How does this scam work?
 

I listed my old iPhone on Phoenix Craigslist yesterday and got this email a minute ago. Legit?

Thanks for getting back to me,i am a marine engineer and my permanent residence is in Pacific Junction, Iowa, i* am at sea right now. I am buying this for my husband as a surprise promise Gift so am willing to offer you the amount you required. I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online (i don't have* internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email address to make the payments, and if you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can set one up at www.paypal.com. it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your PayPal email so l can pay and also get back to me with your best price on this.

Get back to me as soon as possible

Was www.paypal.com a link or did they spell out the web address? If it was a link, it may have gone to a phony paypal page where they would be happy to set you up with a brand new paypal account linked to the credit card or bank account you gave them.

when i buy something.

i ask like this:

"do you take paypal?"

this feels very scam-y to me.

Scam, although I don't know how it works. Sounds fishy to me...

that has "scam" written all over it.

Maybe they get your item and then get their money back somehow?

I like the part where it says," ... it cant take you less than 3mins to do that..."

If I were boinking her, I might agree. ;)

She's very pushy and insists on paypal(7x).

Mabye:
1). she set up her paypal account with a stolen cc number,
2). you send "the item" to a foreclosed address,
3). the originating cc company reverses it's transaction....up to months later,
4). your bank reverses it's deposit into your account,
5). and the item is long gone.

john70t, trying to follow that. Sent to foreclosed address? Meaning the perp waits at this address for the item? I mean they couldn't be so stupid at to having a forwarding address.

"...so am willing to offer you the amount you required."

Thats the trigger phrase right there...

Funny how the syntax is never quite right. I get better messages from legitimate CL buyers who can't spell 3 words in a row correctly.

But they sound right when you read them. No one on CL says, "...so am willing to offer you the amount you required."

Eg: The house next door is vacant, and between Opra and hits on the crack pipe I sit around and watch for the UPS guy to leave my new computer on its doorstep.

I've seen where you go to a "PayPal" address and there is a mention of Western Union somewhere on the site. Run Forrest...

Should I have some fun with her or whomever it is? I should just take the money, empty my PP account and not ship and see what happens.

Rick tell them if you pay cash you will offer a 2500.00 bonus to be able to pay in cash.
Tell them that you first need them to send you via western union a good faith payment for 300.00

She needs to prove she's a real person.
Like a photo balancing a loaf of bread on her head or something.

got the same mail when I was selling my 930, they wanted to send the money and then come over for an inspection of the car, Kept the car and told them to FO

It's a complete scam. Got over a dozen of them when trying to sell a car.
Paypal ALWAYS rules in the favor of the person who sends the money. They will deposit the money into your account, get the car then file a grievance with Paypal claiming any one of a hundred things and paypal will refund their money while you try and resolve it. Then they have your car and their money
Run away fast!
Steve

Here is what is probably happening:

1. She is mining for email's to sell
2. You reply and she knows the current email is valid
3. IF you have a paypal address that is different from your email address she gets to sell 2 emails.

You'll notice sometimes they just reply to your craigslist ad with: "looks good contact me" or "I will buy it" and obviously any replies means you're on a spam list.

tell her you are in Nigeria and can only access a special Nigerian eFunds service but it works just like paypal