Is this scam scheme really supposed to work?
It's been used so many times... where is the creativity?

Hello,

Thanks for your quick response, I will pay $1,700 for the Fanatic Shark 160..I am currently on the ship due to the nature of my work, I'll be paying you with my credit card via my PayPal, If my offer is accepted.. The payment will be made through PayPal, But you will have to get back to me with the following information so that my pick up agent will come and pick up as soon as possible...However, I'm ready to pay now into your account...

Your Name and address:
And your PayPal email:

In case you don't have a PayPal account..Its reliable and easy to use PayPal it is the best way to transfer money,all you need to do is visit www.paypal.com.au and register with them. When you are done with the registration send me the email used for the registration with PayPal so i can pay make your payment.

Make sure you get back to me so that we can arrange for pick up as i will like the item to be picked,so no shipping..

Await for your swift response.

Mary.

i'll say it's a scam. $1700 for a fanatic shark 160!!
Get some kiting gear Mary!

Tell him it's to difficult and you will only accept transfers to Western Union

They use the same scheme for everything these days.

When I was selling the motorbike, they tried the same thing.
Where is the imagination gone?

re: how
At the bike forums I was told about a scheme with a dispatcher. You have to pay the dispatcher, and they are "transferring the money to your account" then they withdraw the funds, etc.

If it's too good to be true, probably isn't.

Gorgo said...
How does the bad guy get an advantage out of this?

Here is how (from page 8 @ http://emag.mountainbikingaustralia.com.au/index.aspx?issue=issue07)
_________________________________________________________________
SELLER BEwARE Iam writing this in a state of disgust after recently falling victim to a web based bike sale fraud and wish to warn anyone intending to sell a bike, or any other item for that matter, of the mistakes I made. This is not the first bike I have sold on the most famous of on-line auction sites (on-line auction site teamed with the online account owned by the auction site, I think we all know who I am referring to). In fact it is the third, however unlike the first two, this one has gone drastically wrong.
I auctioned the bike off as per normal process. The buyer was in contact quickly through the auction site and via email.
Before I knew it funds had been deposited into my online account. The buyer arranged a local courier to pick the item up and I was satisfied with funds sitting in my account.
That was back in April. Sale complete, product shipped and all was well.
Then to my dismay I received an e-mail from the online account stating that the credit card transaction was unauthorized and funds would be deducted from my account if I could not provide proof of delivery! Somewhat surprised, I contacted the freight company who at first were cooperative in sending a copy of the proof of delivery docket (POD in courier speak) and the matter was discussed openly. I proceeded to scan the documents and send them to the online account resolution centre. One document was unreadable so a follow up call to the courier was greeted with, "we do not need to provide you with anything apart from POD", end of story. One week later received a follow up e-mail from the online account stating all had been cleared. So again I thought I was in the clear--big sigh of relief. Unfortunately it was short lived! Next I received another e-mail stating that, "Due to the item being sent to a different address to that of the buyer's online account (this was arranged by the buyer), the transaction was proven to be fraudulent and all funds would be deducted from my account.
So now my bike is gone and I have to repay the funds received for the bike. Online accounts help desk people are always wonderful until something like this happens then you become scum. Both the auction site and online account have completely washed their hands of the situation. I have contacted the police and they are pursuing the matter.
I have also begun legal inquiries into action that can be taken.
So for the benefit of others who may be selling their bikes through this online auction, the mistakes I made were: I did not confirm that all the details of online account were correct and accurate, i.e. call the phone number and see who you get, check the buyer's address matches their ship to address, do not under any circumstance allow the buyer to arrange pick up via their own courier! I also strongly recommend direct deposit where possible! Because I'd had plenty of contact with the buyer via e-mail and the auction site, and because they had a confirmed online account, I assumed it was all legit.
I trusted the cover promised by the online account was foolproof but was sadly mistaken, so always read terms and conditions thoroughly.
Now I'm hoping the details provided to the police will trigger a fruitful investigation and that karma catches up with the lowlife who is now cruising round on my 08 Anthem.
________________________________________________________________

Obelix said...

What do you think would happen with Paypal then? They clear the funds.
Also, an email address is not sufficient to break into your account.

this is how I understand it:
they don't break into your account. They use stolen or fake credit card number and hope the seller sends the goods (hence the courrier pick up arranged by the buyer) before the transaction bounces.

So they get the goods for free ...

This "Mary" person has been shut down, they managed to get a couple of emails out, and all those people have been helpful enough to let me know, so we could take action.

Thanks!

I just got emailed "Stage 2" of the scam...

---

Hello [...],

There is a little problem about the pick up before i transfer the payment into your PayPal account,The pick up agent said he won't come and pick up my purchase unless i pay him the agent commission fee first in order to be able to schedule a pick up time ,and my pick up agent head quarters is in the UK and all commission payments made for pick up, from anywhere in the world is sent to their head quarters in the UK.

And Due to new PayPal rules and regulations they won t let me transfer the funds twice, so i have to transfer all the money at once into your PayPal account.

The payment as already been made right now and i expect PayPal to have contact you by now ,Please check your personal email and PayPal email address if you have been messaged yet and i inform PayPal Auction to email you the receipt as well, i sent $1,000.00 in all.

I have decided to add the amount of $300 which i paid through PayPal, So please i will like you to help me to send sum of $270 to my agent via western union so he can be able to come for the pick up and also PayPal said they won't release the funds until they get the western union information from you due to the fact that i emailed them about the excess payment i made.

I will need you to help me send the $270 to my pick up agent Headquarter where they normally confirm any commission payment to via western union money transfer(this can be done from the post office, as they usually have a western union agent there).

I have already added extra $30 to cover the western union charges which shouldn't be more that $30 but just to be sure i added $30.

Here is my pick up agent Headquarter info needed to get the money sent through western union money transfer:
[.......]

Please kindly email the necessary details to PayPal : The MTCN number which you will be given at the western union after the $270 has been sent as well as the sender's name and address used to send the money through western union as well as the secret question and answer used in sending the $270 so i can forward it to PayPal or better still you can email it to PayPal directly..

Await your response.

Mary.

Gorgo said...
PayPal is safe and reliable.

I bought myself a coffee machine the other day and got to the checkout where it was PayPal only. I put in my details, including mandatory email address and tried to pay without logging in to PayPal. Page suggested that I really do. I thought "Screw this, I've been shafted by PayPal before/Hate them anyway" and rang up the company to pay over the phone.

For the honour of letting PayPal know I was just considering using their service I was charged $1. Twice.

Seriously WTF?

I wouldn't be surprised if scam above is being run by a PayPal employee.


(Nova Simonelli Oscar BTW )

They just tried to scam me with the same thing. From Mary Hilson. Bad english and wanted to pay more than I offered via email, so I searched for Mary Hilson's name on the internet. Didn't get a clear hit so I searched Seabreeze and found this thread.

Thanks for the warning guys!