Possible scam?

cinder28
Contributor
Contributor

I am selling an item on Etsy. Today I received an offer with this e-mail:

"Thanks for getting back to me..i am located in USA , what's is the final asking price of the Item?I am currently on sea for a business trip, i am purchasing this item as a gift for my sister .. my only payment option would be via  PayPal , Kindly send me a PayPal payment invoice also with your phone number or create an account with paypal on www.paypal.com if you dont have one. I will make a solid pick up arrangement with my transport agent who will be coming over for pick up once you receive full payment into your paypal account .
would also like to see some pictures."

 

Does this sound fishy? 

I know that Paypal protects you once you have the money deposited, but I'm sure there are scammers out there that know ways to get around everything. 

 

Comments appreciated. 

 

Lisa 

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PayPal_Olivia
Moderator
Moderator

Hi @cinder28,

 

Thank you for posting in the community. I'm sorry to see that the post has not been answered by the community yet. 

 

The situation that you're describing sounds very similar to a common scam. You can read more about it here. The likelihood is that a spoof payment email will be sent to you that will not actually be representative of a real payment. Another possibility would be that a real payment will be sent that is from a stolen funding method, that will later be disputed successfully by the owner of that payment method.

 

The best way to protect yourself is to familiarize yourself with the Seller Protection guidelines, and never let a buyer convince you to veer from them. If a buyer ever makes you suspicious, you can always decline to sell to them. Trust your gut feeling!

 

I hope this helps!

 

Olivia

 

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