Help me figure out the scam

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secretvampire

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Okay, so before I start the story, I already told this guy to kick rocks. He was up to something, I'm just trying to figure out what and want your theories.

I have a PSP system up for sale on Ebay. I clearly state that for this item only, I am only shipping to the USA or Canada only and will only accept a USPS money order or PayPal. I get an email from this guy asking for my full address so he can ready payment. I reply with, okay, it would be going from X to Austin, TX assuming he is in the USA and what the total would be. I tell him he can have my full mailing address once he actually purchases the item with Buy It Now. He again replies he needs my full address to ready payment.

At this point, I get suspicious enough and go look him up. 0 feedback, brand new bidder from Singapore. I tell him to fuck off. But what I can't figure out is, what would have been the next step? How was he going to pull a scam with just my address?
 
No idea what he's going for there. Hard to tell what thoses overseas scammers can come up with next. Your post did make me think of this nugget though:

"What did you say to them?"
"I told them I put their names on the Montgomery Ward mailing list."

10 useless knowledge points to name that movie.
 
Normally overseas scammers say "ok here's the deal, I'll send you a money order for $300 and you can cash it when you get it and pay me back the rest."

So you get it, send the item, and attempt the cash the check, and it voids.

Something like that anyway, I haven't been scammed yet and I try to avoid eBay at all costs unless I'm bidding on something from a CAG.
 
[quote name='Strell']Normally overseas scammers say "ok here's the deal, I'll send you a money order for $300 and you can cash it when you get it and pay me back the rest."

So you get it, send the item, and attempt the cash the check, and it voids.

Something like that anyway, I haven't been scammed yet and I try to avoid eBay at all costs unless I'm bidding on something from a CAG.[/QUOTE]

yep. they usually ask for your address and "full contact information plz"
 
I just went through the same thing. I had a Growlanser Generations Deluxe (new, seals still intact) won by a 0 feedback bidder for $80 before shipping. This person said they were in the Netherlands but wanted to game shipped to Nigeria.

The person said they could only pay by bidpay.com and needed my full addy. I told them I didn't accept bidpay as a payment. Then the person had a nerve to send me an e-mail saying that I'm only looking out for myself by only accpeting paypal and not trying to protect the bidder. So I sent another e-mail back saying that if you can pay through paypal then I can't sell it to them. I also told the person that I've shipped 3 games to Europe in the last month. All games arrived safe, intact, and within the 4-7 days as promised. I also said the it was clearly stated in the auction the I only accept paypal.

In the end the person just backed out of the sale. Within all this though I received 3 different messages from ebay members saying that the person was a fraud. Now I have to relist it. What a waste of time.
 
There's some method of payment where you think you have the money and then send the item and then he disputes the charge or something or the money order gets pre-cleared so you think you have the money and send the item only to find out that it gets rejected.... it's something like that. Anyway, don't let foreigners buy your stuff. I always say USA only (but I make exceptions for Canada if someone asks).
 
[quote name='secretvampire']Okay, so before I start the story, I already told this guy to kick rocks. He was up to something, I'm just trying to figure out what and want your theories.

I have a PSP system up for sale on Ebay. I clearly state that for this item only, I am only shipping to the USA or Canada only and will only accept a USPS money order or PayPal. I get an email from this guy asking for my full address so he can ready payment. I reply with, okay, it would be going from X to Austin, TX assuming he is in the USA and what the total would be. I tell him he can have my full mailing address once he actually purchases the item with Buy It Now. He again replies he needs my full address to ready payment.

At this point, I get suspicious enough and go look him up. 0 feedback, brand new bidder from Singapore. I tell him to fuck off. But what I can't figure out is, what would have been the next step? How was he going to pull a scam with just my address?[/QUOTE]

Possibly one of those "shipping" scams where stolen goods are shipped to someone's address with the labels of another person who actually purchased the goods for super-cheap.

Typically the re-mailers are recruited through online ads or classifieds but maybe this guy was just going to send you some stuff and then contact you by email later asking if you could mail them out for him.
 
Hahah...I wouldn't ship to anywhere in Africa if my life depended on it.

Possibly one of those "shipping" scams where stolen goods are shipped to someone's address with the labels of another person who actually purchased the goods for super-cheap.

Typically the re-mailers are recruited through online ads or classifieds but maybe this guy was just going to send you some stuff and then contact you by email later asking if you could mail them out for him.
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That sounds pretty plausible. Well, they sure didn't do a very good job setting it up, using a brand new account from Singapore. I've been registered on Ebay for 7 years, you think they would have picked somebody a little more wet behind the ears to go after.

I usually will ship to Europe or Australia (sometimes Asia) and have had VERY few problems in the past. However, I'm not even going to mess with that on a $200+ item. Playstation 2s and PSPs seem to bring the scammers out of the woodwork.
 
[quote name='secretvampire']Hahah...I wouldn't ship to anywhere in Africa if my life depended on it.

.[/QUOTE]

I'm not desperate for money so that's why I didn't. The whole thing sounded sketchy from the jump.
 
Typically it goes like this, they send payment, but not a USPS MO. Then when it arrives they demand you send the item or payment back, typically the claim that the MO can't be voided. So you cash the MO with your bank and send the item or give them a refund. Then a few weeks later the MO turns out to be fake and the bank withdrawls the funds from your account.
 
Typically it goes like this, they send payment, but not a USPS MO. Then when it arrives they demand you send the item or payment back, typically the claim that the MO can't be voided. So you cash the MO with your bank and send the item or give them a refund. Then a few weeks later the MO turns out to be fake and the bank withdrawls the funds from your account.
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That sounds about right. The guy wrote me back and acted totally offended, "I am in California, I'm insulted, blah blah" and wanted to pay by "USPS money order or MoneyGram". How much would you want to bet it would be the latter one, and it would be fake? I blocked him from bidding. He still couldn't explain why he would need my contact information before even buying the item. I'm not about to risk anything on a $200+ item.
 
[quote name='secretvampire']That sounds about right. The guy wrote me back and acted totally offended, "I am in California, I'm insulted, blah blah" and wanted to pay by "USPS money order or MoneyGram". How much would you want to bet it would be the latter one, and it would be fake? I blocked him from bidding. He still couldn't explain why he would need my contact information before even buying the item. I'm not about to risk anything on a $200+ item.[/QUOTE]

Good choice, far to many people get a bit greedy and get screwed for it.

A friend of mine almost fell for one of these, the guy said he'd pay via USPS MO, then made up a story about how he couldn't go to the post office so he'd sent a Western Union MO instead and how sorry he was, but that he needed the item right away and implied he'd leave a negative if he didn't recieve it soon. Turns out the MO was purchased with a stolen CC.
 
[quote name='klwillis45']No idea what he's going for there. Hard to tell what thoses overseas scammers can come up with next. Your post did make me think of this nugget though:

"What did you say to them?"
"I told them I put their names on the Montgomery Ward mailing list."

10 useless knowledge points to name that movie.[/QUOTE]

top secret, I don't think I could ever let a zaz movie quote pass me by
 
I've seen the fake money order thing before but I don't get why he would need the address before the auction is over.

Can't be anything good though, good call there IMO.

I've been registered on Ebay for 7 years, you think they would have picked somebody a little more wet behind the ears to go after.
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I always wonder about that too. My account is from 1997-98 I think and I have a rating of 114. You think they would go after ebay noobs instead of veteran ebayers.
 
[quote name='Rubberlegs']I just went through the same thing. I had a Growlanser Generations Deluxe (new, seals still intact) won by a 0 feedback bidder for $80 before shipping. This person said they were in the Netherlands but wanted to game shipped to Nigeria.

The person said they could only pay by bidpay.com and needed my full addy. I told them I didn't accept bidpay as a payment. Then the person had a nerve to send me an e-mail saying that I'm only looking out for myself by only accpeting paypal and not trying to protect the bidder. So I sent another e-mail back saying that if you can pay through paypal then I can't sell it to them. I also told the person that I've shipped 3 games to Europe in the last month. All games arrived safe, intact, and within the 4-7 days as promised. I also said the it was clearly stated in the auction the I only accept paypal.

In the end the person just backed out of the sale. Within all this though I received 3 different messages from ebay members saying that the person was a fraud. Now I have to relist it. What a waste of time.[/QUOTE]

have you tried sending out a 2nd chance offer? it can save you time and money
 
It's stories like this that keep scaring me away from Ebay. I have several items I'd like to sell but I keep hearing horror stories. Can any Ebay vets offer some basic advice for a noob that wants to start selling? Thanks.
 
I always wonder about that too. My account is from 1997-98 I think and I have a rating of 114. You think they would go after ebay noobs instead of veteran ebayers.
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Hell, in addition to registering in 1998, I have over 2500+ feedback at this point. Why he'd decide to go after somebody with that much experience is a mystery.

It's stories like this that keep scaring me away from Ebay. I have several items I'd like to sell but I keep hearing horror stories. Can any Ebay vets offer some basic advice for a noob that wants to start selling? Thanks.
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Don't let it scare you off, Ebay is just fine if you know what to look out for. I've sold something like 3000 items over the past few years...you know how many transactions have been a problem (and I mean a lost package, or scam, or something...non-paying bidders not included)? Maybe about 3 or 4 tops. The positives FAR outweigh the negatives as long as you use some common sense and know what to look out for. If you're in doubt, just ask on this board, there are usually plenty of experienced Ebayers willing to help out.
 
[quote name='wildnuts02']have you tried sending out a 2nd chance offer? it can save you time and money[/QUOTE]

Yeah. The second higest bidder wasn't interested anymore. The other bids were too low IMO. I just gonna relist next week.
 
I've gotten these emails before, but I just ignore them and they are rarely followed up. I'm willing to ship internationally, but only to certain countries. It'll be a long-ass time before I ship anything to Africa.
 
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