ok Im selling and item on Craigslist im in houston but the guy its on new york he will pay for shipping and will pay with paypal first I thought it was a scam so I stop answering his e-mails but today he call me asking if I still wanted to sell the items so will like some advice from people that use paypal I have use it for years to buy but never to make money transfers is it safe or should I pass on this transaction ??
Buffy Staffordshire
Favorite Answer
100% scam.
There is no buyer.
There is only a scammer trying to steal your possession, your electronic item, clothing or jewelry.
The scammer isn't interested in your identity or bank account only in convincing you to ship your possession to him without him sending you a penny.
The next email will be from another of the scammer's fake names and free email addresses pretending to be "Paypal" saying "kindly send the tracking number and we will release the funds".
Paypal does NOT send such emails, ever. Paypal does NOT have escrow or money holding services like that scammer describes. Paypal does NOT demand you send a tracking number before money is sent. EVER. No exceptions.
Now that you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of being the perfect buyer, great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.
You could post up the email address and the emails themselves that the scammer is using, it will help make your post more googlable for other suspicious potential victims to find when looking for information.
Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don't bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn't worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash.
Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money to a scammer.
If you google "cragislist buyer scam", "fake paypal email scam", "ebay escrow fraud" or something similar you will find hundreds of posts from victims and near victims of this type of scam.
Check out the one and only official paypal website, read up on what paypal does and how it really works.
Kittysue
This is 100% a SCAM. it's so common that Craigslist specifically warns you to NEVER give your Paypal details to anyone and to avoid all transactions involving shipping. And that you should only deal with people you can meet face to face. Craigslist cannot be any clearer so I don't know why people willfully ignore these warnings then come on Yahoo Answers a week later complaining how they got scammed
http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams
"You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:
DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts on craigslist.
NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification"
NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL "GUARANTEE" YOUR TRANSACTION.
DO NOT RENT HOUSING WITHOUT SEEING THE INTERIOR, OR PURCHASE EXPENSIVE ITEMS SIGHT-UNSEEN - in all likelihood that housing unit is not actually for rent and that cheap item does not exist.
DO NOT SUBMIT TO CREDIT CHECKS OR BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR A JOB OR FOR HOUSING UNTIL YOU HAVE MET THE INTERVIEWER OR LANDLORD/AGENT IN PERSON."
This article from back in 2008 explains how the typical Craigslist/Paypal scam works
http://consumerist.com/2008/10/how-a-nigerian-steals-your-laptop.html
While it says "nigeria" and "laptop" the same scam is used for anything being sold and not just to Nigeria
There are a few new variations of the paypal scam
1 - just like the article above but the fake paypal notification will be for MORE than what you asked for and you will be asked to send money to their "shipper" or refund them through Western Union/Moneygram
2 - they pay with a hacked paypal account hoping you send off the item before the real account holder discovers the theft
3 - they pay with a real account but ask you to send to an unverified address. They then contact Paypal claimng their account was hacked and if you do not have proof the item was delivered to the verified address, Paypal withdraws the money from your account
4 - the newest scam involves mainly electronic items (laptops, cell phones, games consoles, ipods, ipads, etc). Someone with a broken item scours Craigslist around the country looking for the same model as their broken one. They buy from you, you ship your item, then they file a dispute with Paypal claiming the item arrived broken or didn't work. They then send you their broken one back and Paypal withdraws the money from your account
These are all reasons why Craigslist tells you to only deal with people you can meet in person and to never give your paypal details -- because you will get screwed. Craigslist is ONLY for face to face cash transactions
If he calls again, tell him that you already sold the item to a local buyer who paid in cash. Then relist the item and be sure to put something like LOCAL BUYERS ONLY, CASH ONLY, NO SHIPPING, NO EXCEPTIONS and ignore anyone who wants anything else. I'm actually surprised you only had one scammer contacting you
Sur La Mer
Go to paypalsucks dot com, one word.
I was part of the class action lawsuit. I did eBay for 3 years, but have stopped having anything to do with PP. It took me 3 years to get my credit.
Buyer beware!
If you have a PP account, keep your balance to zero and only transfer from you credit card, not your bank.
Anonymous
of course it is a scam