whats the paypal scam

[900ssduke]

Trying to sell a car through Pistonheads and Autotrader et al, and have had a number of different emails from people too busy to view the car but want me to forward my paypal user name so that they can lodge the full asking price prior to arranging collection of the car. Obviously a scam but how does it work?

[Craigie]

Is this not the one where they will give you more than the asking price and ask you to refund them the difference?
And then of course their own funds bounce meaning you are out of pocket?

I think if I was selling a car it would be cash only, handed over in my bank in exchange for the logbook.

[900ssduke]

No, they have not offered to send excess funds. I wondered if they could get their paypal payment back after they had taken possession of the car and log book.

[Craigie]

In short - yes they can.

[monthefish]

I had one of these.

The chap wanted to buy the car unseen, for his son and could only pay through Paypal. If I didn't have a Paypal account, he was going to help me set one up.



What a nice chap - I was going to give him a discount on the car for being so helpful.

[Nefarious]

The scam is either:

1) They send you funds from a hacked Paypal account. Once the real owner finds out, the funds get refunded and you're minus a car.
2) They tell you they've credited your Paypal account and send you a false Paypal-looking email with a link to a Paypal clone site which makes it look like you've got fund when in fact you don't. Alternatively you'll get a fake Paypal email saying you've got funds, but because of some software problem or new security protocol it won't show on your account for another week or something. Either way, Paypal have no knowledge of the transaction, because, no real transaction ever took place
3) They pay with a real paypal account but then claim that they never recieved the car. Unless you can prove that it was delivered to a "verified" address, they just say that an imposter arrived and took your car. Paypal refunds the money and you've still got not car.

[bigblock]

If you reply to the scammer with your paypal username you will soon recieve an email purporting to be from paypal. It will state that funds have been placed in your account but there is a problem with your account authentication. It will ask you to click on the link in the email and login to your account.

Once you have clicked on the link this will activate a tracking cookie which will forward your login details to the scammer who will then be able to access your paypal account and lock you out. He will then empty your account or use it to commit further fraud. In any event it will probably ruin your day

[Angelus]

Have they said how they are going to collect the car? I would suspicious of anyone who hasn't even got arrangements to collect the car, or even asked for more pictures.

[bigblock]

The thing to remember about most of these internet scams is it's not about the car it's all about trying to get you to divulge personal information that can be used to commit fraud. The majority of these fraudsters are not even in the UK but sitting in some cyber cafe on the other side of the world trying to think up new scams to separate you from your money.

[focusguy]

I find the 'JUNK MAIL' button works wonders with these people

[rev.chris]

ive had a few of these, im playing along with one at mo, trying to get as much out of him as i can to forward emails to [e-mail]

this is what he sent, he's called, Kaylan lucas <[e-mail]>


Thanks for the prompt response. I will like to buy the car for my Son
as a birthday gift and I am currently at an industry exhibition as a Plant
engineer I really want the goods to be a surprise for my Son so I
won’t let him know anything about the goods until it gets delivered to
him, I am sure he will be more than happy with the Product. I will
need you to give me your PayPal email address and the price so i can
make the payments asap for the goods and pls if you don't have PayPal
account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to www.paypal.co.uk 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

[S2red]

Send it to [e-mail]