Am I being scammed?

VFRIP
New Community Member

Selling on a 2nd hand site in Finland (tori.fi, kinda like craigslist with less pervs) and got a message from someone claiming to work on an oil rig wanting to buy my sofas. Everything screams scam to me, but I do need the money and to get rid of the sofas. Dude wants me to send him a list of details:

Full name: 
PayPal e-Mail Address : 
Full Contact address: 
Total Amount : 
Phone# :
and an address for his shipping company of choice to come and get the items and get them over to Sweden. This seems like some sort of chargeback scam or something where they get me to pay money in advance to receive money later. I know people in the oil industry, and I know the guys on the rigs work really hard, so I can understand why there might be unorthodox ways of dealing with this kind of stuff... But is my gut right and I'm being scammed?
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1 REPLY 1

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@VFRIP 

 

You have good gut instinct.

 

SCAM.

They encourage you to accept a direct Paypal payment and state they can't collect because they are working offshore / in the military / disabled or any other reason they can think of.
No funds or activity of the transaction shows in your Paypal account and any emails may go into your junk/spam folders.

They don't quibble on cost and may also say they can't view the item as they are disabled or working abroad or sending as a gift to a family member but they will arrange a shipping agent or courier to collect it.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't because they don't have a Paypal account and have no intention of paying you.
It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.

The fake paypal email will tell you that the buyer has paid for the item + shipping costs but you must send those shipping costs to the courier/ shipping agent via anther payment processor than Paypal or by providing some vouchers or tokens before the funds are released to you.
They are not interested in the item, they just want that couriers/shipping funds and you will never see money in your paypal balance.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal NEVER expect you to use a rival money transfer service eg Moneygram, Western Union, Bank Transfer or any sort of gift token or voucher.
There is no seller protection on paypal for any type of item that is collected by the buyer.

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.


Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
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