Am I being scammed?

[remioldbury]

I’m currently looking to sell my car. I put it up on gumtree and within an hour or so I got a message off a man saying he was looking to buy my car. Once I had replied he said he was ready to buy immediately and that it was a “surprise” for his daughter but he wanted to pay through pay pal. I said to him that I would rather do cash/bank transfer but he insisted that he pay me through PayPal. He then goes on to say that he is disabled and that he won’t be able to come look at the car and that he is going to have to “take my honest word” and get a vehicle company to come and collect the car for him to take to his daughters. I’m getting major red flag vibes from it but I’m unsure if I’m just being paranoid or it is genuinely a scam.

[thladymay]

Yes. You're absolutely going to be scammed if you continue with this transaction. The very fact of his insisting on PayPal screams scam. Odds are HUGE that you're going to get a fake email from PayPal & not actually get paid.

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@remioldbury 

SCAM.

They encourage you to accept a direct Paypal payment and may ask you to send the item internationally.
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 another payment processor than Paypal or by providing some vouchers or tokens before the funds are released to you.
They are not interested in the car, 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.
PPaypal 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 motor vehicle

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.