PayPal Scam Beware!
Discussion
So my car is advertised in the classified, and I was contacted yesterday by someone wishing to buy the car, however something didn't match up. No viewing or additional details required, wanted to pay full amount however only via PayPal and arrange to have the car collected.
I refused and said bank transfer is the only method of payment accepted.
Almost ignoring my request for a bank transfer then persistently requested my PayPal account details.
To avoid anyone else falling for this, the guys details are:
Martin Dowding
dowdingmartin@yahoo.co.uk
martindowding@googlemail.com
13 Farm St City of Westminster,
Bit of research I found the following :
The con operates as follows: a “buyer” contacts you expressing an interest in your car (or whatever you’re selling: the scam exists on websites other than Auto Trader).
Commonly, the emails are littered with grammatical errors, are oddly phrased and the buyer is most likely to say he or she is out of the country.
They then go on to say they want your item but can only arrange payment via PayPal.
They’ll ask you to give your PayPal details or set up an account. Once you’ve done that, you receive a notification that you've been paid for your goods. In fact you've been overpaid.
Subsequently you are asked to send the difference back via Western Union or some other online payment method – but as you do so, the fraudsters reverse the PayPal transaction, leaving you hundreds or thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Alternatively, the scam works by someone collecting the car, or whatever you’re selling, then raising a dispute with PayPal that the goods haven’t been received. PayPal can then take back the money from your account.
I refused and said bank transfer is the only method of payment accepted.
Almost ignoring my request for a bank transfer then persistently requested my PayPal account details.
To avoid anyone else falling for this, the guys details are:
Martin Dowding
dowdingmartin@yahoo.co.uk
martindowding@googlemail.com
13 Farm St City of Westminster,
Bit of research I found the following :
The con operates as follows: a “buyer” contacts you expressing an interest in your car (or whatever you’re selling: the scam exists on websites other than Auto Trader).
Commonly, the emails are littered with grammatical errors, are oddly phrased and the buyer is most likely to say he or she is out of the country.
They then go on to say they want your item but can only arrange payment via PayPal.
They’ll ask you to give your PayPal details or set up an account. Once you’ve done that, you receive a notification that you've been paid for your goods. In fact you've been overpaid.
Subsequently you are asked to send the difference back via Western Union or some other online payment method – but as you do so, the fraudsters reverse the PayPal transaction, leaving you hundreds or thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Alternatively, the scam works by someone collecting the car, or whatever you’re selling, then raising a dispute with PayPal that the goods haven’t been received. PayPal can then take back the money from your account.
ShiDevil said:
sunbeam alpine said:
I've got these magic beans.... 
Mmmm, out of interest, what do they do and how much?Make me an offer
sunbeam alpine said:
Grow into a plant which produces an endless supply of gold coins and also small berries which ensure endless youth and make you irresistable to the opposite sex. Apart from that, not a lot.
Make me an offer
I am out of the country at the moment but I will arrange for my shipping agent to collect them at your convenience.Make me an offer
Register his email address on adult websites and hair restoration sites.. should render the email account hopeless in a couple of weeks.
[/quote]
For a small fee I can do that for you....I 'm out of the country at the mo, but no problem , all you need to do is pay me ...I only use PayPal as it is secure
RyanW said:
I'm obviously well behind the times... I even put 'No Scammers' on the advert, do these people have no respect
You expected them to READ the advert??I was selling an old (working but virtually scrap) Escort on a well know auction site, it managed the princly sum of £50, the advert said i had NO MOT and NO TAX, and would need to be trailered away.
The guy turned up in another similar sized car and had a mate who was going to "drive it back", I mentioned the wording of the ad and he said "I don't bother to read all of the ad", and then he procceded to complain that the boot and engine bay were not pristine (what did he expect for £50!) after him trying to haggle me down I told him to "go away", and then got the Envirioment Agency do do a free collection on it.
I certainly wasn't going to allow his friend to drive a car that was still registered to me with the DVLA (at that point anyway) and possibly get speeding fines or worse.
There are some real idiots out there sadly, and scam artists are the worst of the bunch IMHO.
Edited by wedgeinald on Friday 9th August 13:26
Walford said:
How long after the money is in your account do they have to reverse the transaction ?
I recently bought some car parts from an American site, the seller would take pay pal but only if sent as gift to friend
Probably several weeks: I bought a (faulty!) power tool from some muppet who gave me endless excuses but repeatedly failed to post it, then started ignoring my emails.I recently bought some car parts from an American site, the seller would take pay pal but only if sent as gift to friend
I got onto Ebay who made me wait four MORE weeks to give him time to sort things out, tnen they agreed enough was enough and took my money back from him.
I'd guess nine or ten weeks from start to finish, now whether an individual has the same power over Paypal as Ebay I don't know.
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