I am writing this to make people aware of trying to be scammed while selling gear in the for sale section.

Recently I was contacted by email to have my kite purchase. All was going well and then the person wanted to pay with Paypal and said they had already organised a courier to collect the kite. No problems I though. I sent a Paypal reciept through to them and the next day recieved an email back say that the money was deposited but was being withheld by paypal until I made a $400 payment to them through a Western union branch.

This sounded strange so I rang paypal dirrect and they said they never withhold money and that it was a scam.

The pretend purchaser even had a pretend paypal reciept emailed to me.

The for sale section on Seabreeze is excellent and it is a shame there is people out there wasting everyones time and trying to scam them.

To all the genuine people shopping, Happy shopping. To all the scammers out there, crawl back under a rock and stop tainting this site.

as soon as you see anything "Western Union" you know its a scam.

thanks for the heads up.

Sometimes you will receive more money then you ask for (for many different reasons) and the buyer will ask you to refund him the difference – and generally you’ll do so immediately. However, a few days later you’ll receive a notification that the payment you expected to receive did not clear. And you’ll be still sitting on your gear minus the difference that you refunded to the scammer.
It’s a common tactic used on all classifieds websites - not just seabreeze.

Tip: get in contact via email with the seller (don’t use the PM on seabreeze) and you’ll be able to trace the originating IP address (just google it how to do it) and you’ll find out if the email is sent from some other place than the seller claims to be e.g. Nigeria. Most scammers don’t use a proxy so it’s easy to find out what country and region the email is sent from.

yeah dude i know i couple of people that almost got done the same way when selling there cars.

Hi Mary
>
> The kite board you enquired about is in perfect condition.
> The asking price is $595 details and pictures are listed on Seabreeze.



Hello,
>
> Thanks for your quick response, I will pay $700 for the kite board..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..


Hi Mary
>
> Who is you pick up agent, and why do you want to pay $700 if I am asking for $595 only?
>
> Cheers
>
> Ray

On 23/12/10 17:20, Mary Hilson wrote:
> I feel like offering you more money..


Hey Mary, I don't feel so lucky, Ill tell you what I will do for you, when your "pick up agent"comes to collect the board, because its Christmas, you know... good will to all men etc I will give you a discount of $50 if he brings me sweet smelling cash.

Cheers

Ray

I recently got this message from a potential purchaser

"Thanks for the swift response am ok with the listed price as i will like to buy the item now and due to the nature of my job and location...i will not be able to come for inspection,am a very busy type as i work long hours everyday,i have gone through your advertisement and i am satisfied with it.As for the payment..i can only pay via the fastest and secure way to pay online(PayPal) here.I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after the payment have been made ...so no shipping included.You can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in right away and also include your address and your final asking price in your reply.If you don't have a paypal account, you can easily set up one.."

my response

cash only

Shocking isn't it And here I was thinking it was just me, selling my car ATM and have had numerous scammers say the same thing. It's disgusting and can't believe there r people like that out there. As if we didn't have enough worries in this world.