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:
- Bidz US and Canada
- Bidz Australia and New Zealand
- Bidz Latin America (Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Chile, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Mexico)
- Bidz Spain
- Bidz Middle East (Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates)
lol same thing happened to me! I was trying to sell my xbox 360 for 250 euros and the girl > Janet White offered me 400$ for it…. What a stupid scammmer… too bad I didnt fall for it! Google ftw!
Dear Izolete Rogovski,
We are so glad to inform you as a result of transfer update.
We are currently reviewing the transfer of the full payment of 400:00 Euros from our client, the buyer of your auction items *Janet White* , we got a call from your buyer and ours’ work is to get this across to you immediately.
Please, we need to inform you that *Janet White* called to our customer care in couple of minutes away concerning the transfer of 400:00 Euros which has been carried out since this days, but we are only waiting to see the Shipment Proof and as soon as we confirm that, we will give you the date in which your account will be activated.
The bank has the priority over this transaction, we are doing our best to ensure this transaction a good one which we believed, and we make you banking with our bank in time to come.
Hope everything are well correct ?
This procedure is usually taken to protect both the Seller and the Buyer from online fraud and we have given you Maximum Protection by deducting the money from our client bank account .
Now its your turn to make the shipment and provide us the shipment document so we can Accredited the money quickly to your account given to us for the Payment…So we urge you to go and ship the items and send us the scanned receipt so that we can verify the shipment before dispatching the money into your account.
We assure you that after we get the shipment details from you we will dispatch and remits the money into your account within 2-3days of verification process.We therefore wait to get the shipment scanned receipt from you before we can proceed with the Transfer processing
****ATTENTION****
We assure you 100% of getting your money once you make the shipment and send the full shipment document to us.
We have been making these such payments for a very long time but we later discovered that sellers at times will receive money without shipping the items to the buyer.So we have really taken a great measure to reduce these risk and as a result we with-hold the money as soon as the buyer makes the transfer the shipment scanned receipt must be send to us from the seller so that we can curb the process of fraud and scams through this internet transaction and also protect our Good name…
We will send you the password for the release of the money to your accounts after you have sent the scanned receipt of shipment to Alternatively you can send it to our account section with the contacts provided below. ( colony-manager@accountant.com )
We really appreciate your prompt responses over the days and we will keep our promises to ensure this bank serves you better.
You can now go ahead now to ship out the item to ***Janet White***
Thanks For Using COLONY Bank Of CANADA ® Online Transfer
you article has really inspired me as i have just read it doing my research i put a laptop on ebay and what you have said all links up to what these people are saying exactly identical thanks
d marlank
I am very sad I was selling my blackberry so I could pay for a operation for my dog yanni and I now believe that I was a potential victim of the same scam. I recieved the following messages:
Dear Ebay, I recently put my Blackberry phone on sale, the item number is 170431060168, I am now very worried that the buyer is not genuine. The buyer’s name is lisasmith058611 she states that she wants to buy the item for her boyfriend who is currently working for unisef in Nigera. I have received emails to my hotmail account which state the following: Lisa Smith has just sent you an Auction Payment of £280.00 GBP with PayPal For An eBay Item (Routing Code: C826-L003-Q999-T5365)? From: genebriant.customerservice@gmail.com on behalf of service@paypal.co.uk (shipmentconfirmation@europe.com) You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as junk Sent: 12 January 2010 22:35:13 To: vickymoss@hotmail.co.uk 12 Jan 2010 22:34:15 GMT Payment for your eBay Item with PayPal Dear Victoria Moss, This email confirms that Lisa Smith has sent you £280.00 GBP with PayPal for an eBay item Buyer Lisa Smith lisasmith0586@live.com Note from buyer Hi, sorry for the delay, I have been very busy with work. I hope you get this quick though so you post tomorrow morning..I have added the 30GBP for p&p as promised for the item, get this item in the post tomorrow morning so that it can get to my husband quick..many thanks…Lisa… Description Unit price Qty Amount RIM BlackBerry Bold 9000 Cell Phone Item Number: 170431060168 £250.00 1 £250.00 Subtotal: £250.00GBP Postage and packing: £30.00GBP Total: £280.00GBP Accept payment with PayPal Payment Details Seller ID: vicky200684 vickymoss@hotmail.co.uk ***The Payment Has Been Approved on item #170431060168***Payment ID Number C826-L003-Q999-T5365***? From: genebriant.customerservice@gmail.com on behalf of service@paypal.co.uk (shipmentconfirmation@europe.com) You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as junk Sent: 12 January 2010 22:53:09 To: vickymoss@hotmail.co.uk Dear Victoria Moss, ———————————– Details of Transaction ———————————– Seller’s Ebay ID: vicky200684 Seller’s Email: vickymoss@hotmail.co.uk Date of Transaction: January 12, 2010 Transaction ID: C826-L003-Q999-T5365 Transaction Amount: £280.00 GBP Case #: PP-091-962-521 ———————————– What to Do Next ———————————– The funds have been deducted from Mrs Lisa Smith’s CREDIT CARD and will be credited into your account immediately the shipment details is confirmed. Get back to us with the shipment BARCODE and the money will be credited immediately. ———————————– Due Date: January 13, 2010 ———————————– Please respond within the next 24hrs. DO NOT provide the Buyer with the shipment details until we have posted the funds into your PayPal Account. Only PayPal is eligible to information on BARCODE. Thank you for using PayPal® . We look forward serving your online auction payment needs in the future. Sincerely, MR K.S. GREEN Paypal Customer Care , BUYER SHIPPING OPTIONS : I am really concerned because I have not recieved any of the above emails on paypal, and in her first email to me we did not discuss me shipping the item to Nigera. This is the first email she sent me, actually she did talk about international shipping here is what the email says:ts okay then, I just want to confirm this and be sure I am buying what is presentable for my Husband. He has been away for some time now and I believe this will make a good b’day gift for him..even though I have been busy..his birthday comes up next week. I will get the payment sent to you through PayPal this evening when I get back home as I am at work – Surgeon…but will definitely make the payments today so that you can post tomorrow morning. Postage will be made through Royal Mail International Signed For as I will also be adding a 30 GBP for p&p..I will get back to you very soon after I have made the payments. Please let me know if you can post tomorrow before or on your way out. Many thanks.. Regards, Lisa However I never said on the item that I would post outside of the united kingdom. I will be really upset if this is a scam and I would like to report it to you and the police as I need the money as my dog Yanni needs a operation. Please can you let me knoe ASAP Kind Regards Important Note: This PayPal payment has been debited from the Buyer’s CREDIT CARD and has been “APPROVED” but will remain PENDING until the shipment BARCODE is sent to our customer service for shipment verification so as to secure both the Buyer and the Seller from Fraudulent activities on eBay. Below are the necessary information requested before your account will be credited with the total money paid in by the Buyer: 1 : Make sure you ship the item to the CONFIRMED Buyer’s delivery address below immediately you receive the “Payment Has Been Approved” message from us. 2: Make sure the shipment BARCODE is been sent to our customer service through this e-mail. 3: DO NOT provide the Buyer with the shipment details until the funds have bee credited into your Account. Only PayPal is eligible to information on BARCODE. 4: Please endeavor to leave a feedback after you have received your funds so as to make eBay a better shopping site. This terms is to secure and to assure you of a better and safe transaction with the Buyer Postal Address: MR BABATUNDE SMITH. 15 AWE ROAD, SHOMOLU. LAGOS STATE. 23401. NIGERIA. +2348030887654. Address Status: Confirmed Important Note: We have confirmed and verified the postage address provided by Lisa Smith in West Africa, please send the item to the above address. Copyright © 1999-2009 PayPal. All rights reserved. PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. & Cie, S.C.A. Société en Commandite par Actions Registered Office: 5th Floor 22-24 Boulevard Royal L-2449, Luxembourg RCS Luxembourg B 118 349 PayPal Email ID PP1525
please be careful xxxx
Good evening, everybody.
?as happened to me the same incident, with this address :
Name:Nelson Joseph
Address:No 4 Kudeti, Onireke Road
City:Ibadan
State:Oyo
Zip Code:23402
Country:Nigeria
Tell:2348079121315
I’m in the stage shortly before the mission. however i will continue to see that end. What is certain is that i will not send anything to Nigeria. The article is very important. thanks.
au suijt de bidz.com
il y a des commentaires très mauvais
c’est de l’arnaque
je vous recommande de ne pas
faire affaire chez bidz.com
si non vous aller être très décu.
Thank you guys for all your help!
Almost fall for it, as fishy as it could be, but doubing the asking price is working for them. I’m glad I did my research and found this article.
I quoted a paragraph from above, hopping it would stop right there, but no..
Check out what reply I got back:
what the meaning of all this? dint you receive your money? please your payment as been made and your money as been deducted from my account so get my item ship out now and send me the tracking number as soon as possible pleas go through your paypal account your money as been transferred ok
thanks again!
You are guys dont have work to do thats why you are all posting this shits here right ? You are fools,idiots and crazy………. you guys really sucks
Well not to put more fear into people the scam are not just on ebay either they are doing it on craigs list also. I posted a laptop on it and i had a reply with in a week offering me $50 more then what i had it posted for. She or whoever it was was offering me the $50 more to take it off the list and let her use paypal to pay for it. She was even offering to use her own fedex account number to pay for shipping.. She was saying she was going to send it to her son away at collage out of State and she live in a city in NY. I ask to contact her by phone got a number thats away to long.. Then I broke the number down it has a Ohio and NY area in it.. I sent a email to her saying number does not work is that right number. Reply back yes that is my number. Then got a email saying fedex account is not working right have to sort a few things out with them before it does. So i will add another $100 to pay for it to be shipped by express mail. Then when we got the email saying to verify payment by using paypal it had a shipping address to Nigeria. I just about sh*t myself when i read where it was going to. She said out of state not out of states to another country.. Also it said no money would be release to us till its shipped and tracking number is given. The deal was that the money cleared to our account nothing said that paypal would not release till shipped. I was warned by a friend of scam all out of Nigeria. I wasnt going to ship it out of till I researched everything anyways that threw red flags out even more. I sent a email real fast stating that you didnt say to another country you said out of state. I gave my phone number and told her to contact me and that I onto the scam coming from where Im sending it to that I want to be contacted by phone to talk from there and a mail address from her house.. All the reply back was that this is not a scam and told u about i found out my number is not working now. NOTHING bout contacting me on my number that is fully working had it since 03. She can use a friends phone or whoever phone around her but nothing said bout my number. Thats where I told her the sale is off and i have the right to reject sale at anytime because no money has been moved to any accounts and just that a payment has been submitted and we will be rejecting payment. This is warning to anyone that its not just ebay they are doing it to. It just happen to me in January 2010 they try to scam. I am one of those sellers that if you want to buy from me and i ask to talk to you by phone or in person.. The buyer should be a person should not avoid me by lying to me if you want make the the buy a easy one.. What is there to hide from someone if your not trying to steal and scam??? Also What is to hide from the seller if they ask to contact by phone or email if someone wants to contact me by phone or person that im buying off of it would make me a happy person because they are covering all areas of not being scam or stolen from.. Its our goods that we have to watch out for when we sell thats a danger anywhere on net or off the net when selling. Trust the only ones that you think are right but remember can you really trust anyone these days thats your choice. Im the one of those gives a chance first and willing to work with you till you dont meet one what I asking or lying to me then the red flags goes up..
Thank you so much for your information, it is sosososo helpful. I almost shipped my cellphone to Nigeria this morning!!!!! Thanks google and thank you!
Needless to say I spammed the shit out of the scammer, got her email address and sent about 10k automated emails =]
Pingback: A scam I nearly got tricked – Its good to know. « Simple Moments
Hahaha…I knew it. I got scammed…well, almost. I was wondering why eBay kept saying the lady still hadn’t paid yet the lady said she did and I got emails from paypal saying that I needed to send in the barcode. It made me suspicious and this was one of my FIRST auctions. Poor me. Good thing I have a head on my shoulders and researched this before shipping the item. I’m reporting the bitch.
VICKY..YOU ARE VERY STUPID FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE..YOU ARE THE BIGGEST FOOL ON EARTH..YOU STINK..U SUCK..IF I EVER CATCH YOU..COS I CAN..I HAVE LINKS IN YOUR AREA..I HAVE YOUR CONTACT INFO..YOU SHOULDNT HAVE DOPNE THIS..FCUK THE HELL OF YOURSELF..OMO..TI MO BA MU’EN??!!..
For the record, ive stop emailing
Hi Kenet,
Thanks for your mail.Below is the shipping information you need to determine the cost of the shipment to its destination and i would be sending you the payment through bank to bank transfer that is the secure online payment have been using so far to send money abroad.Here is the shipping address
Name;Nelson Joseph
Address;No 4,Kudeti Onireke Road
City:Ibadan
State;Oyo
Zip Code;23402
Tell:2348079121315
Country:Nigeria
I would be looking forward to read from you soon with the overall cost of the item including the shipping cost to its destination.Have a nice day
Regards,
Mrs Teter
On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 11:12 PM, kenet wrote:
gud am
Please send me full name and address with zip code. I will inquire how much the shipping cost.
Probably u can send the payment via western union or bank preferably or correspondent bank of Philippine National Bank
Regarding the picture, i will send it via email once i picture maybe later this afternoon but not to worry, item is in very good condition.
— On Mon, 1/25/10, Joy Teter wrote:
From: Joy Teter
Subject: Re: PENTAX ZX-7 SLR Camera with 28-90mm Lens(Almost New)
To: “kenet”
Date: Monday, January 25, 2010, 11:14 PM
Hi Kenet,
Thanks for your reply.I live in West Virgina(United State) i will like to inform you that I’m interested in buying your item for a friend who went on religious mission abroad as a Gift.I will be paying for this item through Online Bank to bank transfer .I would like to know the amount you are willing to sell this item in USD Dollars and will be adding an extra $150.00usd for shipment to send this item to its destination (Nigeria) through UPS or Ems Speed Post.I will be looking forward to read from you as soon as possible with the cost you are willing to sell this item including the shipping cost to its destination.
N.B:I would like you to send me more pictures of its present condition of the item.
Best Regards,
Mrs Teter
On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 9:31 PM, kenet wrote:
gud am
condition is almost new, rarely use, no dust no scratches
item is still available
u can contact me at 0917414XXXX or 0928772XXXX
— On Sat, 1/23/10, Joy Teter wrote:
From: Joy Teter
Subject: PENTAX ZX-7 SLR Camera with 28-90mm Lens(Almost New)
To: @yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010, 9:23 AM
Hi,
Good day!
I saw your item pasted for sale on Ebay web site and I’m interested in buying it..I will need from you the present condition of the item and do you still have the item available for sale.Hope to read from you soon.
Warm regards,
Mrs Teter
it almost happend to me too,thanks for God n google..
i was just selling my phone to someone but before i ship items to nigeria i checked google for scams, this is one site that came up among a lot about nigeria scams..i just reported it to paypal and emailed the scammers “i shipped the item” and never heard from him….
SO happy i googled ‘nigeria ebay scam’ just as I was about to post a camera to Nigeria…….
Put an old old camera (that i thought was worth nothing) on ebay an within hours it was sold buy it now for 200 pounds.
got an email from ‘paypal’ saying someone had deposited 240 pounds in my account….but couldnt deposit the money until I had confirmed shipping. The ‘lady’ then emailed me saying she had paid me 40 pounds extra to make sure i shipped the camera immediately for her sisters birthday.i thought this was too good to be true but..
I believed this!
Emailed the lady saying I would ship it straight away…..!
But my dad told me to be extra careful as Nigerians are the biggest scacmmers in the world. so i googled and found this……
!!! BEWAREE!!!!!!!!
oh my thank God i googled this scammer,i posted my item in ebay. . .
Hi Leeza
Thanks for your mail.I do agree to pay you sum of $800.00 for the item, i would like you to use below shipping address to determine the cost of the shipment to its destination through DHL,UPS or Local Post Office and get back to me with the overall cost.Regarding the payment method,i can only make the payment through bank to bank transfer that is the only online secure payment i can be rest assure on, its also protect intrest of both buyer nd seller and have been using so far to send money abroad without any payment delay.Comply with this get back to me with your full bank account details with the overall cost.Here is the shipping address below:
Name:Nelson Joseph
Address:No 4 Kudeti Onireke Road
City:Ibadan
State:Oyo
Zip Code:23402
Tell:2348079121315
Country:Nigeria
I will be looking forward to read from you soon.Have a nice Evening!
N.B:I received teh pictures of the Laptop and its okay with me
Regards,
Mrs Maureen
GUYS BEWARE!!!!! 🙂
I got an email for such address as well.. I supposed if it’s scam then I shall waste no time on this. Thanks!
Hello ,
How are you doing now, thank you for your sincerity and your good business, this is to inform you that i have made your payment for your your item, so i want you to wrap the package very well and put in a lovely greeting card with (Congrats tittle, “wishes you a good luck on your new Promotion from your Loving Dad, Mr Gene Allen”)..ok please make sure you help me write this so that she can understand that i embrace her for her hardworking and her new status area…So you will receive a confirmation of my Payment anytime from now, the payment has been confirmed, because the money has been deducted from my account and it will deliver to your home address anytime from now too…but make sure you check your inbox or incase your junk message…..i am sure you will see the notification of my payment there, so immediately you see this, please pay attention to read it very well, so that you can understand my payment and also do not forget to pack the item like a Gift….ok
So here is the shipping address once again for my daughter new status and for the delivery.
Name: OLALEKAN OLUMIDE
Address: No 23 Agbala Itura Street Iwo Road
City: Ibadan
State: Oyo State
Zipcode: 23402
Country: Nigeria
Please ensure that the item is ship via EXPRESS MAIL INTERNATIONAL….AT THE POST OFFICE…..BECAUSE MY DAUGHTER TOLD ME IT IS VERY SAFE AND SECURE AND FAST…AND TO ENSURE IF IT IS EXPRESS MAIL INTERNATIONAL…THE TRACKING NUMBER MUST START WITH LETTER: E******** END WITH ……….US….Thanks
So i am waiting for your shipment tracking number now, so that i can produce a feedback for you, because i really appreciate your sincerity and your good business.God bless you
Best regards.
Hi Seller,
im willing to purchase this item for a close friend of mine as an
birthday Gift.i”ll offer you $500 for the item including the shipping
and handling via Usps to Abroad.So i want you to get back to me with
your verified PayPal full name Account and Email Address or Send me
PayPal Money Request ASAP.Kindly consider the item sold and put an End
on the Auction, because i will be paying for this item immediately.
I almost sent my PS3 to
Salami Taofeek
No 5 nawairudeen road oke ijeun
Abeokuta
Ogun state
Nigeria
110001.
I got a Email from some kinda fake paypal saying:
You’ve got new funds!
Dear bthornton10@Comcast.net,
David Walter just sent you money with PayPal.
David Walter is a Verified buyer.
Payment Details
Amount:
$500.00 USD
Transaction ID:
5TB46738R0457834N
Subject:
The item must be on it’s way to it’s destination Within 24hours.
Note:
You have been paid for
60gb Song PS3(120537905072)
Shipping Information
Address:
Salami Taofeek
No 5 nawairudeen road oke ijeun
Abeokuta
Ogun state
110001
Nigeria.
Address Status: Confirmed
This PayPal® payment has been deducted from the buyer’s account and has been ” APPROVED ” but it will not be credited to your account until the shipment reference/tracking number is sent to us for shipment verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller. Below are the necessary information requested before your account will be credited. Send the tracking number to our customer care email address below
paypallinknotification@ultimateemail.com and our customer service care will attend to you. As soon as you send us the shipment’s tracking number to us for security purposes and the safety of the buyer and the seller,the money will be credited to your account.
**PLEASE NOTE**
Once shipment has been verified and the tracking number or scanning receipt sent to us,
You will receive a “CONFIRMATION Email” from PayPal® informing you that the Money has been credited to your account.
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
PayPal Email ID PP370
If I were a selling I would not send ANYTHING OUT to a different country unless you know who it is or they payment was sent right to your paypal account.
I had my canon DSLR camera posted on marketplace at facebook for sale. A lady sends me an e-mail saying she will buy it. She told me if I could end the auction and she would pay me through paypal. So, I closed the auction and gave her my paypal e-mail. She said that she was living in U.S. and the camera is for her grandson’s bithday present in Nigeria. Here is the e-mail :
hi
i am really interested in buying this item for my Grandson in west Africa as a Birthday gift and i will be offering you $3,250 including the shipping cost to west Africa kindly get back to me with your pay pal email address, so that i can send out the payment as soon as possible.
Thanks and Stay Bless
my reply :
my pay pal email address is the same as my gmail address :
xxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
After that, I receive email from paypal :
PayPal Mar 08, 2010 : PDT
Transaction ID:Jan/16/2010 3D228926MW045920S
Hello xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxx,
You have an instant payment of $3,250.00 USD from JENNIFER COLE (jennifercole_0@yahoo.com,)
Thanks for using PayPal. To see all the transaction details, log in to your PayPal account.
It may take a few hours for this transaction to appear in your account.
—————————————————–—————————————————
Seller
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
Note to seller xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You have to provide to us the shipment tracking number so that your funds can reflect in your account as soon as possible.
.
Shipping address – confirmed
Name;………Abraham Ekpo
Address:…..N0,33 Olayinka Street Ijeshatedo
City:…………Surulere
State:………..Lagos
Country:……..Nigeria
Zipcode:……..23401
Shipping details
USPS Global Express Mail United States Postal Service
Description Unit price Qty Amount
*Canon EOS 500D/Kiss X3 for MYR*
Item# Not Applicable $3,250.00 USD
$3,250.00 USD
Shipping and handling $00.00 USD
Insurance – required $00.00 USD
Total
$3,250.00 USD
Payment
$3,250.00 USD
But something fishy about this is the seller is a white lady buying for her grandson, Abraham Ekpo ? Try to add her as friend in facebook, but no reply and when checking the trx ID, it was on 16 Jan 2010.
On top of that, I only sell the camera for MYR2900, but she paid USD3250. It was nearly RM10,888. I was shocked and excited, but to be safe I checked first at google and find out that it was a Nigerian scammer.Thank God I did’nt proceed shipping after read all the stories.
Beware of this email :
sandra.elli11@yahoo.com
Dear all,
I just got an offer just like the rest of you, in singapore and malaysia.
Sending emails back to these nigerians are just telling them to learn new tricks and come back again, it doesn’t help. They just change email and do it again, or with new ideas. There will always be new seller in the market and these people will be conned.
some suggestion of what we should or can do :
– everytime we post item for sale, include a (Con artiste from Nigeria or africa is not welcome) This way, newbies who read will be warned off.
– Send tons of scrap rubbish to the address they sent. Obviously the address is real, so they can get the items they conned. But since we do not know the authorities there to help, this is one way to try stopping them.
– Get their UPS account and reverse charge the item, it will not be easy and I’m sure they won’t give, but if they are stupid enough to give, then let everyone here knows and we will send our tampons and leftover in 40foot container to them.
– If you know someone personally from nigeria, get them to find the right group of people (authorities) to close them down, confiscating their billions of dollar in the bank, I’m sure someone will be very happy with these money.
There’s nothing gmail, yahoo mail, paypal, ebay or all the auction and email website in the whole world can prevent them from striking again and again. We welcome any suggestion to counter these before another billion is being conned into their country.
thank you so much! I got this same email for another item i was selling!
the scammer using
roscoll001@gmail.com
as originating email adress of false bank transaction confirmations is still active. He/She tried to get me to send a laptop I have up for sale to the UK. The Buyer’s email address is
beckmartins@live.com
(Beckham Martins)
I suspect it is a group of people, they falsify Colony Bank transaction emails, a bank that does exist, but of course their payment department would never send a confirmation from a gmail address.
the site they try in NL to find victims on is http://www.marktplaats.nl
Be careful currently if you receive messages alike to the here mentioned or any messages from the two addresses I gave or also the following:
wire_transfer.h@representative.com
wire_transfer.h@emergencymail.com
also be careful if you’re asked to ship to the following address in London: Mr. DAMMY SHORE
No25 PALM court garnies close, London, Se156Pb
Mr. Shore’s phone number, guess what… was a Nigerian one:
+2348064622747
their own bank account number in the false tranaction emails is
8070416302 and if you look for that on the internet it happens to be reported for multiple scams, at times it’s a Bank of America account then a Bank of Scotland account, you name it!
As the address actually exists in London I reported to the Dutch police and also consulted metropolitan police in London, per process the Dutch police would report to Interpool and from there the metropolitan police can get the details to decide if they want to get a warrant to search the flat at the mentioned address for stolen goods.
In each country the process is similar, if a destination address inside the european union is reported several times the likeliness for London Police to take action gets higher. So who ever reads this was also asked to send to that adress don’t hesitate to report it.
im in the middle of this scam right now. i sent off my blackberry to this address:
No 14 Agbowo U.I Road,
Ibadan,
Oyo,
23402,
Nigeria,
+2348132380904.
of course the fake paypal was emailing me saying i had to send the shipment tracking number as proof before they credited my account. it did sound weird but no i still go ahead and do it. WELL No money was ever credited to my account.. then got emails saying that paypal ” accountment team” made a mistake and credited 460 GBP instead of 260 GBP!!!! they also said that MYSELF had to pay the buyer the 200 GBP Back throguh western union!! beefore any money gets credited to my acount.
well that was it i got suspicious and checked it out. i feel like a fool becuase the post office man WARNED me about sending to nigeria!!!!! and i never listen..thing is the fone was sent airmail.. and im tracking it down and i think its allredy left the UK and in nigeria. so dont no if i can get the blackberry back… iv EMAILED both royal mail and nigeria post office to STOP the transaction..so just waiting for replys. ANYONE KNOW WHAT I CAN DO NOW?? becuase iv been reading that REAL PAYPAL cudnt giv a S**T about the fake paypal and scams??
MY EMAIL IS: dis-gurl-is@hotmail.co.uk ( not my everyday one ) please contact me if your in the same boat as me or can give me advice.
i see im not the first and WILL NOT be the last BUT PLEASE BE CAREFULL.. JUST SEND WITHIN YOUR OWN COUNTRY PLEASE. its the safest way.
It almost happened to me today. Thank god for google and this site!
I emailed them back telling them I knew they were a scam…. no reply.
hello!i so feel the frustration looming in!i almost fell for the trap!i posted an ad in craiglist (selling my laptop) and three people immediately responded.one sent a paypal thingy as well.i was almost convinced but when i asked as to where to ship the item,everything was all in nigeria for their son!
im glad i emailed paypal first then did internet research and here is what i found!
Ive just “nearly” been scammed myself
Guy was named Grey Frank Costarro (grey_beresfordforgod@yahoo.com). He wanted me to ship a Mac Mini to Nigeria and wanted to use PayPal.
As i do not ship anything outside the UK, i informed him i would only deliver the items to a UK address. I also had the payment held email from a supposed PayPal.
When after 6 emails between us, he would not give a UK delivery address, i rang PayPal to refund him, and was informed that the transaction had not gone ahead, and was a scam.
I then deleted my PayPal account there and then. I have not heard anything more from the scammer.
People like this should be shot.
never you send anythin untill you have received your money am from nigeria and i know that some nigerians are terribly bad. Today i got into it. I got scammed! So be careful man! I wish you luck
same here with laptop. emailed offering me £460 to send to nigeria. BE CAREFUL. buyer was hesitant to give me their paypal address kept asking for mine, when i refused they eventually obliged. later recieved email from service@paypal.co.uk (bar_code@post.com)
claiming that a barcode from the postage label was required before paypal released the funds. thought this was strange as never seen anything like that before so logged into paypal which listed the invoice as ‘pending’. lucky i realised
I’ve got the same guy as Brian mentioned above.
He is trying to buy a Blackbery Bold 9000 from my wife.
Here is the shipping address:
Salami Taofeek
No 5 nawairudeen road oke ijeun
Abeokuta
Ogun state
Nigeria
110001.
So kindly send me your paypal full name and email for an instant payment.
Is it wrong toamuse myself for a few hours by winding him up?
I think they not even interested in expensive stuff but small small things.
This is what I received for selling scarf in ebay :
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified”honestylife30 life”
Hello i am Mr Honest Life John from United State Of America how are you today and how are your families ? hope all is good ? well i am interested in buying the item for my daughter becuse it my daugter that need it and i hope she would like it , so kindly get to me with the total cost of the item including the shipping cost to her address below with ,FED X,UPS,TNT.DHL i pay through either Paypal or Bank transfer ok reply soon.
Name – Williams John
Address – #162 obafemi awolowo way oke-ado
City – Ibadan
State – Oyo state
Zip code – 23402
Country-Nigeria
Thanks and have a blessed day.
Yes, I curious how a father send scarf to Nigeria. I have not reply him at all and thanks god, no email from him too.
The second case, a women ask me whether the lady shirt still available, after i confirm the thing still on stock, she send me the mail:
Hello i am Mrs Cassey Williams from United State Of America how are you today and how are your families ? hope all is good ? well i am interested in buying the item for my daughter because it my daughter that need it and i hope she would like it , so kindly get to me with the total cost of the item including the shipping cost to her address below with DHL ,FEDEX,UPS i pay through either Paypal or Bank transfer ok reply soon.
Name – Abiola Agbolade
Address – #162 opposite st Teresa college oke-ado
City – Ibadan
State – Oyo state
Zip code – 23402
Country – Nigeria
Thanks and have a blessed day
oh, remember this address or just word of Nigeria. How come same address?
This time I google nigeria scam and get this useful information.
This literally just happened to me today. A few days ago I posted an ad on Facebook’s Marketplace, selling an IPod I’d won. I received an inquiry from someone claiming to be in the military and that he wanted to buy it for his sister as a birthday present and that her birthday was next week so he wanted it as soon as possible. I was to ship it to his coworker in Nigeria and he would get it through her.
I thought by going through PayPal would make it secure, so I requested the payment (which by the way he offered more than I was asking “to cover shipping costs”) through that. I received an email today supposedly from paypal stating that the payment had been approved from him, but I would have to email the shipping confirmation before the funds would be deposited. I packaged it up and took it to the postal office, where they were incredibly cautious about it. They basically told me there 95% sure it was a scam and although they’d love to accept my money to ship it, they wanted me to check it out more. I came back and went to my actual Paypal account. There was nothing on there about accepting a payment from this guy so I knew then. I cancelled the request and emailed him, telling him I suspected he was scamming me and that I had cancelled the transaction. He got incredibly nasty before I just blocked him from contacting me. I thought it sounded a little fishy at first, but now I’ll be a lot more careful. If it feels off, then it probably is. And if they get snippy with you, that’s even more evidence. A buyer should understand that a seller should feel secure, and vice versa. Needless to say I won’t be listing anything on there anymore. P.S. His facebook account has been deleted
Guys,
I wish I had read this before shipping the item to those bloody scammers. I took 3 days to actually figure out , cuz i had my doubts but I started getting emails from Ebay which were obviously fake. that my account will be blocked and all. I just shipped then item yesterday afternoon and at night I found it that it was a scam. It was a mobile phone. I went to postal depot of Royal Mail first thing in the morning, and they said they cannot do anything.Its illegal.WOW these nigerians are doing illegal stuff thats ok and now I am asking for my parcel to be stopped is illegal. Hence, the item is not in my hands and will soon reach to those scammers. But I am just curious that the address they gave me doesnot have a street name on.So I am assuming that it might comeback.Don’t know just my wish
The address was
Mary Joseph
Block 45 Flat 12
Abesan Ipaja
Lagos
Don’t know if that would do the job or not. I have told ebay and paypal but they wont do anything offcourse. I am really feeling like a fool. I wish I would have read these articles.Ebay seriously need to do something about it. But to be honest, I am not gona shop on Ebay in near future I believe.
Mary Joseph
Block 45 Flat 12
Abesan Ipaja
Lagos
23401
Just wondering has anyone ever got their stuff back in case if the address was wrong and the parcel came back.
Someone just tried to pull the exact same scam on me with a psp go. Does anyone know if there is some way to track and report these people?
hey, the same guy tried to con me on ebay yesterday too. He tried to buy an ipod touch off me and get me to ship it to the same address as the one you have listed here. Fortunately I realised this was a scam before I sent the ipod so I haven’t actually lost any money. I hope you haven’t lost too much. Don’t worry, i’m currently working on revenge!!…
i just had somebody pull this on me today… it was a nigerian from the netherlands, luckily i caught on.
fucking nigerians… the brits must have made them quite bitter from all that colonial oppression because no other country pulls this crap as much as they do… well this motherfucker aint gonna ‘chop my dolla’…
Why don’t we just send them letterbombs?
While I wasn’t foolish enough to fall for the offer, “Mr. Johnson” in Nigeria and his fucking crooked cohorts have succeeded it WASTING MY TIME.
All three times I attempted to list my blackberry it was purchased for the max ‘buy it now’ price by buyers in a foreign land with either suspended accounts or those with no user rating. All three accounts had been created within the last week. Every time I get the Spanish Prisoner overpay offer ‘send confirmation of shipment and we’ll send you millions!’. Right. I even specified I would only ship to the US Or Canada but this had zero effect. I’m asking for all listing fees to be refunded and not bothering to list the item again.
Ebay needs to fix this or their business will go in the shitter. How hard it is to have a setting where you only allow bidding from users with a certain number of successful transactions?
Frustrated.
i was selling my iphone last night on ebay and someone brought it hours later on buy it now and offered £30 more for postage n packaging and to send it to nigeria and asked for a barcode thing i typed it in all the ebay n pay pal help searches and nothing.
this is the address but his wife brought it for him someone calledoluwanishola david from bedfordshire.
DAVID WILLIAMS C
109 OLUDE ROAD
IPAJA
LAGOS
NIGERIA
23401
Thankyou ever so much i have wasted a whole week and turned down 4 real buyers for this johnson B******!!!
It has just cost me a genuine sale of £1500!!
Im fuming!!!!!
The solution is simple. Never send goods until the payment is received by your bank and is safely in your “bank” account. I’m surprised that anyone would send goods before being paid. You have no idea with whom you’re dealing or where they are, you cannot trust anyone.
Few honest Nigerians? I doubt that very much! I’m sure “most” Nigerians are good honest people. Why run down your fellow Nigerians because of a handful of nitwits.
Do not try this untill you receive your money,
Thanks
Here is another fake email.
Hello my name is Lundell Kristina a Swedish but residence in UK and
this item is urgently needed for my father who is on a mission at SS
Peter and Paul Seminary in Pretoria, south Africa and i want you to
give me the total cost, item and shipping cost and this my fathers
address below
JAMES GINO
HEIMAR FLATS,UNIT 1
163 RISSIK STREET,MEARS AND RISSIK
SUNNY SIDE,
PRETORIA,0002
SOUTH AFRICA
0710750936
Am going to proceed with the bank transfer immediately i receive your
email and i be using dhl for the shipment and am going to transfer the
money into your bank account and kindly give me the total cost and
your bank data so that payment can be made asap
i iiwas about to send my laptop cell phone and 2dvd players to nigeria i am so stupid i even had a yahoo instant message conversaation with a lady nameed lara movadoo she was really nice and helpful but then i looked up her email adress because after asking a few questions about shipping she so suddenly had to hryry and leave so i figured somthing was up looked up here name on facebook and even found an account for her she was such a beautiful woman so of course i was even more pushed to do business with her but it just didnt sound right to sendt something off before recieveing any money thanks u gyz!
Thank guys for highlighting this! I also experienced the same encounterment. They want me to send my items to nigeria too. They even sent me a Bank of America email saying the transfer was done etc and they hold the shipping cost of USD$70. They will only release the payment when i courier my stuffs. I told them they can forget on targetting me and i will only release my items when i see money crediting to my account.
Thanks a million guys!
saw a ad 2 days ago on the internet suggesting to me that a iphone was r1500 plus shippment 2 my door step i was so happy because the normal price for the iphone here in south africa is about r8000 so i emailed the guy and said i want one asap his first reply was: ‘hello friend’ i mean common i only just emailed him he said it cums with every thing in box and i must leave the following details:
FULL NAME::
PRODUCTS AND QUANTITY:
ADDRESS::
CITY /STATE::
ZIP CODE::
COUNTRY::
PHONE NUMBER:
so i did that as he said his name is Eugenio Gebriel so as i never suspected anything i was emailing him for a whole day i said i hope this isnt a scam he said dont worry i know how u feel about this but u can trust us..note he said he is from nigeria so he said he will send me a certificate of their company so i looked at it and it said usa i emailed him again saying why does it say that his reply was we have 2 branches.now the doubts kicked in he said you must do payment through money grams or western union now this is my first time so i didnt know where in our country there is thoes 2 places.now the 1st call from him a nigerian that couldnt even talk english properly he said u must wait 48 hours for it to arrive and then i told him why cant i pay the delevery man he said payment before we ship.i saw some scams on google about this last before that he phoned me and he said “please make da payment today” i told him the banks are closed he cut the call and replyd 2 me via email saying please do payment tommorow i replied and said how fuking stupid do u nigerian fucks think i am.no reply from that fuker
ok some tips how to see if he is a scammer
1.the sentences sometimes ends with OK or okay
2.they agree to pay amounts without seeing the product
3.they have all the things typed so they just reply and when u speak 2 them on the phone they cant speak properly
4.their names are made up like funny names
5.they tell u were u can do the deposit
6.the ask payment from money gram and western union when the money goes 2 them its untraceble thats why they use the banks
hope this helps i wont fall for a scam i hope u guys wont also