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eBay Nigeria Scam Exposed

It’s easy to focus on the $6 billion money train that is the eBay “digital marketplace” (or auction site in everyday language – “Internet Marketers, Are you on the eBay Money Train Yet?” But if you’re not careful, you could fall prey to scam artists.

With a worldwide audience, that set of Pez dispensers could evoke a fierce bidding war between collectors in Belgium and Thailand, and the tussle could boost your sale price quite substantially. But again, beware the sharks out there.

Last week, I put up a cell phone for auction on eBay and within 4 hours, a buyer took up the “Buy It Now” option, purchasing the phone at the price I specified. This certainly was a bright prospect for my eBay plans. What’s more I got a PayPal payment notification from the UK buyer, along with an email that read:

Hello,
I just sent the payment for the item. I also included
an estimated cost of shipping to Nigeria for my son
company. Please let me know when you get a
notification from ebay that Slong Girl sent you a
payment. Send me the tracking number via auspost as
soon as you ship the item. I am having difficulties
getting across to my son that manage her father
company over there. I gave his address to paypal for
verification and it has been confirmed so it should be
in the payment notification.
His correct mailing address again is:

Atolagbe Agbede
03 Ijaiye Road
Opp Mobil Filling Station
Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos
Nigeria 23401

Thanks and I hope to read from you as soon as possible
cos I want this to get to him at the shortest period
of time.
Slong,
girl

A UK buyer asking for a cell phone to be sent to Nigeria?

Plus the PayPal “payment notification” looked dubious. The payment amounts were all wrong and it came from “Services@Paypal.com” instead of the regular “service@paypal.com” (a hallmark of scam artists = poor spelling).

Even better, the email was sent from: “pp.notification.status@post.com” and “pp.notification1@gmail.com” – pretty poor email spoofing if you ask me.

As if these weren’t bad enough, the “bidder” had the audacity to send more fake email:

Dear andrew wee,

We hereby notify you of the transaction that was effected by Slong Girl for the

payment of the item(s) purchased from you on eBayand provide guidelines on how your funds

would be released.

A notification of this transaction on PayPal as been sent to you immediately the payment

was effected, and we are yet to read from you. Please be informed that the money has

been deducted from Slong Girl account and is pending on PayPal database.

This money will be released into your account as soon as the tracking number for the shipment

has been sent to us at pp.notification.status@mail.com for verification. You are adviced

to ship this item and send the tracking number you recieve from the post office to us at the

above email address.

We will send you an email as soon as the funds has been released into your account, until then

we wait for the tracking number for the shipment. Ship the Item to the address included in the

email used to you notify you of the payment for your item(s) ONLY!

Thank you using PayPal.

Chris Campbell

PP Email ID 936

This was sent from the same mail.com and gmail.com emails.

So the scam works in this way:

  • They do a bait and switch on you: A US or UK eBay buyer will request for the item to be sent to Nigeria.
  • They’ll mail you saying the payment is “held” pending shipment of the item and for you to send them the tracking number.
  • If you fall for this, you’ll ship the item.
  • They’ll disappear.

If you’re unsure, mail eBay’s customer service and get assistance.

Other telltale scam artist signs:

  • The account was created a few hours or a few days ago
  • Yours is the first item they have bought (they seem to like cell phones, PDAs and small electronic equipment they can presumably offload into the black market easily)

Checking the eBay site a day later, I found the person’s account had been suspended.

They are persistant though, here’s a followup email I received:

Hello,
I just sent the payment for the item. I also included
an estimated cost of shipping to Nigeria for my son
company. Please let me know when you get a
notification from ebay that Slong Girl sent you a
payment. Send me the tracking number via auspost as
soon as you ship the item. I am having difficulties
getting across to my son that manage her father
company over there. I gave his address to paypal for
verification and it has been confirmed so it should be
in the payment notification.
His correct mailing address again is:

Atolagbe Agbede
03 Ijaiye Road
Opp Mobil Filling Station
Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos
Nigeria 23401

Thanks and I hope to read from you as soon as possible
cos I want this to get to him at the shortest period
of time.
Slong,
girl

If you’re newer to eBay, do realize that the protocol is to receive payments BEFORE you ship items to the buyer.

PayPal provides some level of consumer protection for buyers, but you need to be savvy if you’re a seller.

Update: A buddy who is an eBay powerseller recommends listing items at the Bidz marketplace (which has some similarities to eBay – take note, it’s primarily focused on jewellery auctions).

If you’re interested in checking it out:

988 comments on eBay Nigeria Scam Exposed

  1. Chris Jacobson
    September 5, 2007 at 5:21 am (17 years ago)

    That’s awful and extremely frustrating. Did you get your listing fee credited on eBay?

  2. Ruck
    September 5, 2007 at 7:06 am (17 years ago)

    Ahh man that sucks. I got to say that I do not do much with Ebay but that looks so much slicker than this Nigerian stuff that gets into my inboxes. Other than the spelling though, if they could spell correctly their conversions my go thru the roof :)…

    Still a load of crap but thanks for the heads up Andrew.

  3. James
    September 5, 2007 at 8:47 am (17 years ago)

    One of the reasons there are so many scams from Nigeria is because there is no treaty for dealing with this with the US.
    Does Singapore have any agreements with Nigeria?

  4. Andrew Wee
    September 5, 2007 at 1:18 pm (17 years ago)

    Yep, I got a credit.
    At less than $1, even with all the bells and whistles, it won’t break the bank…

    I take it more as a testing process, so I don’t take it as personally.

  5. Andrew Wee
    September 5, 2007 at 1:20 pm (17 years ago)

    eBay can be a good avenue for lead generation, just a matter of sorting it out.

    As one of the biggest sources of traffic, a smart affiliate or product owner will be able to get tons of leverage out of the system after some testing and refinement of their business system.

  6. Andrew Wee
    September 5, 2007 at 1:21 pm (17 years ago)

    I haven’t checked, though what they’re doing is creating phantom accounts and disappearing.

    Theoretically since the bid was made out of a eBay UK account, there’d be some recourse, but not if the person just disappears.

    This was certainly a useful market test.

  7. Thomas
    September 6, 2007 at 7:05 am (17 years ago)

    That’s terrible man, these people are just trying to scam people all around the place, not only on ebay, i think they are everywhere, in the mail, over the phone, sms, mail and etc. beware.

  8. proson
    September 6, 2007 at 10:00 pm (17 years ago)

    what some brunches of scam artists!

    Andrew, would you mind If i quote your story on my blog or websites?

    just to warn people be aware of those Nigerian scams!

    thanks in advance

  9. proson
    September 6, 2007 at 10:04 pm (17 years ago)

    well! what are bunches of scam artist! andrew can you tell me some easy methods to check on those spoof emails rather than go through all the mail header or things? I was a computer engineer and want to write some computer security articles to my readers.

    thank you

  10. Andrew Wee
    September 6, 2007 at 10:21 pm (17 years ago)

    proson,
    You are welcome to, and a link back to the original entry is appreciated.

    BTW I don’t see the blog you are refering to, just a somewhat suspect link to some webhosting site you own…

  11. Andrew Wee
    September 6, 2007 at 10:23 pm (17 years ago)

    It’s not clear why you double posted.
    Surely, it’s not to get some cheap backlinks to your site…

    That’s a surefire recipe to raise the ire and wrath of the blog owner and his/her blogging community.

    You might do better with article submission, rather than blog commenting.

  12. Barry
    September 7, 2007 at 6:03 am (17 years ago)

    Hi,

    You should go to quatloos.com and tell them about this scam. Quatloos is the home of Tony the Wonder LLama and a very large collection of notices of scams, ripoffs, etc. There is a large and ongoing section on the Nigerian 409 scams, which is similar to this, and a bit on the Spanish Prisoner scam, which this also resembles.

    Some of the people over there have strung these scammers along for months and the posted exchanges are truly hilarious.

    Barry

  13. Andrew Wee
    September 7, 2007 at 4:06 pm (17 years ago)

    Thanks for the suggestion, although a casual check of Google shows that this blog post ranks for most of the keywords highlighted in the entry, so someone typing “Atolagbe Agbede” into google will see my entry within the top 5 results.

    Stringing scammers: amusing to read, but I’d rather spend time building my business.

  14. Mal and Trish
    September 13, 2007 at 4:35 pm (17 years ago)

    They attempted the same thing with us twice in 2 days on 2 different items we are selling, both we had as action items and buy now. We no longer offer buy it now and have blocked all international buyers (we live in Australia). We also forwarded on the spoof information to both ebay and pay pal who are investigating. Signs to look for include the ‘buyer’ signed up as a member of ebay that day!

  15. Min
    September 14, 2007 at 3:31 pm (17 years ago)

    G’day

    I believe I am recently subjected to the exact same scam. He claimed that he is in the US requesting a tracking number for a mobile that he Imaginally paid for. Of course I did not release the item but even though I still got fed up at him for his persistance, seriously I was about to sent a letter of insults to his community to Lagos. I might still do that.
    I am in Australia and a new user to ebay and I seriously need some advice on how to block buyers from Nigeria. Any recommendations??

    Cheers mate

    Min

  16. Andrew Wee
    September 14, 2007 at 3:42 pm (17 years ago)

    There’s nothing to stop them registering an eBay AUS account and bidding on your account. You could set a min feedback to screen out bidders (and potentially some buyers…)

  17. Andrew Wee
    September 14, 2007 at 3:45 pm (17 years ago)

    They’d usually come at you from a US or UK registered account.

    Rather than waste time playing with them, I’d report them to eBay, file for a credit refund on your listing fees and relist the item.


    No point wasting your time, might as well focusing on attaining your titanium powerseller or whichever bar you’ve set your eyes on.

    This stuff happens thousands of times, you’d probably create the most benefit by authoring an eBay scam guide, writing your local paper, or posting in the forums about your experience.

  18. Sophie
    September 18, 2007 at 9:15 am (17 years ago)

    Holy Cow! I was just looking up how much it costs to send something to Nigeria and I stumbled upon this article. This is exactly what they did to us!!! Sending it to Nigeria and putting the PayPal on hold until they get the item! (Except they wanted to buy it for their daughter, not their son.) I’m so happy I’ve read this, you saved me from losing $260! I knew their story sounded a little fishy and now I’m sure! Thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!!! We were JUST about to send it. You saved me and my family a whole lot a grief.

    ….once again, thank you! 😀

  19. Nyairo
    September 24, 2007 at 7:46 am (17 years ago)

    These bloody scammers there all over the place now and are destroying all the positive aspects of e-bay. I was almost had last week, I got three buy it now offers from the same person (I suspect), at 2-3 times what I was asking. One wanted it for their son, the other for their niece and the other for their fiance. All shipped to Nigeria ofcourse. Two warning signs, one is spelling and grammar. Their syntax sucks. And two, i hate to be chauvinistic, is Nigeria. This should be one of the rules in the e bay terms of service agreement, “Thou shalt not buy, sell or correspond with anyone, anything or anybody that has anything to do with Nigeria”. Trade safe.

  20. Mal and Trish
    September 24, 2007 at 9:19 pm (17 years ago)

    The scam is now running in Australia – ‘Monica Cerrg’ with a so called Northern Territory address but wanting items sent to a step sister in Nigeria immediately and offering extra money for the postage. Once again it was on an expensive ‘buy it now’ item.

  21. ideoteque
    September 25, 2007 at 6:28 pm (17 years ago)

    hi,
    I just had the same kind of scam on ebay. I was selling a cell phone, and this guy sent me an email telling me to end the auction and he would pay extra if I send the phone to his son working for Unicef in Nigeria. I was doubtful, but when he said he was going to use Paypal, so I thought he is for real. But I was not 100% fell for his scam. I waited and played along. I replied his email, and he responded pretty well. A few emails from Paypal about the payment. I googled for ‘nigeria scam ebay’ just to make sure. Then I found your blog. That’s cool. Thanks for sharing your experience.

    p/s They did a pretty good job on the paypal email, but they cant fool clever people like us. LOL

    ideoteque

  22. Samuel
    October 3, 2007 at 8:15 pm (16 years ago)

    je viens d’etre victime du meme type d’arnaque mais ton site me confirme mon idee, maintenant je viens d’enlever mon annonce de ebay a cause de lui mais heureusement je n’ai pas envoyé l’objet (il s’agissait d’un pc portable dans mon cas, puis-je demander a ebay de me rembourser la somme d’insertion?

  23. Andrew Wee
    October 3, 2007 at 8:28 pm (16 years ago)

    Hello, congratulations, yours is the first French comment I’ve received on my blog. (ok, maybe you’re the second).

    It’s good you didn’t fall for the scam, and didn’t send the merchandise to the scammer.

    You should file a listing fee refund request with eBay.

    If the buyer’s account has been disabled, you should get your listing fees refunded immediately.

  24. Samuel
    October 3, 2007 at 8:33 pm (16 years ago)

    Thank you for your informations, i’ll do that. And congratulations for your blog the translation is so good that i thaught it was a french blog, but now i can answer in english 😉

    Thanks

  25. Andrew Wee
    October 3, 2007 at 9:07 pm (16 years ago)

    merci beaucoup!

    🙂

  26. Anonymous
    October 23, 2007 at 8:01 pm (16 years ago)

    Hi, I have just been scammed by these same operators. A lady aparently in the UK named Deborah Bruce??? wishes to purchase my Samsung DVD camcorder. I sell for $585 she wishes to purchase for $800 and for me to post to Nigeria. on confirming yes… I will do this.. I then ask for payment. I then got a fake email from a supposed bank in the UK called Barclays – upon research I have discovered that they put the address wrong, and the bank email is bb-deposit@europe.com

    The Bank “Barclays” says there policy is for me to send the item first and then when i give them my Tracking Number, they will then give me my money. What a load of Crap!!!!! So I am in the process of reporting this to ebay. Although I doubt anything will happen!!!!
    Lucky I havent sent them the camcorder. Beware people!!!!!1

  27. franklin
    December 20, 2007 at 3:57 am (16 years ago)

    Nigeria isn’t listed on the paypal registration form so u have a few honest ppl trying to send gifts to their loved ones at home and scammers who have no choice but to choose another country different 4rm what they signed up to ebay with.

  28. Kev
    December 28, 2007 at 4:58 am (16 years ago)

    This below is a example of a scam I nearly got caught in today. Luckily for me I thought something was strange. I gave my paypal e-mail account Id, then later received a e-mail saying that paypal had received the money but it wouldn’t be released to me untill I got a shipping number and gave it to paypal. I just e-mailed the scammer telling them i no longer wish to sell them the item as I’m not sending it to Nigeria and will only sell in the U.K. It’s really bad people have to do this sort of thing, but I still have my Item and have no intention of sending it anywhere.

    Dear seller,
    This is to notify you that i have paid for your ebay item via paypal and my account has been debited, am sure paypal will have sent a confirmation to you, so i want you to pack the item very well and ship out first thing tomorrrow morning via Royal mail first class delivery to :

    Name:Henry Olalekan
    Address:10A,Ebunoluwa street,Onilekere
    City:Ipaja
    State:Lagos State
    Country:Nigeria
    Zip code:23401
    And get back to paypal with the shipping reference number for payment verification. thanks

  29. Willam Cent
    June 24, 2008 at 5:43 am (16 years ago)

    Let me tell you people should not say bad about Nigeria,i have been dealing with Nigeria for many years.

    I have been buying and selling at ebay and i have been receiving my money.

    Some Nigeria buying purchase one iphone and Laptop and he send me my money .

    Dont say anything Bad about Nigeria.

    Not all Nigeria are Bad and some are Good and it is all over the world some good people are good instead some are bad.

    My ebay id:Blucas2000

  30. Fran
    July 14, 2008 at 7:33 pm (16 years ago)

    I also got this scam. At first they not mentioned about their location, although i already asked for it 3 times. So i thought she was in my country. Then i asked for meet up to make all the transaction and she said she cant leave the office because she is a doctor. So we decide to make payment via PayPal. Finally tomorrow nite, she said that she already make the payment and asked me to check my inbox or “JUNKMAIL”. It’s weird right? then I asked my friend bout this matter. Thanks God i asked my friend, she said it’s absolutely a SCAM! Coz i never used PayPal before so i didnt know how it works. I almost ship the item, but luckily i didnt. Here’s the email:

    Shipping Information
    Shipping Info:
    Name: Ifeoluwa John
    Address: Block 56 Asiri Abo Street Odo Oba Molete>
    City: Ibadan>
    State: Oyo>
    Country: Nigeria>
    Post Code: 23402> > >
    Shipping Method:
    Address Status: confirmed

    You have to provide us the tracking number to this item for verification of shipment and when this is done the money will credited into your account If you have questions about the shipping and tracking of your purchased item or service, please contact the customer care link memberscareteam@mail2consultant.com.

    PayPal Email ID PP843

  31. bbock
    July 17, 2008 at 10:21 pm (16 years ago)

    I’ve been trying to sell two iPhones on eBay and the auctions keep getting killed. How it works is this:

    Item is bid on by three people:

    A) Legit B) Legit C) Nigerian

    The nigerian hikes the price and scares the others off. They “win” the bid. Then they claim their account was used without their authorization. eBay kills the auction. The Nigerian then writes you pretending to be eBay saying the auction is reestablished and that the Nigerian is authentic and it was a mistake. They then tell you to send your item and once the shipment is made, they will send your money.

    So even if you don’t fall for it, you’ve still been victimized. They kill your auction. You can’t sell the item to the legit bidders.

    In the original Star Wars, Obi Wan said:
    “Mos Eisley spaceport: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

    I think he was talking about eBay.

  32. javier estrada
    September 14, 2008 at 7:22 pm (16 years ago)

    WOW!!! THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME!

    please beware, I did not ship my d40 out yet but thank god I found this site

    Hello ,
    Greetings to you.I am Alex Azubike from LA,US.I’m contacting you concerning your item on Ebay which i eventually became the winning bidder for your item.i’m presently serving our beloved nation in Germany with the United Nation and i intend sending this item to my son who works with the American Embassy in Nigeria as a visa Officer.i will like you to ship it through USPS (UNITED STATE POSTAL SERVICE) Express Mail International 8days (EMS) or USPS REGISTERED MAIL to Nigeria and I will like you to go know the Shipping cost and calculate the shipping cost and the item for Payment get back with the amount i will be paying immediately..I will be sending you my payment via PayPal,So kindly send me your (PayPal EMAIL ADDRESS) So as to immediately make out my payment.Make sure you get the package ready for immediate or next day shipment okay?.Expecting your reply so as to immediately make out my payment.
    Regards
    Alex Azubike
    N:B
    This is the shipping information…
    NAME……MIKE AZUBIKE
    ADDRESS….NO 14 RAILWAY LINE OFF SIMBIAT ABIOLA WAY
    CITY……IKEJA
    STATE….LAGOS STATE
    COUNTRY….NIGERIA
    ZIP CODE…23401

  33. Drew
    September 16, 2008 at 9:08 am (16 years ago)

    I just received a similar email from the UK.

    eliveley@aol.com to me
    show details 1:12 PM (7 hours ago) Reply

    fromeliveley@aol.com

    dateMon, Sep 15, 2008 at 1:12 PM
    subjectPayment has been made successfully and i have include the shipping address from ebay..
    mailed-byaol.com

    hide details 1:12 PM (7 hours ago) Reply

    Hello payment as been made and as soon as you get the payment confirmation message from paypal that mean the payment as been confirm and as soon as you get, all you have to do is get the item ship out asap through USPS EXPRESS MAIL INTERNATIONAL so that it will get to the destination in the next 4-5 DAYS and you have to reply back the confirmation message you got from paypal with the TRACKING NUMBER so that they will verify the tracking number and remit the payment int your account as soon as they got your message..

    This is the Shipping address below:

    Name: Oloyode Mathew
    Address: No 20 Eleyele Street
    City: Ile-Ife
    State:Osun-State
    Country:Nigeria
    Zip-Code:23435

    Please don”t make mistake with the address listed above and as soon as paypal remit the payment into your account get back to me as well with the tracking number as well..Nice doing business with you..

    Best Regards..

    Mrs Mary Williams

  34. carrie
    October 8, 2008 at 1:30 pm (15 years ago)

    yes the same person IFEOLUWA JOHN almost scammed me, i stopped it just in time

  35. Anonymous
    November 11, 2008 at 12:12 am (15 years ago)

    hi i’m ryan from the uk
    i have recently advertised an n96 mobile in my local friday free ads( http://www.friday-ad.co.uk ) and have had the same problem with them there?! my first email was from a lady claiming she would pay the full price and an extra 80 pound(sterling) for posting a packageing. which to my delight was not a problem at all(thinking i might save myself 20 pound with a international courier!) so i ask for the address details and waited for a response whilst i got some qoutes for nigeria. shortly after the address come threw and i got the ball rolling,then it hit me! i’ve seen as i use ebay alot that people point blank refuse people from bidding for nigeria and they will not send ther. so i decided to tell them to send me a cheque and when payment was clear i’d ship the item even if it was at a cost to me(a gentlemens agrement as such!) funny i never hurd from them again. i had a lucky escape and i strongly suggest,even if u advertise in your local papper,no matter where u r in the world WATCH OUT!ebayers have clocked them. now ther spredding ther wings and sounds like ther haveing some very close calls with people. we’ve been lucky, but ther must be a hell of alot of people out ther that have not.

    be safe be lucky
    ryan uk 🙂

  36. ryan
    November 11, 2008 at 12:17 am (15 years ago)

    hi i’m ryan from the uk
    i have recently advertised an n96 mobile in my local friday free ads( http://www.friday-ad.co.uk ) and have had the same problem with them there?! my first email was from a lady claiming she would pay the full price and an extra 80 pound(sterling) for posting a packageing. which to my delight was not a problem at all(thinking i might save myself 20 pound with a international courier!) so i ask for the address details and waited for a response whilst i got some qoutes for nigeria. shortly after the address come threw and i got the ball rolling,then it hit me! i’ve seen as i use ebay alot that people point blank refuse people from bidding for nigeria and they will not send ther. so i decided to tell them to send me a cheque and when payment was clear i’d ship the item even if it was at a cost to me(a gentlemens agrement as such!) funny i never hurd from them again. i had a lucky escape and i strongly suggest,even if u advertise in your local papper,no matter where u r in the world WATCH OUT!ebayers have clocked them. now ther spredding ther wings and sounds like ther haveing some very close calls with people. we’ve been lucky, but ther must be a hell of alot of people out ther that have not.

    be safe be lucky
    ryan uk 🙂

  37. Anonymous
    January 4, 2009 at 1:59 am (15 years ago)

    I had somebody buy a PS3 at my Buy It Now price. They then put the money into my Paypal (and Paypal told me the transaction was ‘completed’) and collected it from my house before running away up the street.

    They then cancelled the payment and had all their money refunded by Paypal, and I now have no proof that I gave them the PS3 and can’t get it back.

    So now I don’t have a PS3 or £300. Seriously lame.

  38. bee
    January 11, 2009 at 2:11 am (15 years ago)

    I was selling 3pairs of jeans to Craiglist and I’ve got email from Mrs Vera Morgan who is now on her business in Malaga, Spain. She wants to buy all of them and wants me to ship it to Nigeria for her in-law ‘s Birthday. This is my frist time selling items on Craiglist. She wants my Palpal but I don’t have one. So she will transfer the money from outside Canada to my account. She needs all my banking details, name, address. We’ve sent more than 30 emails to deal with this, she was so nice to me. she lives in Vancouver but she doesn’t have bank account here!!!I ship it for her to
    Ms. Akinwale Smart
    7 Eleyele Street, llf lfe.
    Osun state 23405 Nigeria .
    She wants tracking no. to complete the money tranfer. I was stupid that I ship it before I got money tranfer also sent her all details. She email me fake money tranfer document online from Colony Bank!! I call Colony Bank in USA and forward to sucurity@colonybank.com they said it fake they don’t have that kind of service. I have to run to my Bank change a new account. That was a bad day for me to run around all day.
    I call Canada Post trying to stop shipping and ship it back to sender.
    I don’t know yet that it will work or not. I lost 300$ for my jeans and 50$ for shipping cost.
    I also got email from her that she transfer 580$ to me and I told her that it was too much I think she might ask me to send money back to her but it doesn’t go that far I stop everything after I talk to Colony Bank in USA.

    Regards,
    Bee
    BC, Canada

  39. SOfia
    January 21, 2009 at 9:22 am (15 years ago)

    they certainly fooled me! I am young and stupid!….

    however I didn’t send anything I was out of stock,

    and was waiting….to get some more iphones

    then…

    I got two more buyers from nigeria

    son in catholic school….spouse doing missionary work…..and a catholic priest! and I though man this people are good ….

    they are nice, and then I thought hell noo this is to good to be true
    and realized it was all full of bullshit

  40. Sam Porter
    February 16, 2009 at 5:03 am (15 years ago)

    Thank you VERY much for having this blog to open my eye’s to this scam, which i knew was too good to be true, two days ago i listed my item: and today i got an e-mail, here is the entire conversation so far: from newest e-mail to oldest ( copied from yahoo)

    Newest reply from him:

    today…..

    — On Sun, 2/15/09, Sam Phillips wrote:

    From: Sam Phillips
    Subject: Re: get back to me…. Dell Optiplex GX270 SFF, 2.93ghz, 512mb Ram, 40gb HD Item number: 150326764328
    To:
    jstontan1145@yahoo.com
    Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 8:24 PM

    when should i expect to recieve payment?

    — On Sun, 2/15/09, Joe Stanton wrote:

    From: Joe Stanton
    Subject: Re: get back to me…. Dell Optiplex GX270 SFF, 2.93ghz, 512mb Ram, 40gb HD Item number: 150326764328
    To: starmodder@yahoo.com
    Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 3:17 PM

    ok…….

    — On Sun, 2/15/09, Sam Phillips wrote:

    From: Sam Phillips
    Subject: Re: get back to me…. Dell Optiplex GX270 SFF, 2.93ghz, 512mb Ram, 40gb HD Item number: 150326764328
    To: jstontan1145@yahoo.com
    Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 8:13 PM

    also after your payment has cleared i will remove the item from ebay

    — On Sun, 2/15/09, Joe Stanton wrote:

    From: Joe Stanton
    Subject: Re: get back to me…. Dell Optiplex GX270 SFF, 2.93ghz, 512mb Ram, 40gb HD Item number: 150326764328
    To: starmodder@yahoo.com
    Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 2:27 PM

    OK…. HERE MY STORE ADDRESS,,,,,,
    A.D. Limited %
    Adepoju Tunde
    Ologo House Craig Str,
    Road Abeokuta
    Ogun State
    NIgeria
    23439
    hope to read from you soon

    — On Sun, 2/15/09, Sam Phillips wrote:

    From: Sam Phillips
    Subject: Re: get back to me…. Dell Optiplex GX270 SFF, 2.93ghz, 512mb Ram, 40gb HD Item number: 150326764328
    To: jstontan1145@yahoo.com
    Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 7:19 PM

    Thank you for your quick reply however i would like to establish a few things BEFORE you send me any payments on paypal, one, your billing address, i may want more $ depending on the shipping cost to your location and how much insurance you want, so please provide me with your billing address and how much $ amount of insurance coverage you would like to purchase, AFTER that we can determine how much your payment will be, and arrange for you to send it to me through paypal

    — On Sun, 2/15/09, Joe Stanton wrote:

    From: Joe Stanton
    Subject: get back to me…. Dell Optiplex GX270 SFF, 2.93ghz, 512mb Ram, 40gb HD Item number: 150326764328
    To: starmodder@yahoo.com
    Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 1:48 PM

    Hello,
    thank for your reply….. i really appreciate your reply…. ok i will make the payment to your paypal email address StarModder@yahoo.com….. as soon as i leave my working place ….so as soon as you receive notification from paypal get back to me so that you can arrange for the shipment tomorrow… i will like you to end the auction now and get back to me….
    thankx
    hope to read from you soon

    — On Sun, 2/15/09, Sam Phillips wrote:

    From: Sam Phillips
    Subject: Re: Dell Optiplex GX270 SFF, 2.93ghz, 512mb Ram, 40gb HD Item number: 150326764328
    To: jstontan1145@yahoo.com
    Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 6:38 PM

    Hello, thank you for your intrest in my item, and yes i can mail it whatever way you like, i will have to check into the rates for shipping before i accept your offer so i can establish how much of this $ will be going to shipping, as i have never shipped international, perhaps you could provide me with your general location so i can find out, and yes also as soon as your payment has been recieved and it is on its way to my bank accound i can send the item tommarow, and also how much insurence would you like to put on this item? i apologize about the questions however i am very new to international and insurence included shipping, i will end the auction as soon as i have recieved your payment, and my e-mail address is StarModder@yahoo.com, please respond ASAP

    — On Sun, 2/15/09, Joe Stanton wrote:

    From: Joe Stanton
    Subject: Dell Optiplex GX270 SFF, 2.93ghz, 512mb Ram, 40gb HD Item number: 150326764328
    To: StarModder@yahoo.com
    Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 8:26 AM

    Hello seller,
    Pleasured to view this great item as I’m interested in the immediate purchase of this item,which is needed in my store urgently in next few days for my customers, I intend to pay you $700 (i would gladly increase my offer if it need arises) for the item to including shipping & insurance via INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL EXPRESS MAIL USPS (EMS)5-7 Day Delivery,i will be paying you through a trusted name PAYPAL.reply asap with your PayPal email address so that i can get to pay for this item and your email address in your reply so that can contact you anytime.i will be glad if you can end auction for the item now.Reply Asap NB:i would like buy the item to one of my store , pls let me know if you can ship tomorrow as soon as payment has been received .
    Regards
    _______________________________

    Your blog opened my eyes and i will end this trasaction NOW thanks ALOT!!

    p.s. i use a fake name in yahoo!! thats why it is sam philips

  41. Sam Porter
    February 21, 2009 at 9:23 am (15 years ago)

    ^ Read the e-mail part from bottom to top to understand it, sorry for any confusion

  42. L Q
    March 28, 2009 at 8:27 am (15 years ago)

    My brother is an idiot an sent a like-new Alienware laptop.

    When he got the “paypal” email, he sent the item.
    Then 2 weeks later he realized he got owned in the face.

  43. nicola richings
    May 5, 2009 at 8:44 pm (15 years ago)

    OMG I was just about to send my G1 phone to someone in nigeria but it was her husband who has been transferreed out there… i would have lost £330 then…. i was almost out the door and thought id google how much the postage is then i read someone had send dont bother its prob a scam – so i looked further and all this is what has just happened to me – im so upset i have been banking on that money!

    how do i get my item on there again?

  44. Linda
    May 25, 2009 at 1:57 am (15 years ago)

    Lucky I ran into this blog, I’ve been having bad feeling all day because some guy purchase my item on eBay and ask me to send it to Nigeria so I google around for peace of mind. Suprise…surprise The same MO, fake eBay and paypal noticifation. Thank you for your post it save me a lot and gives my peace back.

  45. Christina
    May 28, 2009 at 8:45 pm (15 years ago)

    UGH!! This same thing just happened to me with a PDA I listed for sale on EBay! It was the first item I had ever listed on EBay for sale and admittedly, when I got an email from EBay the very next morning stating someone bought it for my ‘Buy It Now!’ pricing…well, I was excited about that! So, I boxed it all up and addressed it to go out to the California address that was listed on the account. The next morning, of course, I get a fake Paypal email stating they are paying me extra to ship it to their grandson in Lagos, Nigeria, for his birthday. I log into my Paypal account on a separate web page and no big surprise–the money isn’t there! THEN–this morning I actually get an email from them again asking why they haven’t heard from me and if I have shipped the package and I simply replied and said that I won’t ship it until the payment is received per EBay policy and that I have reported their fake Paypal email to spoof@paypal.com. I just contacted EBay about the incident and am asking to be returned the cost of the listing and the selling fees. I think this is just absolutely ridiculous–for people to spend all of their time ripping others off for what they have! Now I question how many things I want to list on EBay! I do think I will list the item again however without a ‘Buy It Now’ price and see how that works out!

  46. sean
    June 6, 2009 at 4:57 pm (15 years ago)

    thx alot for your article you actually just saved me sever hundred dollars for a game system i was planning to ship tomorrow.

    THX!!!

  47. John
    June 7, 2009 at 8:55 pm (15 years ago)

    Hello,

    I think I can claim to be the first person targeted by two seperate scammers. I sold a mobile recently (06/06/09) and instead of going for around £100 the item finally went for £400. The alarm bells started ringing straight away, looks like the both drove the price up against each other. However it has only been a day and both are no longer registered with ebay. So do I offer it to the next bidder or relist it?

  48. Nicolas Palacios
    June 22, 2009 at 10:13 pm (15 years ago)

    Hi. And now they are in Latin America. In Deremate.com.co. Y received an Bid for my Netbook. The same history. Beware people. Cuidado gente, ya llegaron a America Latina

  49. Wildchyld810
    July 7, 2009 at 10:45 pm (15 years ago)

    Hi! I almost got caught in that scam. I posted this on my blog so maybe others will read it as well.
    I sold something on ebay, found out it was going to Nigeria. I called the USPS and he said “Nigeria”??? Be careful, it’s usually a scam. So i did some research on my end. There was a few things about this email i got from paypal.. #1 The guy sent $300, not the $205 that was agreed upon. #2 Login to my paypal account and theres no sign of a payment made by him, just emails?? #3 The dumbass sending out this email can’t spell for Sh*t!! Heres a copy! and NEVER SEND ANYTHING OUT OF USA, unless you check them out!!!

    COPY:
    You’ve got new funds!

    Dear (my name)

    This massage is Original from PayPal Service account for an item prompt payment made into your PayPal account and the money has been transferred to your PayPal account by “Havidson Good” and it has also been approved and confirmed here with us but we just need the shipment confirmation from you so that we may credit and release the money to your account immediately within 6-12 hours.

    The payment has been successfully made but due to security reason we have to receive the shipment tracking number before the next 24hour for the processing of your order.

  50. ariani sacramento
    July 13, 2009 at 7:25 am (15 years ago)

    hi i was almost scamed by these guys and it was on craigslist too
    and this is what he wrote to me ..
    Thanks for your reply and am glad to know that you are still selling the package,
    However i have few questions on the package you are selling.
    1,I would like to know the reason you are selling it..?
    2,What is the current status of the package..?
    3,What is your firm price, though am okay with the listing price..?
    4,Do you have the original box and the receipt for it ..?
    5,What type of paymentdo you accept as a seller even though i will
    add an extra dollars to cover the shipping because am currently not
    local at the moment,Am out of town to visit my cousin that has stroke in AZ(He’s getting better now) and i would like to purchase it from you on behalf of my mission in oversea west africa .
    I have a paypal account can pay you via that right away .If you do not have a PayPal account, you can do so by going to http://www.PayPal.com and set up your account it is free,easy and guarantee transaction safety.Once you send me money request, I will send you the payment for your item as well as $200 USD to covers shipping via USPS PRIORITY MAIL.And please will need pics for visual assesment I would be glad if my request is favorably considered.Thanks

    Go ahead and let me know the shipping cost via USPS priority mail ..
    you can do this via http://www.usps.com
    here is the destination address…

    Darek M
    #28 Isale-agbowa
    Makun Sagamu
    Ogun state.
    Nigeria,121101

    yeah i almost believed it thank think God i didn’t fell for it…
    so everyone out there be careful..

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