Crosswords1 min ago
Paypal Scam?
17 Answers
I've put an item for sale on gumtree and a woman has contacted me via text message asking to pay by Paypal only. She's requested my email address and name in order to send me the money. On top of this, the buyer has offered to pay £50 over the asking price in order for me to sell only to her and no other person.
She has declined my suggestion of picking up the item on my doorstep and wants to send "an agent" to pick up the item in a couple of weeks time. I'd obviously prefer to hand over the item when I get the cash.
The sum involved is £230 and I'm very suspicious that this is a scam and the woman can create a reversal via Paypal returning the money to her account. Her texting is in what you might call "broken english" and she's an "engineer who works on the sea" who wants the item for her children.
She's provided her address which seems to be a flat in Peckham Rye. There is no positive indication that she lives in the UK and her name doesn't come up on Linkedin nor 192.com.
Can you give me some advice please?
Thank you
She has declined my suggestion of picking up the item on my doorstep and wants to send "an agent" to pick up the item in a couple of weeks time. I'd obviously prefer to hand over the item when I get the cash.
The sum involved is £230 and I'm very suspicious that this is a scam and the woman can create a reversal via Paypal returning the money to her account. Her texting is in what you might call "broken english" and she's an "engineer who works on the sea" who wants the item for her children.
She's provided her address which seems to be a flat in Peckham Rye. There is no positive indication that she lives in the UK and her name doesn't come up on Linkedin nor 192.com.
Can you give me some advice please?
Thank you
Answers
Best Answer
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Thank you all for your advice. For me, my suspicions started when I couldn't understand why this woman could not simply send her agent up with the cash (I live in the West Midlands) if she was so anxious to buy the item.
I'm not familiar with the way Paypal works, so I can't see how the scam operates myself but I'm not going to fall for it now!
Thanks for the advice.
I'm not familiar with the way Paypal works, so I can't see how the scam operates myself but I'm not going to fall for it now!
Thanks for the advice.
Yep, I got a very similar scenario which involved an agent picking up from me to send abroad and needed money upfront. It is a well known scam, anybody buying something from you but wants you to pay money to somebody first is obviously a scam.
I reported it to gumtree and they told me they were very aware of it happening on their site. It is a very good target. Beware.
I reported it to gumtree and they told me they were very aware of it happening on their site. It is a very good target. Beware.
Paypal only approve of purchases that you post to people. I got caught out by letting someone pay via paypal and then pick up an item.
turned out the paypal account used was not theirs and they had hacked someones account. Although I had "withdrawn" money to my account it was taken back (which I agreed). Much later paypal gave me my money because I had been so cooperative.
turned out the paypal account used was not theirs and they had hacked someones account. Although I had "withdrawn" money to my account it was taken back (which I agreed). Much later paypal gave me my money because I had been so cooperative.
You say she's provided her address.
I know you're in the West Midlands, so why not call her bluff and say you're going down near where she lives to visit relatives, etc and offer to drop it off in person .... and wait for the excuses as it's obviously a scam.
I love stuff like this as I wind them up for fun - I once had someone claiming to be from my broadband helpline on the phone for about 30 mins .... my missus was in stitches as they clearly didn't know I was just winding them up :)
I know you're in the West Midlands, so why not call her bluff and say you're going down near where she lives to visit relatives, etc and offer to drop it off in person .... and wait for the excuses as it's obviously a scam.
I love stuff like this as I wind them up for fun - I once had someone claiming to be from my broadband helpline on the phone for about 30 mins .... my missus was in stitches as they clearly didn't know I was just winding them up :)
I had the very same experience during the past week. I posted an ad for my TV on Gumtree and got a text from someone called Julia Fletcher asking me to reply via e-mail. I did and she was offering the full price for my TV, said she was disabled and in a wheelchair but would arrange for her own courier to pick it up.
I then got an e-mail saying the courier company wanted the money up front, via moneygram. She said that she would put the full amount for the TV, plus the £200 courier fee plus another £40 for sending the moneygram to an address in Cyprus!
Then came an e-mail, supposedly from PayPal which said there was money waiting to be put into my account pending me sending the moneygram. By this time a million bells were ringing so I called PayPal who were great! The woman did not have a PayPal account and it was definitely and obviously a scam!
If in doubt call PayPal as it is free and if you don't have a PayPal account it is always a scam!!
I then got an e-mail saying the courier company wanted the money up front, via moneygram. She said that she would put the full amount for the TV, plus the £200 courier fee plus another £40 for sending the moneygram to an address in Cyprus!
Then came an e-mail, supposedly from PayPal which said there was money waiting to be put into my account pending me sending the moneygram. By this time a million bells were ringing so I called PayPal who were great! The woman did not have a PayPal account and it was definitely and obviously a scam!
If in doubt call PayPal as it is free and if you don't have a PayPal account it is always a scam!!