Classified ad scammer... bet his dad will be pleased!

[Carpie]

Just listed a car I need to get rid of for sale on a website that rhymes with Bumfree... got an email asking if I still had it, replied yes and got this in reponse:

[quote]Thanks for reply, i am buying the car as a birthday gift for dad and i am at sea at the moment as i am a marine engineer and due to the nature of my work,phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it. I really want the car to be a surprise for dad so i wont let him know anything about the car until it gets delivered to him , i am sure he will be more than happy with
the car.i will make the payment via paypal because i dont have access to my bank account online as i dont have internet banking, but i can pay from my paypal account, as i have my bank a/c attached to it, i will need you to give me your paypal email address so i can make the payments asap for the car and pls if you dont have paypal account yet, it is very
easy to set up, go to www.paypal.com and get it set up , after you have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with paypal so as to put the money through.I have a pick up agent that will come and pick the car up after i have made the payment, so get back to me now with your paypal email so that i can send you the money at once
[/quote]

So pretty standard rubbish, however if my son bought me this as a present I would be cutting him out of my will:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2540931.htm

[Carpie]

Sorry meant to say, is this an extension of the Western Union scam where they request the money back etc? Not up to date with this kind of thing as I haven't sold for a while. Surely they're putting themselves at risk of losing the money, say if I was to get him to pay, then transfer the money out of paypal and keep it and then keep the car.

edit: Don't worry, looked it up. Just amuses me to see them trying on the 'Present for my dad' story with what is effectively a big paperweight at the moment.

Edited by Carpie on Thursday 24th February 02:32

[jonno990]

He will pay you with a hacked paypal account. Your paypal account will be frozen and be an absolute nightmare to get reinstated.
ETA have you had a look underneath the car? I had one years ago that sounded similar. All it was a plug from the electrics had lost its clip. Just needed plugging back in and a little mastic to hold it in place.

Edited by jonno990 on Thursday 24th February 02:42

[Carpie]

Will have a look mate, whereabouts am I looking?

Cheers,
Matt

[Mike 820]

Certainly screams scam. As soon as marine engineer is mentioned from now on I will just smirk.

I have to say Im a little dissapointed, I sold a car last year and didnt get a single dodgy email.