**Beware**Gumtree**Scam**

[Temp20221108A]

I posted several items on gumtree for sale and received a text from a woman called **** ***** asking if I still had an item (the most expensive one on the list) and to email her.

Eager to sell the item, I obliged and emailed her. She replied with the following:

Great! please consider both sold as i am willing to pay your full asking price because i need to buy it for my cousin asap,

i have read through the advert and i'm totally satisfied with it,

sadly i would not be able to come personally to collect due to my hearing loss and I'm just recovering from heart surgery so I'm home-bound.

I have a courier agent that would help me to pick it up at your preferred location after you have received your money and i'll pay you via PayPal once you are ready.

Kindly get back to me with your location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?

I replied asking if she was local to me and if a bank transfer or cash on collection would be possible. She ignored the 1st question and said she has no access to bank because she is house bound. Then gave me a link to PayPal.

After repeatedly asking where she was from and only getting her email address as a reply, I googled her name and came across a thread detailing the email I received but using a different name. So be careful. **** ***** (******** at ****.***) 

[Carolbewick]

I am so glad I checked first as it didn't sound right, I got the same message word for word, he was disabled, couldn't see the pics on gumtree, the email supposedly from PayPal looked authentic but alarm bells were ringing when the payment didn't show in PayPal account, its a scam

[Patmoos]

This exactly has just happened to me. I have just cancel the sell.

[DevaW77]

Thanks you so much for sharing this . The exact same has just happened to me (Oct 2020) on GumtreeUK . I got suspicious after this email below it’s the same as you have described ! Be wary . I’m just going to ignore his messages now let him waste his time like he did me . Copy of emails below for anyone reading I hope this helps. I will try report to gumtree too. Email “ I've forwarded the address to the Guy with Van to calculate the cost of pick up and delivery for me. I will make the payment as soon as he get back to me. Can you also delete the AD from the website to stop further inquiry. I'm Joseph.” Email that made me suspicious below “ The Guy with the Van just got back to me. Right now everything is set, I gave him your information. He would contact you to schedule a pick up date and time. But I have a little problem which I am sure you can help me through. The Van guy wants his money through an Amazon Gift card which I couldn't get due to my present condition(I'm home-bound). I'll include the £205 he charged me for pick up and delivery to the PayPal payment I'll send to you. You will help me go to any nearest store to purchase the gift card for the Value of £205. I will also include an additional £20 for your time and fuel. I will be happy if you can do this for me. Please let me know in your next response ASAP, if you can help me get the gift cards for Van Man and I will proceed with the payment immediately. He will collect the cards from you at the time of pick up. Regards, Joseph.”

[ashdbd]

Thank you for this topic. I've just had the same emails word for word. Came from Gumtree. Thank you!

[tomtmann]

I just had identical issue and details above!

[TN89]

He is literally in chat with me right now

[TotalNerd]

We are selling a sofa on Gumtree, we received a message from someone (Dora) saying their father doesn't have Gumtree and asked for us to contact him via email. We contacted "David <Removed>" <Removed> and he said he was not available to view the sofa but would PayPal us the money, no questions asked. We felt it was a little strange as we asked about delivery dates, but he seemed disinterested and just kept on about how secure PayPal was. Then messaged again saying he would add £100, he said "for the charged collection fee for the courier company to get the (sofa) for pickup, so you will help send it to the courier company agent through Amazon gift card money pack after the payment confirmation". He repeatedly said he works in a remote area and could not talk over the phone.

[evh]

Had a similar experience tonight and am worried about my paypal account being compromised. Has anyone had any weird activity on their paypal because of this scam? Or is it just an smoke and mirrors attempt to get you to buy a gift card for them?

[DevaW77]

Smoke and mirrors to get you to send money by sending you a fake PayPal email. Info below pasted from a previous post “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.”

[Andreeachitan]

Just had the same scam. I even had an email from a delivery company. TS&T Delivery Service