Gumtree and paypal scam

[Hairdresser1102]

I received this after place an add to sell my sofa on Friday Fortunately I haven’t sent my email but I see lots of others have had the same. I feel something needs to be done Thanks for your response, I want you to consider this a deal as i am willing to pay your full asking price! i actually want to buy it for a family member who is urgently in need of it, i have checked through your posting and i'm fully satisfied with it. Unfortunately, i would not be able to come personally to view/collect, i work offshore as an instructor on a oil rig so i dont have time at all, but like i said i am 100% OK with the advert.However, i have a reliable courier that would help me to pick it up at your preferred location after you have received your money via PayPal as that is the only means of payment available to me at the moment. I would also appreciate if you could remove the advert asap. To start off with, please get back to me with suitable collection time so that i can inform the courier agent about it now.

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Hairdresser1102 

Yep this scam has been ongoing for at least the 15 years that i have been helping on here.

Its all over this forum and the internet and doubt it will end anytime soon as long as folks are scammed by it, glad you were not caught out.

>>>

SCAM.

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 or 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 etc etc but they will arrange a shipping agent 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 actually 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 via 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.

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

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 or Western Union etc.
Also their is no seller protection on paypal for any type of item that is collected by the buyer.
Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[Hairdresser1102]

Thank you for your reply, I’m glad I didn’t get caught by them. It’s shocking what people will do! I guess spreading the word about such scams is the only thing to do.

[Possposs]

Thank you too. I have had exactly the same on Shpock from known scammer Anna Jose. Thanks to your replies I have not lost anything.

[emharte]

The same thing has just happened to me! I had a feeling it wasn't right, luckily I found this post and it was all the same, he was overseas so couldn't pick my sofa up in person, it was for his dad. The email asked me to send money before I had even recieved a payment reassuring me my money is being stored and it's safe. Luckily I didn't send anything! So thanks for the heads up this was a scam becasue otherwise, the flutterwave seemed a legit website so it seemed odd.