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Just (Almost) Got Scammed on Ebay

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D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
So I am selling my iPhone 6 Plus on Ebay as I have a Nexus 6 coming in next week. Listed today for $750, and buy it now at $1000. 25 minutes later it sold for the buy it now price and the person had 5 stars and a good 15 feedback items all which were positive, so I was excited.

Soon after the person emailed saying this:
It is my pleasure to inform you that I have carried out the payment of $1,100 via PayPal, i just got a receipt from paypal so if you haven't please check your spam now, am sure you must have been notified also. I want it sent to my elder sister for her Birthday present. I would have asked you to send it to my eBay address but am currently on a business trip to Kansas. Here is the delivering address.

Tunde Davies
10, capitol Road,
Agege city,
Lagos State.
23401
Nigeria.

I want you to ship the item to the address via USPS EXPRESS MAIL FIRST CLASS SERVICE today before the post office is closed so that the item will get there as soon as possible and i added $100 for posting to Nigeria but i think shipping to Nigeria shouldn't be up to that. Please get back to me ASAP with the tracking number.
Click to expand...

CLEARLY at this point I realized what was up and reported it to Ebay. I then got 3 fake PayPal emails saying payment had been made, but would not be released until I sent tracking info to a non-paypal email account. I googled and found PayPal would never do this, plus the broken english in the PayPal email gave it away:

Fake PayPal Email said:
We are pleased to inform you that the payment from Jean Renee Rogers has been confirmed
So kindly shipped to the Buyer address,Because the funds have been deducted from his account.
Click to expand...

I replied to the person saying I reported it. Anything else I need to do? Do I just wait the 2 days on Ebay then report as not paid? I already requested the sale be cancelled.

Seems like a few people online actually fell for it, but I'd never ship anything without money being in my bank account. I won't end up having issues with the user reporting it back to ebay or anything right?
 
T

threetri333

Banned
OP, can you show the 3 fake e-mails you got?

Also, why get a Nexus 6? I heard its display quality is mediocre. Check out its review on Anandtech. You would be better off getting Sony Xperia Z3 or Samsung Note 4.
 
L

Letterbomb

Banned
Good eye. Generally, any time the user emails you requesting for procedure that isn't taken care of internally though eBay's site is a scam.

Just wait it out. Not much more to do. eBay WILL nuke them. In about a month based on experienced lmao
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
threetri333 said:
OP, can you show the 3 fake e-mails you got?

Also, why get a Nexus 6? I heard its display quality is mediocre. Check out its review on Anandtech. You would be better off getting Sony Xperia Z3 or Samsung Note 4.
Click to expand...

I've read most the reviews, most have loved the phone and I want the pure Android experience. :p

Here's an example email:

paypal%2520fake.JPG


Ramma2 said:
Require immediate Paypal payment for future Buy it Now auctions. Puts an end to this stupid shit.
Click to expand...

Good to now, I'll do that next time. I was debating just re-listing without a buy it now price.
 
J

joelseph

Member
I wait to buy things until they are cheap and then just kind of throw them away when they wear out. Not sure who the sucker is in this deal. The lazy people like me or the go-getters that are playing the electronic stock markets.
 
W

WhiskerFrisker

Member
threetri333 said:
OP, can you show the 3 fake e-mails you got?

Also, why get a Nexus 6? I heard its display quality is mediocre. Check out its review on Anandtech. You would be better off getting Sony Xperia Z3 or Samsung Note 4.
Click to expand...

Lol.There was a big argument over this in the Nexus 6 OT and I think Cyclone already made up his mind. The reviews seems to vary from each site.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Sectorseven said:
Are you shipping it out of the country? If so he could screw you even if he actually sends the payment.
Click to expand...

Nah, I selected no international shipping on the list item page. USA only. The buyer had a US address listed, then emailed me requesting a Nigeria adress, to which I said no to, then they asked

"Okay can you shipped to my Uncle address in INDIANA?"

At which point I reported it and cancelled the sale on Ebay. Just sucks I have to wait 2 days.

richisawesome said:
the key part of that:

1999-2013.
Click to expand...


Yep, noticed that right away and the broken English at the "So kindly shipped to the Buyer address" part.
 
M

mackattk

Member
Go with craigslist if you can. Ebay fees for cell phones are ridiculous, that with the fact that it is a gamble if you get scammed or not makes Ebay a pretty poor choice of selling things online.

FYI: Ebay buyers now have 180 DAYS to dispute an auction. You could easily wake up five months from now and be out the money and the iphone. All they would have to do is file an item not as described dispute and say that the box was torn or whatever, or say that they never received it in the first place.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
mackattk said:
Go with craigslist if you can. Ebay fees for cell phones are ridiculous, that with the fact that it is a gamble if you get scammed or not makes Ebay a pretty poor choice of selling things online.

FYI: Ebay buyers now have 180 DAYS to dispute an auction. You could easily wake up five months from now and be out the money and the iphone.
Click to expand...

I never shipped it, nor received any paypal payment, so I think I have the upper hand here. At least I hope.
 
M

mackattk

Member
Deadly Cyclone said:
I never shipped it, nor received any paypal payment, so I think I have the upper hand here. At least I hope.
Click to expand...

Yeah you are good. ebay should offer you to relist it.. But check out Craigslist if that is something you are willing to do, and just meet up inside at a public place.

Looking up ebay/paypal calculators, it looks like for a $1000 selling price, you will have to pay $130 in paypal/ebay fees.

Most likely you could ask what service provider the buyer on craigslist has, and meet up at one of the stores, have them check/activate it and do the exchange there.
 
B

bananafactory

Banned
I almost got tricked by this once despite being pretty saavy. The fake email looked identical to the real ones.

But ALWAYS go to paypal.com and check your account to make sure the funds were actually received.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
mackattk said:
Yeah you are good. ebay should offer you to relist it.. But check out Craigslist if that is something you are willing to do, and just meet up inside at a public place.
Click to expand...

I'll give that a shot too. I know the 6 Plus is in short supply still. Maybe Craigslist will work.
 
H

HeisenbergLannister

Member
mj-laughing.gif


at that email. You can tell they photoshopped in that text from a Word document into an old PayPal email screenshot.

Sadly, some people wouldn't be able to see the clues like that, bad English, etc. and get scammed.

Sad, sad world that people do this.
 
Shrike Alvaron

Shrike Alvaron

Member
mackattk said:
FYI: Ebay buyers now have 180 DAYS to dispute an auction. You could easily wake up five months from now and be out the money and the iphone. All they would have to do is file an item not as described dispute and say that the box was torn or whatever, or say that they never received it in the first place.
Click to expand...

Not really. If they said it wasn't as described, they would have to send the phone back to you to get their refund, you'd just lose out on the selling fees and possibly return shipping. And if they say they didn't receive it, that's why you ALWAYS get signature confirmation for high value items. If you show eBay/Paypal the tracking and that the item was signed for on delivery, you'll keep your money.

I don't get why scammers always use Nigeria, don't they realize how most people instantly associate Nigeria with scams now?
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Here's my full email chain if anyone was interested. The last email I sent, which you don't see, was me saying I reported it to Ebay and PayPal.

Capture.JPG
 
P

Prez

Member
Shrike Alvaron said:
Not really. If they said it wasn't as described, they would have to send the phone back to you to get their refund, you'd just lose out on the selling fees and possibly return shipping. And if they say they didn't receive it, that's why you ALWAYS get signature confirmation for high value items. If you show eBay/Paypal the tracking and that the item was signed for on delivery, you'll keep your money.

I don't get why scammers always use Nigeria, don't they realize how most people instantly associate Nigeria with scams now?
Click to expand...

What if they say they just got a box filled with rocks?
 
M

Mac the KNife

Member
I recently had a guy request his package be mailed to a different address than the one on his Paypal account. I explained that I couldn't ship to any address other than the one associated with his account because I'd be liable. We cancelled the auction, he changed his address, repurchased and everything worked out well.

Ramma2 said:
Require immediate Paypal payment for future Buy it Now auctions. Puts an end to this stupid shit.
Click to expand...

This cuts out around 95% of bullshit scammers. I also add an additional fee to the shipping cost for insurance, which I refund at the buyer's request if they want to assume all the risk for a lost or damaged package. I've only had one person decline coverage in a hundred transactions.
 
E

Eye for an Eye

Member
If you do sell the item on ebay for $1,000 I would highly suggest getting registered mail when you ship the item. It's one of the only ways you can protect your ass on really expensive items being shipped.
https://about.usps.com/publications/pub370/pub370_012.htm

And the 180 day return policy goes in effect, I believe, on any sale after the 18th. And yes, you can get royally fucked over with that policy. Especially if you're selling an item in "New" or "Like New" condition. People will knit pick about anything and say it wasn't as described, even if you have 12 pictures posted.
On top of that, if an item happens to be damaged during shipment, you can't even open a claim that long after delivery.
 
V

vityaz

Member
Other than the date and the weird english, it looked pretty good to me! I often find that scammers sending fake e-mails must be making them real shitty on purpose. For example choosing to use the old rainbow apple logo in their fake apple e-mails. It's like, "really?!"
 
I

Ichi_

Neo Member
Had the same issue trying to sell a laptop, was a huge waste of time, though had some good back in forth with the guy on text lol.
 
J

Jonnax

Member
vityaz said:
Other than the date and the weird english, it looked pretty good to me! I often find that scammers sending fake e-mails must be making them real shitty on purpose. For example choosing to use the old rainbow apple logo in their fake apple e-mails. It's like, "really?!"
Click to expand...

They are doing it on purpose. The more outlandish the story means that only the gullible will reply increasing their chances of successfully stealing.

http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/WhyFromNigeria.pdf
 
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