Seems like a scam, or is it just stupidity?

[M005]

I have an Alpine autochanger for sale for £30 and received the following response (after getting a few prior emails asking if it was available, confirming model & condition etc);

"Thanks for the mail and interested in your item and am offering you 50pounds for the postage to my partner in united kingdom.please get to me with your pay pal email for the payment to be made as soon as possible."

Is it possible to hack into PayPal with just my email address?

I responded that I was happy to accept £50, despite only wanting £30 and where would he like it sending But didn't give him my PayPal details.

[hornetrider]

Do you really have to ask? Any corrrespondence which offers more than the asking price whilst referring to 'the item' = scam.

[blindswelledrat]

Scam. Dont touch it.
He will be either using a stolen credit card or he will just put a complaint into paypal and say he never recieved the item. EIther way you will have no steroe and no money

[james_tigerwoods]

Get him to send cash.

It's a scam - although I didn't realise that these scams operated so low down the price band

[Hyperion]

He's using stolen credit card details to fund the PayPal payment.
You send the item - he's happy.
Eventually the credit card owner will read his statement, and realise his credit card has been busy.
The Credit card company will issue a charge-back to the credit card owner, which in turn will remove the money from your PayPal account.
If as a result your PayPal balance goes into negative figures, PayPal will quite rightly pursue you for the money.

Basically - don't do it.

[M005]

I have no intention of providing my details, but just wondered how the scam worked.

As mentioned above, it surprised me they would try it on something of such low value.

Thanks.

[M005]

Seems the ad site is a magnet for them, just received this for another item I have for sale (£300 asking price)

Hello ,
Thank you for the prompt response to my enquiry am quite satisfied with the condition of the item and price.Am very much interested in buying the item from you and i would like to make an outright purchase immediately so i will advice that you withdraw the advert from the web.I will be paying with a certified check.Furthermore my mover will be coming over for the pick up as i might not be available for the pick up myself i would have love to come and look it up but presently am not chance to do that due to my work but am OK with the information from the ad.I will need the following details to make payment arrangement

1,Your full name to be on the Payment.
2,Your address.
3,Your phone number .
4,Your postal code.
5, Final Price.

Get me the following information as soon as possible.
Regards.
Thomas Caxson.
I will get you informed as soon as payment is posted out.


Obviously the cheque will bounce and I'll not be responding, can't help thinking if they changed their approach a bit they might have more success....

[Blib]

M005 said:

...... can't help thinking if they changed their approach a bit they might have more success....

Well, why not set up your new, improved version of the scam and see if it works?

Just for research purposes of course.

[obstreperous]

See below , stolen from www.seventeeninches.co.uk a supermoto forum , it looks very similar .

Got this off another site, just thought i'd post it up coz i think i would have been cought out by it as well.

I am £87.00 worse off today. I'm guessing I am the victim of a tiny bit of nievity but I never expected this to happen.

Over the last couple of weeks I've had my gixer bits for sale on a few forums and on ebay. I get a message on ebay from a bloke called Mark Brookes from Stevenage saying he's seen my bits for sale on ebay and a couple of forums and wants to buy the steering damper. We agree a price (£117) and he says he'll paypal me the cash. Then I get a message stating he don't have the money required in his account, can he leave me a deposit and then pay the balance using his girlfriend's account. I agree. He sends me £30 from his account. I then get £87 sent to me by Marie Mavric from Letchworth with a note on the payment from Mark saying "here is the balance for the damper, thanks very much". I send the damper using standard royal mail.

A week later I get an email from paypal stating that Marie is claiming the money back (paypal have already removed it from my account ) as she never received the goods she paid for. Of course she didn't, I sent the item to Mark's address as it was for him.

I call paypal, explain the situation and offer to fax a proof of posting. The jobsworth **** on the paypal helpline says there is nothing I can do and in paypal's eyes I don't have a leg to stand on. The payer claims the item never arrived at her address and my proof of posting is for a totally different address. Case closed.