Help...is this a scam??

[freenote]

Put my car for sale on Gumtree today and within about half an hour I got this email from a Latvian address:

Do you still have it for sale?

I replied:

Yes it is still for sale.
Regards

This evening he replied from a different address:

Thanks for your response, I am quite okay with it, I want you to know that am willing and ready to purchase it right away, put it off the AD site, consider me as your favorite buyer, and Please note that I have a shipper/mover who handles my shipping arrangement anywhere in the world, he would be coming for the pickup, after you have received payment, which would be through paypal, If this is acceptable, Am an hydrographer and I am buying this for my personal use. I will be paying you through paypal. Kindly get back to me with your pay pal email address to make the instant payment, and if you do not have an account, its very easy to set one up at www.paypal.co.uk I will need this following information for me to proceed with the Payment.

Your PayPal e-Mail Address :
Phone Number:
Address:
Firm Price:

Will be waiting for your soonest mail.




It is written like a scam but I can't see how he could scam me from those details. The only thing he could do is use the address to come and nick the car, but it seems a little elaborate for that and the car's only on for £1800.

Any thoughts or similar experiences???

[Burrito]

Yes, it's a scam.

HTH

[Efbe]

lol, yes

[loafer123]

If you need to ask, it's a scam.

Just reply "cash only".

[VX Foxy]

Are you serious?! LOL

[tyranical]

These scams put me off selling my car.

I have had:

Some tt called Morgan Houston twice.
Dave Bent
Steve scorie
Some from Lithuania.
Some woman who claims to be living in san diego as an army officer and posted a googled pic of the san diego army base logo as proof.

I am curious how the paypal scam works.

Do they pay the money in, then when the car has been collected do a charge back through paypal to get the money back?

[TRUENOSAM]

Scamtastic. You can tell by the way its written

[geeteeaye]

Ask him if it's to be used for commuting

[Regiment]

In what was is it a scam?

[nottyash]

Textbook scam

[JFReturns]

Here is one I got, not two days ago:

"Thanks I m okay with your listed price.
Why did you want to sell the vehicle?
How old is the vehicle,?i want you to get back to me with more picture
and the present condition of the vehicle because i am presently out of
Uk at the moment,but no worries as i am willing to handle the pick up
of this merchandise through my legitimate agent,it will be picked up
after payment,Do you have paypal account?If so get back to me with
your paypal email id so i can transfer the payment to your paypal
account within 24 hours of receiving the paypal email id from you.Hope
to read from you asap..."

[freenote]

Thanks guys. I must have my dunce hat on this evening to even ask. However, as I said I still don't see how he could scam me.

Ah well, the wait continues.

On another note, I was shocked at the cost of advertising on autotrader; I'm sure the last time I did, albeit about 5 years ago, it was far more reasonable.

[JFReturns]

My advice - tell him to fk OFF.

[northandy]

You know what worries me, if these were better written more people would fall for it. Someone is obviously still falling for this stuff otherwise they'd have given up.

[Efbe]

tyranical said:

These scams put me off selling my car.

I have had:

Some tt called Morgan Houston twice.
Dave Bent
Steve scorie
Some from Lithuania.
Some woman who claims to be living in san diego as an army officer and posted a googled pic of the san diego army base logo as proof.

I am curious how the paypal scam works.

Do they pay the money in, then when the car has been collected do a charge back through paypal to get the money back?

no, this is just the start of the scam.

you will next get an e-mail saying they have sent the money.

then you will get one saying the money is being held in escrow and you just need to pay a "release fee" to get the moneys into your paypal account from theirs due to the size of the transaction.

[eldar]

freenote said:

Thanks guys. I must have my dunce hat on this evening to even ask. However, as I said I still don't see how he could scam me.

Ah well, the wait continues.

On another note, I was shocked at the cost of advertising on autotrader; I'm sure the last time I did, albeit about 5 years ago, it was far more reasonable.

Money never clears in paypal. You will get more similar emails.

[freenote]

Should have googled it first - http://www.suite101.com/content/car-buying-scam-us...

Props to the poster who mentioned the charge-back scam.

[Efbe]

freenote said:

Should have googled it first - http://www.suite101.com/content/car-buying-scam-us...

Props to the poster who mentioned the charge-back scam.

really thoughtless stupid article tbh. wouldn't work.

firstly, chargebacks aren't that easy. you have to provide proof. Even if this did happen, a chargeback could be reversed, and the initial person trying the chargeback would be charged quite a hefty fee.

secondly the scammer is giving up £5k through paypal. What's to say you wouldn't just take the money and close the paypal account & credit card

[AndrewW-G]

Heard of a funny one a week or two ago, dealer gets standard Nigerian scam mail, responds and tells them no PayPal a BD only, gets BD, tears it up and then tells bod to come and get car . . . . Bloke turns up only to be told the cars been sold and he's had a wasted journey!

Very tempted to try it out next time I get a scam response

[Colleen]

THANK YOU sooo much for posting your "dumb question" .. this guy also contacted me via Craigs List about my quad for sale. I kept having the feeling it was wierd. Just before I gave him any info I googled his name (he also had 3 email addresses) and found your question so I had to sign up to this sight to comment. I too kept wondering how this could be a scam but I had such a wierd feel. I'm grateful for the info! Thanks! Colleen