NIGERIA SHIPPING AGENT SCAM - bargain pages

[shauunsan]

Hi everyone 

Thank you for reading this I really appreciate it and i'd love your opinion on the topic.

- So, I recently put an XBOX ONE up for sale on Bargain pages.

- I get an email from a guy called Lt Mike Miner saying he is interested in purchasing the item but he can not collect so he said he would arrange for a pick up agent and shipping.

- I said yeah sure, it didn't seem like anything at the time.

- I then receive an email from PayPal and a company called StarGold Shipping and Moving ( I cant seem to locate them) stating that in order for me to gain access to the £410 Lt Mike had sent, I must go down to my local Western Union Store and pay the £110 shipping fee...which Lt Mike said was included within the transaction and I would get the money back as soon as I gave the receipt details etc to PayPal...

- It was the employee at Thomson who alerted me that it was dangerous doing this type of transaction and she recommended telling the buyer (Lt Mike) to cancel the transaction and get his money back.

- I then have a change of heart about selling the XBOX ONE, catching on to a few things....1) this is the address Lt Mike wanted me to send money to 

Name : John Saka,
Addres : 32, Omoluabi ave. Oke-Ado,
City : Ibadan,
State : Oyo state,
Zip-Code : 23402,
Country : Nigeria.

Why would the pick up shipping agent be living in Nigeria...(I'm in the UK)???

- I then told Lt Mike that the sale would no longer be happening and that he should cancel his transaction. I also told the PayPal email account which had emailed the exact same conditions of sending money via Western Union to this place in Nigeria.

- Both replied stating that I should continue with the transaction and send the £110 to the shipping company so that I could gain access to the UNCLAIMED £410 and then refund it back to the buyer. 

- The buyer replied stating that he was unable to cancel the transaction because of the type of PayPal account he had ( A premium account that disallowed refunds...why would PayPal stop a buyer from cancelling a payment...it makes no sense :S) and said it would be in my best interest to continue the transaction... at this point he brought a friend in...he was buying the XBOX ONE using a friends account or something weird like that.

-PayPal also told me the same

- I reluctantly said I would at a later date...I wanted to look a few things up first.

Anyway, it turns out that the £410 had not been credited to my account like the buyer stated. My account still said £0.00 with no activity as well as this the PayPal account stated that the money would not be credited to my account until I had paid the pick up agent in Nigeria. Contradicting much? - CLUE 1

The PayPal account kept talking about it's 'new policies' which prevented cancelations on transactions. They wanted me to pay £110 to the Agent in Nigeria via Western Union so  that I could then gain access and refund the money to the buyer (Lt Mike). How would this benefit both the seller and buyer...it completely messes me around and takes money away from me which I won't get back. It also prevents the buyer from cancelling a transaction - CLUE 2

It turns out that PayPal has a policy on cancelling transactions as shown at this link, https://www.paypal.com/selfhelp/topic/SENDING_MONEY 

It states that if money from a transaction goes unclaimed for 30 days it is instantly refunded to the buyer. Given that I took no further steps to claim the £410, it means the transaction is currently pending and not credited to anyone...It will be refunded to Lt Mike in 30 days - CLUE 3

A few more clues were, Lt Mike (The buyer) who I believe lives in the UK, has the worst english language skills I have seen, I can show you some/ all of the emails to prove this. (It may be nothing but it sure does give off a big hint). The Shipping company, I can not find for the life of me and to top it off ive noticed the same Nigerian address posted in a few other forums on this site. CLUE 4, 5 AND 6

I'd really appreciate it if someone gave their view on this matter, i'd really like a second, third or forth opinion

Thanks for going out of your way to read this, I know it was a bit long winded

Best Regards

Shaun

[kernowlass]

THIS IS A TYPICAL PAYPAL SCAM.

They encourage you to use paypal and often ask you to send the item as a gift to a relative somewhere often Nigeria.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't.

It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.

They will tell you that the payment is released when you provide paypal with a tracking/shipping number......this won't happen.

Or if the item requires shipping they will tell you that they will pay you extra and you must pay the agent via western union / moneygram BEFORE the funds are released to you. They are not interested in the item, they just want the western union etc funds and you will never see money in your paypal balance.

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

Paypal NEVER tell you to send trackable, they advise it for seller protection etc but it is not compulsory.

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.

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[brembi]

another scam be aware for name 

Craig Phillips and 

jean joy 

[Pandatse]

I want to share this with everyone here so less victims will fall into those Nigeria scammers' traps.

Although I wasn't sure which kind of victim I was supposed to be, as I found out the potiential scam before I ever got the chance to ship my ebay item to Nigeria.  It could be shipping agent scam, or custom fee scam, or else.  But after I google-searched around, I realised the scammer was actually doing his grift by applying some identical tricks that had been used for years.  Worth it to take a look the following link for a post from paypal community 3 years ago.  Do more searching and you will see lots of scam examples.  

https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Tips-from-Members/SCAMS-Don-t-Ship-to-Nigeria/td-p/492296

My experience past two days was quite similar to those cases I read from the internet.  I listed a used computer in eBay, someone approached me with questions, saying he couldn't buy through eBay because of his work place etc.  So he asked me to send him paypal request and he would pay me extra for shipping cost.  Then I received Paypal notifications about having money beng held by Paypal and waiting for my shipping tracking number before the fund would be released to my account.  The notification emails at first glance looked convincing, but did come with a few unobvious typos and mistakes.  Since that was my first time making paypal requests, I read carefully and that was how my suspicions started and found out the scam.  Anyway, I was quite upset, but also feeling lucky as I managed to escape the bad luck.  I hope more people become aware of Nigeria scam (or "419 scam") and avoid being the victims of it.  (Note: some scams were from Ghana.)

If anyone or any moderators here know what I should do to report or to increase the awareness of these scams, please advise.  I have reported to spoof@paypal.com.  Not sure if there is anything else I should do, or can do.

[ciscovce]

As a side note: have you been looking at the mail headers from the so-called paypal mails? (Advanced users)

For outlook: http://www.msoutlook.info/question/450

IP look-up: www.who.is

This scam involves mail spoofers - user sends e-mails apparently from an e-mail account they do not own.

[Bolman09]

Had a similar experience. Had a gut feeling it was a scam, so forwarded e mail to PayPal. They confirmed it was a fraud attempt! Same guys name and a similar address. A Mr Brian James was acting for 2nd Lt Mark Milner. Got my advert information from Loot. Beware folks.

[steredz]

You can spot these PayPal email scams that claim you have been payed, really easily. Check the full email address of the sender. If it isn't from service(at)paypal.co.uk it's a sure bet it is bogus.

Also some rules i live by when selling with PayPal.

1. Never entertain anyone who asks you to pay ANY money for something you are selling.

2. Never entertain anyone who claims they can't collect an item you have advertised as 'collection only'. If they have payed you, refund the money immediately. (ONLY after you have checked that the funds have actually been payed into your PayPal account).

3. Never sell to anyone who lives, or wants you to ship your item, to a country outside the EU. They dont have the same laws about distance selling.

I have found that if you vary from these rules, you leave yourself open to whole host of problems, either finacial, or stress you don't need.

[BadgersDen5]

Hello everyone,

I have recently received an email requesting for me to send money via Western Union for a small purchase, although had originally agreed to use Paypal. My advert was a UK only sale. The request was for me to send a shipment to:

Name : Omole Micheal,

Address : 3 Allen street,

City : Ibadan,

State : Oyo,

Country : Nigeria,

Zipcode : 23402.

This is definitely a scam, so beware

[PayPal_Jessica]

Hi BadgersDen5

Thanks for posting in the forum and for warning the community about this. 

If you can forward the email to spoof@paypal.co.uk, our team will investigate it further. You will find additional tips that will help you to identify a genuine email from PayPal here

Another tip to keep in mind is that a notification of an invoice marked as paid, doesn't indicate that the payment was received.  It is important to make sure that the funds are reflected in your PayPal balance. 

Jessica,

[BadgersDen5]

Hi Jessica,

Thank you for your recent message dated 13/10/15. I can confirm that I had already forwarded the emails to the spoof email account, but have not received a response to date.

Many thanks,

Badgers Bank