Very Suss ebay message ----> scam

[xc4me]

Im selling a red Xc Falcon on eBay and I got a text from a private number asking question about it, some of them were already answered on the add, asking me to send answer to email. All good, send it off and then get this:

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Hi,

I am very keen,Let me know the actual asking price. How i wish i could come and view what am buying from you.but am currently overseas at the moment and i want it picked up before i get back, though i will be back in couple of weeks. 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 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. Few more photos will be appreciated as well.
Have a nice day.

Bruce
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As Paypal is already a payment option I'm thinking this is a bit suss.

e-mailed him back saying you can do it all through eBay and he has just replied with this:
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Hi,

I do not have an Ebay account and do not wish to open one. Kindly send me a paypal payment invoice so i can effect payment to you asap


Cheers
Bruce
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it is now apparent this is a scam as all you need is a paypal username to transfer money. just putting this one out there to everyone warning.

The name and email of the guy is Bruce Smith <brcmnn3@gmail.com>

Paul

[pyromantis]

LOL That's dodgy as, anyone with horrible grammar like that has to be fake. I am an exception though. The guy I bought my XR from Said he got 6 of these before any legitimate offers. If you can't meet the buyer face to face then no deal.

[HUNTER8]

You may want to pay attention to this page.
http://www.horseyard.com.au/index.ph...399&Itemid=204
Bruce's email address also comes up as one of the scammers!
Funny ...... he's Nigerian.

[xc4me]

Cheers!

Great website, no doubt bruce is dodgy but good to check others, this is being added to favourites for sure.

[kenz]

Got one of them yesterday
Same thing, pretty much he sent a basic email first then we replied not realising what it was yet but the reply he sent to that had nothing in it referring to what we sent to him and he was claiming to be a marine engineer working in the Bahamas and but could pay for it and get his agent to pick it up unseen lol

[HUNTER8]

Just an idea......
Someone like A Current Affair may like to get their hands on this and who knows you may get a few $ for the story.

[xc4me]

They may be interested but i want nothing to do with them haha
thanks for looking out though buddy you can send it in if you wish as a member of the forum? suggest a story on car scammers perhaps

[HUNTER8]

Nah, I camera shy.
But you could be doing someone else a favour.

[XCwillo]

LOL
I read that in an Asian accent then all the sudden his name was Bruce
>_<

[Ben73]

I'd never sell a car like that. Come pick it up from me yourself(or someone on behalf of you) and give me a cheque which I will cash before giving you the keys if I still think they are not genuine.
I don't trust internet purchases.

[XWGT]

awesome

He's also Gary Moore apparently. Wonder if he can play guitar?

[XD 351 Ute]

Hmm, must be the season for scammers.

Over the last week I have ordered or bought some goods on-line, and I'm waiting for them to be delivered.
I fired up the old electron machine to check my e-mails last night, and found one supposedly from DHL International.

I didn't realise it straight away, but my virus programme had picked up on it being dodgy, and deleted the 'letter' attachment.
After reading the text of the message a couple of times, I was trying to work out where this 'letter' was, as the text of the message said that DHL had tried to deliver a 'package' - note no details at all of said package were supplied, but rather I could read about it in the attached letter.

They nearly got me in, but luckily between my virus programme, and some good old Aussie suspicion, I managed to work out it was a fake.

So beware people, the mongrels are getting more and more cunning.

I know the original subject of the thread was about E-Bay scammers, but felt that people should be aware of this, especially as if you buy something from E-Bay overseas while the dollar is good, you may use DHL as a freight method.

Ed

[FPV-HSV]

there is heaps of scammers on ebay i guy bidded on my commodore from america and wantted to pay with pay pal i opend a case an got hi suspended

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Am I missing something here??

These people are offering to pay you money for your car, so how do they scam you??? Not being smart but I just do not get where the scam is.

I understand they sound dodgy, but if someone said to me I will pay you for the car and then arrange someone to pick it up I can not really see where I would lose out, and where I would get scammed.

Once I have the cash why would I care who picks up the car on behalf of the buyer??

Unless of course I misses something somewhere along the line

[GOLDIE]

how it goes is theyy say they want it and pay by paypal and then say we will give you the money for the transport company as well theyy send a fake reciept from paypal saying they have paid the transport guy comes take the car you pay him as you think you have the extra money when you dont really have it.
So not only do you have no car you out of pocket for the transport.

How do i know this well we wanted to sell a 4x4 last year and we got the same thing but we got paypal and ebay into at the start and they did the investigation and caught the guy out.


Ian

[JC807]

i heard they actually kind of deposit the money into your paypal account but somehow retain the rights to pull the money back (not sure how this works). so you see the money in the account, release the goods, then the money somehow gets sucked back out of your account.

could be wrong, but i heard they can do it this way.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by JC807

i heard they actually kind of deposit the money into your paypal account but somehow retain the rights to pull the money back (not sure how this works). so you see the money in the account, release the goods, then the money somehow gets sucked back out of your account.

could be wrong, but i heard they can do it this way.

That what I heard happens. It takes up to 5 days for you to withdraw funds from your paypal account, a lot can happen in those 5 days while the car is out of your possession.

You would think that with this sort of scam Paypal would be on top of it and close the means for it to be done......

[FGII-XR6]

you are close this happened to me recently but I didn't sent the goods. you get an email from paypal saying the money is there and will be released once you send proof of freight. if you look at the email headers it comes from a dodgy email service not paypal, but it looks genuine

Originally Posted by JC807

i heard they actually kind of deposit the money into your paypal account but somehow retain the rights to pull the money back (not sure how this works). so you see the money in the account, release the goods, then the money somehow gets sucked back out of your account.

could be wrong, but i heard they can do it this way.

[GS608]

Don't they use a stolen credit card to transfer the full amount plus shipping costs, then you pay the transport agent $2k, which is actually them, they don't come pick up your car at all, no physical contact is made. Then paypal takes the money out of your account and you're left $2k out of pocket?

[boss54]

as soon as they say overseas you kinda no its ********. dont even make conact with him.

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by 5.0

Don't they use a stolen credit card to transfer the full amount plus shipping costs, then you pay the transport agent $2k, which is actually them, they don't come pick up your car at all, no physical contact is made. Then paypal takes the money out of your account and you're left $2k out of pocket?

actually the mistake is assuming they have ONE method.

The methods they use are only limited by their slimy imaginations.

[chrisfpv]

Nevermind.

[motorcycles4eva]

i got this as well, agreeing to pay my asking price for my car but only through paypal via their link.. i said cash only and they insist paypal..
dodgy all over. don't bother replying to them as they're trying to retrieve personal info
. i still have the email too. i'd advise you send a copy to the fraud squad which i think is in qld? you can do this via internet too..

[motorcycles4eva]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

Am I missing something here??

These people are offering to pay you money for your car, so how do they scam you??? Not being smart but I just do not get where the scam is.

I understand they sound dodgy, but if someone said to me I will pay you for the car and then arrange someone to pick it up I can not really see where I would lose out, and where I would get scammed.

Once I have the cash why would I care who picks up the car on behalf of the buyer??

Unless of course I misses something somewhere along the line

heya mate.. i'm sceptical about opening threads attatched from someone i don't know, even if they refuse an ebay account, and especially if they throw the words paypal in your face a million times.. they can get a forced refund, which means that they make a payment, and then they can request the money due to them saying 'dodgy dealings', and you'd think paypal will ask you first.. no.. if you go through the forms you will get the money returned. the one who is then left short of money and the car can only then start a legal battle..which takes ages, and if they're overseas, forget it!!!! .
paypal scammers are also on fordmusclecars site and they're highlighted in 'beware' headings..
i've purchased cars from other states via internet, internet bank transfers and paypal. within ozz is fine. you have laws to kick **** here.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

I see, so they hope you release the car before the funds are actually in your possession.

I sell a fair bit on e bay, and I do not even send the items out payed for by pay pal till I have the money in my hand, NOT in my pay pal account. And generally I have no or very limited money in the bank account linked to pay pal and e bay.

So I have a special bank account (which is an internet only account) linked to Pay Pal and my e bay sellers account, as soon as money arrives in pay pal account I transfer to my bank account, then send the item I sold, as soon as the funds arrive in my internet account, I will transfer them to my personal bank account where they are safe, as no one has access to it (not e bay and not pay pal). That way pay pal can not draw the money back out like they have been known to do as there is no money in the account to draw back.

Have had this set up for about 7 years now and it works great, never had any issues at all.

Something to think about if you deal on the net buying or selling. takes a couple of days to set up, but well worth it.

If the internet account gets compromised close it and open another one the same day.

But thanks, I can see how the scam could work on the careless now.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by JC807

i heard they actually kind of deposit the money into your paypal account but somehow retain the rights to pull the money back (not sure how this works). so you see the money in the account, release the goods, then the money somehow gets sucked back out of your account.

could be wrong, but i heard they can do it this way.

You heard right.

When I sold my F6 I got two different replies from those Nigerian POS.
The first one I replied and told him to send me USD$10k via Western Union to facilitate freight ... no reply.

The second one tested my resolve so I replied F O Y B B ... (you can work it out) .. got no reply to that one either.

[gsmatt]

iv sort of been in the same situation but buy the car, it was apparently a genuine hk gts monaro selling at $9000! as a young bloke would i sent a message asap and got the reply saying how there overseas and shes a widow living with here parents in england or something. i kept asking here questions about the car and if we can fly up and see it etc, and all she would reply was completely erelevant to what i was asking she was only interested in paypal sending fake messages and so on. but you can also tell because the letters are so perfectly written, theres no mistakes and yer ppl overseass is a dead give away

[Bobman]

Don't even need to ask. Never trust anyone or anything until the money is in your pocket and papers signed in person.

[Ben73]

Best one I saw was a car online with a QLD plate number, it was listed as a NSW sale and the owner happened to be currently in VIC. Lol

[FgNewbie]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

*snip*
That way pay pal can not draw the money back out like they have been known to do as there is no money in the account to draw back.
*snip*

Speaking from past knowledge.

PayPus has been known to freeze access to your PayPal account funds so they can recover money. If you are a low volume seller you can work around this before your next sale.

If you are a high volume seller you are stuffed. PayPal will effectively keep any payments into your account until they have recovered what they want and they expect you will still send the goods you don't get paid for.

So you don't send the goods, the buyers eventually get their money back, your feeBay rep gets trashed.

I remember in 2007-08, a powerseller did continue to send the goods (before he froze sales) and fought PayPal for about 10k which he eventually got back. It was a massive task on his part.