Am I getting scammed ?

[Paola39]

I have a person who would like to purchase a painting I have on eBay and this person offered $100 but with that he wants a $300 gift card to be sent as well so he payed a total of $480 for shipping and handling. I have not received any money on my account but I received an email from a “auction payment confirmed” email requesting to send a picture of the gift card scratched off for security reasons. I would like to know if this is correct and if I should proceed with this.

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Paola39 

SCAM.
They may buy on Ebay but they use an anonymous or hijacked Ebay account and do not have a Paypal account so they can't use Ebay checkout.

They encourage you to accept a 'direct' Paypal payment.
No funds or activity of the transaction shows in your Paypal account and any emails 'may' go into your junk/spam folders.

They probably do not want your item and haven't sent any money, all they want is that gift card and after you have given it to them I doubt you will hear from them again.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal NEVER tells you to send gift cards for anything to do with account issues or security.

[Danopqrst]

I got send this. I’m waiting to get paid $320 from someone I sold an item to and they’re asking for more money because of a $1000 limit or something. There is no money pending in my account. (This is one of the emails I was sent) I'm Hannah Kim the Customer relation officer of PayPal, I am more than happy and also assigned to help you in any of your query or question. We would like to put forward our sincere apologies for the delay on the transaction between you and Karen Jasmin. We are very glad to inform you that your account has been processed with the total amount but pending until the refund of ($680.00 AUD) is completed as advice in the emails sent to you earlier after there was an account limit from your buyer account. We want you to understand that the said funds will show up on your PayPal account history. Once the Refund is completed as said above, meanwhile the funds from your buyer Karen Jasmin has been approved and confirmed to reflect immediately the transfer of $680.00 AUD is paid on your end to the receiver details given to you. Note: It is our policy to confirm the E-receipt from you first before your account can be credited and also we cannot reverse the transaction at this stage according to our protocol We would try as much as possible to process and activate the money into your account as soon as we verify the receipt from you, Thank you.

[kernowlass]

@Danopqrst 

SCAM.