Scam- right?

[Steve Carlton]

I'm selling my old iPhone on craigslist for $199 and received this. If I have him PayPal me as a gift (assuming he could pay as a gift), how could this go south? Does he have a fraudulent or hacked PayPal account to use? I don't know anything about online postal money orders. I X'd out the last four of his phone number.

Hi,
I am glad this item is still available for sale and the price that you wish to sell is alright with me,i really need an awesome gift for my son and hope this will be a great one.He's celebrating his birthday this month and i wish to have this one as a gift to him.However, i cannot be able to come up with cash and pay you face to face because i am out of town for a business trip but can still be able to pay you with a secure online postal money order or PayPal if you have a PayPal
account.
Provide me with any of this payment information above,Full name and address for a postal Money Order or your pay pal ID for PayPal but only if you are interested selling this item to me.
Note:i will be paying you the sum of $270 and the added money is for the shipment of the item to my son.Make sure all information's provided are correct to avoid wrong payment.Feel free to call me at +44704571XXXX
Regards

[flatbutt]

Steve, try giving Paypal a call. I've had them help me on the phone a couple of times. Bon Chance pal o' mine.

[MBAtarga]

Scam!

[Embraer]

yep...just the tone of the email is hoaky

[aap1966]

Scam. He never mentions the iPhone, only referring to "the item". The offer to pay over the sale price for shipping also screams scam. My guess is he hooks the seller, then there is some "trouble" with paying by paypal & he tries to get you to accept some other payment, probably with an extra payment for the delay.

[Steve Carlton]

Any harm in having him gift me the money on PayPal and then calling them? I know if he pays the other way, he can dispute the sale.

[nostatic]

scam

I've used Paypal gift (avoids fees) but only with buyers/sellers on sites I know like talkbass.com, etc.

[krichard]

This is why all those scams work.....you're still considering moving forward "just in case" it's real..... total scam move on!!!!

what will happen if you provide your Paypal email is you will receive an "official" email from paypal confirming payment receipt. problem is the link in the email will not be to paypal but a scam site that looks like paypal and you enter your username and password then they have your real account info..... good luck!!

[Steve Carlton]

It's got to be a scam. I just wonder what the downside is to receiving a PayPal payment as a gift. There's got to be an angle.

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by krichard

This is why all those scams work.....you're still considering moving forward "just in case" it's real..... total scam move on!!!!

what will happen if you provide your Paypal email is you will receive an "official" email from paypal confirming payment receipt. problem is the link in the email will not be to paypal but a scam site that looks like paypal and you enter your username and password then they have your real account info..... good luck!!

Makes total sense. So if I ignore such a link and login to PayPal directly, I'll see no transfer, right?

[krichard]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Makes total sense. So if I ignore such a link and login to PayPal directly, I'll see no transfer, right?

correct. If you receive an email with a payment received, don't follow a link, log into Paypal directly. If it is legit the money will be there, if not there will be no record of the transaction.

[Steve Carlton]

So all I need to do is send the phone to his son in Nigeria and provide the shipping information and then I'll get paid! Seems pretty straightforward...
I should mail him a turd.

[Jagshund]

You should play him. I'm really suprised we don't have a 419 thread with active anti-scammers keeping us in the loop. Some folks around here probably have the right creative touch for the job, too. Shame.

[rick-l]

How do you find out where mail2developer.com is?

[porsche4life]

Steve can you view in HTML mode and get us the IP he sent it from?

[krystar]

so what...is he saying that you'll ship the item to his son? craigslist transactions are usually local and in cash or in-person-paypal.

take his money. hold onto the phone. if he's a flake, you won't be out anything. if he's for real, he'll be disappointed...but u'll give him the phone eventually

[rick-l]

Originally Posted by krystar

take his money. hold onto the phone. if

There is no money to take. That is a fake paypal transaction

[porsche4life]

We is the items listed as $70.00 and the shipping listed as $200.00...

Ya its a scam...

[LeeH]

Send him a frantic note that you mailed the phone, but lost the tracking number and now you're concnered that you won't get paid. Plead with him to cancel this transaction and send payment in another form. After all, your elderly grandmother is in the hospital and the only reason you were selling the phone was to buy her medicine.

[Steve Carlton]

This is all I get when I "show details":

from PayPal.Com
reply-to paypalteam@mail2developer.com
to (my e-mail)@gmail.com
date Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 8:31 PM
subject ***Joseph Millna Has Sent You An Auction Payment Using Paypal***
signed-by yahoo.com

Got another one later that showed a ledger of PayPal transactions. Then this one:

from Joseph Millna
to gromitspapa@gmail.com
date Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 8:37 PM
subject Payment sent
mailed-by hotmail.com

hide details 8:37 PM (12 hours ago)

Hello Dear,

I have made the payment thru PayPal and they will send you email concerning the payment which i made.So check both your mail inbox and junk mail for there mail.Please try and mail out the item as soon as you recieve the confirmation mail from PayPal.
below is the shipping address of my son

Paul Moore
9 Peter Okoye Street
Uwani Enugu,
Enugu State.
Nigeria
400001.

Please shipping should be thru USPS registered or Express maill and ship as soon as payment is confirm by PayPal.