Brenda Caff wants to purchase my Craigslist Item

[Hurricane]

I received this email. No questions about the item which I found very strange. Is this legit?

Hi
 thanks for reply, i am a marine engineer, i am at sea right now. I am buying this for my son as a surprise gift. I can  only pay through paypal at the moment as i dont have access to my bank account online(i dont 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 dont 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.  I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been sorted, and also do get back to me with your best offer. l will be waiting for your reply asap

[bob48]

got same email dont give any info  i am in vancouver  was approched this morning 

[surplusdealdude]

I always love this line;

i dont have access to my bank account online(i dont have internet banking with it)

If she didn't have internet banking, she couldn't have a working Paypal account.

[Naje]

What do I do if i have already given someone my paypal email address?? I had a buyer on craigslist ask me the same thing.  is there any way to avoid fraud before it happens? I thought it was legitimate. What can i do?

[Naje]

What do I do if i have already given someone my paypal email address?? I had a buyer on craigslist ask me the same thing.  is there any way to avoid fraud before it happens? I thought it was legitimate. What can i do? all i gave was my paypal email...nothing more. any suggestions???

[surplusdealdude]

All you have to do is be careful about the reply you get.

As a general rule, DO NOT ship anything until you see the transaction in your Paypal account (having paypal tell you it's awaiting your input of a tracking number is a definite scam - Paypal ALWAYS shows the transactions, even if they are on hold)

And, if something doesn't look right, post about it here - we'll help you.

[Hurricane]

You are right. Thank you. Why does everything always seem so much clearer when it is shared! Thank you for your input.

[Hurricane]

Thank you for your input. It is so much clearer now. So glad I didn't fall for it.

[lfisch]

Brenda Caff is an alias for Jack Franky who has a PayPal account which was still operating a few days ago, involving an email with “kgs,” then three “x”s and a “1” with a gmail domain. PayPal has not shut his account down. A SCAM for sure.

          Another name to watch out for is Robert Kinney -- name of payee on Western Union money transfers with a phoney address in Palmyra PA. Don’t send any money. Western Union can’t help you if you do. They warn against scams but can’t return your money once delivered.

          If it’s too late and you already sent money to this scammer, like I did, file a complaint with www.IC3.gov

[gottsie1]

Hi i have just received the identical message to purchase my car. i live in the republic of ireland. which shows this scam is on a worldwide scale.

thanks steve