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 The best response is no response. Why would you ever respond ? It can do you no good and you could be exposed to a virus etcetera. Yes I agree some are stupid but you read on a regular basis that some elderly person fell prey.Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest buickkuhn Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Update and change passwords for email address and paypal because , my experience was that I had someone win a item off ebay then wanted a return for something not being included / ebay gave them a return and let them keep item ,froze my paypal account till it was recieved in that time the account was hacked .Less than 24 hours later paypal sent me a email saying your account was compromised and to change password on both accounts (paypal and email) . My question is later I recieved a sorry noticed on ebay that the member that gotten a return was to blame for the hack . Even with the securuties you have to stay on your toes . Beware always Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimo Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 These crooks play the odds. If they do this to 1000 different sellers and only 1 of them falls for it then they have just made $2,000 for a few minutes of their work sending fake emails. If they do it not only on cars but other expensive things and they send out 100,000 fake emails over the period of a few days and again get 1 in 1000 to fall for it, then they have just stolen $200,000 with very little risk of being caught, especially if they are doing across country borders and even more so if they are actually in countries with Keystone Cop law enforcement or corrupt law enforcement such as many Asian countries, Eastern Europe countries, Russia, African countries, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 When I get one of these, I reply "Meet me at the bank with cash." They never do!DonMy sentiments too. In God we trust, all others bring cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Block Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 sad, what bother me is how these guys get our email addresses, and tie them to the auction items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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