GUMTREE PAYPAL SCAM

[kaza1909]

PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY - IT'S LONG BUT WILL SHOW YOU HOW MUCH COMFORT THEY TRYING TO INVOLVE IN TRUSTING THEM E.G. my wife, my newphew, "mate"

i think i have discovered a new scam involving paypal and gumtree.

and i couldn't find it anywhere else so here is my story...

I've enquired quite few times on gumtree (by email and by sms) about ipad air 2 and iphone 6 plus.

One day i received a sms asking me if i'm still looking for the ipad as it's available. This was new sms on my phone and not reply to my enquiry.

I was of course. the price was good. I asked to use paypal and have the item posted to me only because i've heard about paypal buyer / seller protection. I actually never used this feature until that time and i've learned about just recently.

I asked for and was send an email address of some kind of laurapeace@xxx or so. I have paid the agreed amount and put the full description of the item "new sealed/unopened apple original brand ipad air 2 128gb wifi and cellular etc."

He collected the money with the note saying that this is actually "5 months old ipad".

I panicked - that's not what i tried to buy and open a dispute. He got back to me asking "you opened a dispute?". I said yes, you told me it's brand new and the paypal description indicated that you are selling 5 months old one. He said, it's his wife!! She thinks he is selling her ipad but the one he is trying to sell is brand new. OK. So i paid again - with the same description.

He collected the money with "his description" but shortly after the refunded me the money!

Now it was me, who was asking - "why did you refunded me the money? you don't have the brand new ipad etc.". He said, it was his wife who is getting confused and said that he has problem with paypal now and I could pay to his nephew account. He gave me the email, and i paid. this time i put the same description but added also "for your uncle".

He received the money and said that his wife will post the item the next day. The next day he got me message that his wife posted the item. Day later, no package. 2 days later no package. I started sending him sms and calling him about tracking number. silence. the phone went dead.

i opened a dispute on paypal saying that i didn't receive the item. we had 7 days to amicable discuss it with seller. I tried to contact him but the phone was dead.

just before the dispute escalation to claim, he submitted the response saying that i'm a liar and this is tracking number that he posted the item to. paypal skipped my response and was about the review the case without my involvment. I called them. I was upset and furious. I've checked the tracking number and read that it was delivered to some Combs Woods depo or so. I have no clue what this place was. i thought maybe this is somewhere i need to collect it from but there was a signature of "Laura" indicating that "I" have collected the item. I am not Laura or anywhere near that.

After an hour with paypal dispute team (very kind and helpful) they told me that i gave him that address (which obviously wasn't mine) and he also submitted the full sms conversation with me giving him that posting address. I was scared to death. I thought he falsified the information!!! Luckily, paypal refunded me the money as it wasn't send to my address and i gave them both phone numbers i am using. they were obviously not matching the number he was providing as evidence.

I was still furious and upset. I wanted get police involved with this scammer. I wrote him angry email saying that i have nothing to hide and he is liar and we can go to police. To my surprise, he said he already contacted the police and citizen advice bureau. Wow. I was about to send him another angry reply when i realised it.... he was telling the truth. and i was telling the truth. there was the scammer in the middle......He was selling the scammer and i was buying from scammer. he matched us - what we offered and collected the item for which i paid!!!! laura wasn't his wife - just another seller who was selling 5 months old item - if i didn't put my description correctly or she didn't - we both would have been paired and tricked.

MY ADVICE - email the seller directly if you only have sms contact with him and see if the phone matches the email....

[sophieB1]

I have also recieved a scam response to a gumtree ad. They follow the same format as previous users, saying they are paying a courier and sending all the money to your Paypal account, then you have to send the courier fee by Moneygram to the courier. The details I was sent for the courier were Peter Keenan 5 Halton Court Westgate Morecambe LA44XD. Dont know who this is but the fact it is a UK address verifiable on googlemaps might make people think it is real. The Paypal is false, they send you a false email saying the money is in your Paypal account which of course it is not. The name on the original scam email was Chelsey Ian Please don't fall for this!!

[TimHolmes1]

Here is the email that I received: I am glad to inform you that i have made the payment! PayPal said that they have sent you a confirmation email so kindly check the inbox of your email I had a little problem with the agent they said they can only schedule the pick up date and time after they receive their pick up fee in their head office via Western union ,but due to my disabilities and being on a wheelchair i'm unable to get to a Western union shop to send it. I added the £150 they charged for the pick up and £30 for the Western union charges,you will receive the total sum of £325. You'll send £150 to them via Western union today and here is the details needed for the transfer below: First name:Peter Middle name:John Last name: Keenan Address: 5 Halton Court Westgate morecambe PostCode: LA44XD Country: United Kingdom Please let me know once you've sent the money so that i can make necessary arrangements ASAP

[Knapton1995]

Hi,Just to let everyone know the same scammer is up to their old tricks. Just received a enquiry on gumtree from someone purporting to be disabled and needing to use western union to transfer money and a courier to collect the item i'm selling. Checked out the courier name address and yes the smae Peter Keenan given in other posts. Also they sent a fake email to say money had been transferred into my paypal account. Checked it-nothing of course. Beware of Chelsea and any emails from Chelsea Colly 

@TimHolmes1 wrote:
Here is the email that I received: I am glad to inform you that i have made the payment! PayPal said that they have sent you a confirmation email so kindly check the inbox of your email I had a little problem with the agent they said they can only schedule the pick up date and time after they receive their pick up fee in their head office via Western union ,but due to my disabilities and being on a wheelchair i'm unable to get to a Western union shop to send it. I added the £150 they charged for the pick up and £30 for the Western union charges,you will receive the total sum of £325. You'll send £150 to them via Western union today and here is the details needed for the transfer below: First name ************************** Please let me know once you've sent the money so that i can make necessary arrangements ASAP

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