Is this a scam?

[Ratchison]

Lately, iPhones with an app called flappybird (which was deleted from the appstore) are selling for ridiculously high prices. They've sold on reputable sites like ebay, until ebay began to take them down because you apparently cannot sell phones with apps on them. 

I posted my iPhone 4s with flappybird on craigslist instead for $900, obo, not really expecting much. The next day, a phone number with a 508 (Massachusetts; I'm in Florida) area code texted me and asked if the phone was still avaliable. I told him yes, and this is what he texted me:

"This is Lucas John Am buying this item for my friend as a birthday Gift I will am okay with your selling price and will also add an extra $100 to the money so as to cover the shipping and insurance charges via USPS Express Mail So get back to me with your PayPal email address or send me a paypal money request so that i can send out the payment and as soon as you received the payment you can make the shipment, But if you don't have a paypal account you can quickly set-up one at(www.paypal.com) it is easy and save and it's free also your reply will be appreciated by me if you get back to me"

Not thinking about scams, I told him I wouldn't be able to ship it until tomorrow but as long as he sent the money and I was able to transfer it into my bank, I had no problem shipping it. He agreed and said he would send the money to my paypal email first thing in the morning.

So is this a scam? And if so, will changing my paypal email to a different one prevent him from being able to send the money? 

[snowshoe]

Scam - very good chance.

Red Flags include:

PayPal and Craig's List.

Buyer willing pay extra for anything, normally they either offer xtra bucks for shipping and/or the item.

Buyer out of state.

Buyer wants your PayPal email address so they can use the Send Money feature.

    As soon as you allow that to happen, they send you the money.  You ship the item, they open a dispute claiming an unauthorized transaction.  In the mean time, they receive the item, PayPal closes the dispute in favor of the buyer as there's no indication of an item being sold, just someone stating their account has been hacked.  Scammer gets both the item and their money back.  Then, he or she closes their account only to open another one. Typical text book scam.

If you're the seller, you either send an invoice or have a web page setup for purchasing the item.  This provides better documentation to protect yourself but, unfortunately even doing that, you can still be scammed.  Buyer can still claim they did not either receive the item or it was damaged.  Buyer opens dispute requesting a refund.  PayPal tells buyer to return the item and provide shipping/tracking information.  Buyer provides fake tracking information. (Scammers have also been know to simply send a box of junk back with valid tracking information.)  As PayPal does not track all cases, there's a good chance they will simply refund the buyer's money and close the case without even checking with you to see if the item has been returned.  Scammers ends up with both item and money back as they are counting on PayPal not doing a follow-up with you... sadly you end up with fake tracking info or a box of junk, no item or money.

Craig's List can be a good thing for some folks however, scammers use Craig's List too and they are quite keen on PayPal's Policies and how to use them to their advantage.

If you do receive any funds, don't accept.