possible scam?

[Soomoo]

Hi,

Im mew to paypal and I recieved an email yesterday requesting an item I have for sale. The buyer wants her agent to collect the item. She has told me that there is a problem (because she is at sea) with paying her agent who only accepts western union. Im not really sure what she is asking, I think she wants me to pay her agent and she will pay me through paypal. It all sounds dodgy to me. This is what the last email said:

I'm about to make the payments when i had this little problem with the picking up of the Item, I think you remember what i said in my previous mail that I'm working presently on the sea, so i tried to secure booking with my pick up agent, but they asked me to pay first before they can make the booking, and they only accept Western Union Money Transfer for payments and they don't accept PayPal or bank transfer.


So I tried to send the money online but it's not going through and I am on the sea there is no way i can find a western union agent to make the transfer to my pick up agent, so i wanted to ask if it will be OK for me to include my pick up agent's fees together with your payments through PayPal,So you will help me wire the pick up fee to them via western Union Money Transfer immediately i pay you.I don't mean to bother you I'm sure you understand that I'm presently on the sea and there is nothing i can do to that.The bottom line is after I have made the payments via PayPal,you will help me wire my pick up agent fee to them through western union money transfer, I just wanted to seek your consent before going ahead with the payments,I will be very happy if my offer is given a favorable consideration,Respond as soon as possible so that i can send out your Payment.

Please advise me if you can, I would like to sell the item if this is genuine.

Thank you

Suzanne

[gemma198725]

hi yes it is a scam i had 1 of these whilst trying to sell my fone on ebay then i had an email from paypal saying to ignore it its a scam!! thank god i never sent the fone out

[TammyR]

Just had a similar type of possible scam. Yesterday I posted a Laptop on craigs list for sale and the next morning when I turned my phone on i had a bunch of texts from the same person, claiming he wanted to buy the laptop, but he insisted that he pay by Paypal, he explained to my that it was for his Daughter that was in school in West Africa and it was for her Birthday, so since I didnt have a PayPal account I went ahead and opened one up, well in the mean time I received another offer, and this is what made me suspicious. This guy said that he wanted to buy the laptop for his daughter that was going to school in West Africa so 2 different people with the same story, and both of them wanted to give me 100$ more than what I am asking for. Well before I became suspicious I contaced Mr Sergio back and let him know that I have created my PayPal account, and he told me to check my email for confirmation that the money was sent. So within Mins I got an Email and it looked legit, it showed that it was from PayPal and that the money was sent and to go ahead with the shipping process, but when I logged into my PayPal account nothing was there, nothing was even pending but the email says different, I received 2 emails from Felepio Sergio but it said it was coming from payPal. Now when I got the second offer from a Scott Michael and the stories were to much the same and he also wanted to only pay by PayPal i knew that this had to be a scam. So be careful for this one. The emails look so real I wish there was a way I could post them on here. I had to keep reading them over and over. Even the fine print. Now if the money was sent pay pal does put a hold until i send them the shipping/tracking info right? but does the money amount still show in my account as pending?

[kernowlass]

THIS IS A SCAM.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't.

It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.

They will tell you that the payment is released when you provide paypal with a tracking/shipping number......this won't happen.


They threaten legal action...have a laugh at that one and ignore it as its rubbish.

Most scams originate from Nigeria and people there cannot even own a paypal account.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send trackable, they advise it for seller protection etc but it is not compulsory.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[Daniela_Garza]

I just got the same email!

She's at sea, supposedly a marine biologist, and want to buy an artwork from me and to use a pick up agent, since this is a surprise for her father.

Thanks for the post!

- Daniela