Clearing cycle fraud via Paypal?

[Shellz_Mach1]

I've always considered Paypal to be cash in the bank but have just been discussing with my brother a transaction he's been offered.

He's got a phone for sale at £70 and the buyer has said he'll pay £110 but my bro needs to post the phone to Nigeria. Instant scam alert of course, but I've only heard of this sort of clearing cycle fraud being run with cheques issued on bank accounts that later turn out to be dodgy. How does it work from Paypal? Can the bank take money back from Paypal and then Paypal take the money back from you at a later stage?

Interested to hear theories as a google search is not providing any answers.

There is of course a 0.0000001% chance that this transaction is genuine.

[Scott328i]

They will just send fake paypal emails hoping that you do not actually check your account.

Incredibly thick people who fall for this

[illmonkey]

paypal will just removed the movey from your paypal balance. If its £0, they'll make you go into negative balance. Then hand the debt to some debt collectors (NCO).

[speedchick]

You usually get a fake paypal email, saying that the funds are being held, and will be released once you post the item and input the tracking number. There are no funds, and you have lost the phone.

[Hyperion]

Credit card charge back (Google it) or, more likely they'll use a stolen credit card to fund the transaction.

Happens all the time - PapPal is NOT safe.
www.paypalsucks.com

Edited by Hyperion on Wednesday 20th August 15:08

[Shellz_Mach1]

Cheers for that. We're definitely not criminally minded - we didn't come up with any of those options ourselves!

[The Ben]

speedchick said:

You usually get a fake paypal email, saying that the funds are being held, and will be released once you post the item and input the tracking number. There are no funds, and you have lost the phone.

I have just sold a laser level to a guy from Warrington, the email said that the funds are to be held until 21 days have passed or the buyer posts positive feedback... Im sure this didnt happen last time I used paypal!!!

I checked my paypal account(I put the address in myself) and it says money on hold....

What does this actually mean!! is it right??? Is it just another way for Paypal to gian interest from your money being in the account??? or could the buyer removed the money after it has been posted???

[speedchick]

The Ben said:

speedchick said:

You usually get a fake paypal email, saying that the funds are being held, and will be released once you post the item and input the tracking number. There are no funds, and you have lost the phone.

I have just sold a laser level to a guy from Warrington, the email said that the funds are to be held until 21 days have passed or the buyer posts positive feedback... Im sure this didnt happen last time I used paypal!!!

I checked my paypal account(I put the address in myself) and it says money on hold....

What does this actually mean!! is it right??? Is it just another way for Paypal to gian interest from your money being in the account??? or could the buyer removed the money after it has been posted???

Nope, they are doing that with a few items, if your purchaser leaves +ive feedback then the money should be released to you before the 21 days. I dont know why there are doing this. I listed some items and 5 of the 10 items listed came up with a warning about the 21 day hold (these 5 were handmade bracelets, the 5 that didn't were cds)

But the email that I mentioned above is a scam one, it's well known for someone selling a phone to get the scam email telling them that paypal have the money and they will release it once you have sent the tracking number of the parcel to a link in the email. As the email hasn't really come from paypal, there are obviously no funds there to be released.

Best thing to do is specify that you will not ship outside the UK, and change your settings in your dashboard not to accept bids from outside of the UK.

[jshell]

Tell them that once the payment has cleared that you'll meet them at the Sportsbar in the Eko Hotel on Victoria Island, Lagos to hand it over...... See what they come back with.

[Simpo Two]

When I see the word 'Nigeria' in anything (or 'Indonesia' for that matter) it means: Stop reading any more. Delete it. Don't stop to think what might have been if only. Do something else.

[EmmaP]

My friend had a similar scam email through ebay last week. He was immediately suspicious as the 'buyer' offered him four times the value of phone. Of course the fact that the address provided was in Nigeria just confirmed it as a scam.