Scam on Gumtree

[Loulabelle63]

My husband advertised his car for sale on Gumtree to day and received a text via Gumtree saying 'Do you still have this car? pls message me on xxxxxx. He emailed back to say yes and received this reply, 'Great! please consider it 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 me being on wheelchair. I would appreciate if you email me with more photos (if available) since i'm unable to see it in person. 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 today. Where is the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?'. I thought that I'd heard of something similar so googled it, which brought me to this website, which confirmed my suspicions, potential scam. Gumtree advise to only sell on face value. I just wanted to share our experience to help others from becoming a victim of a similar scam. It's sad that there are some people who could be taken advantage of. Not sure what a scammer would achieve from this but best to steer clear.

post edited to comply with forum guidelines, email address removed. 

[rhar]

Just received the same sort of text/email...

Got a text this morning saying "Hi is the Bike still Available? pls msg xxxxxx" 

And then having sent a quick email to that address I got this in reply: "Great!please consider it sold and take the ads down off gumtree,i am buying it for my son and i am ready to pay your full asking price, i have read through the advert and i'm totally satisfied with it and i will be glad if you can get back to me fast,sadly i won't be able to come for the inspection and pick up due to my disabilities,i loss my hearing and being on a wheelchair but I have a courier agent that will help me to pick it up at your preferred location . Regarding the payment i can only pay via PayPal at the moment and I will be responsible for all the PayPal fee/charges on this transaction kindly get back to me with your PayPal email,Phone Number and the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?

Awaiting your reply soon..."

As soon as I got this I thought it must be a scam so I googled the email address and found this forum! Thanks everyone 🙂

post edited to comply with forum guidelines, email address removed. 

[PayPal_paula]

Hi there rhar and welcome, 

So glad to hear that you found the information you needed here and it saved you from being scammed. 

Thanks for sharing your story. 

Paula 

[Nunu20a]

I had a similiar email from someone in France re sale of my kitchen. Sent me an additional £400 on paypal allegedly but stating couldnt release funds until I had paid 400 to xxxxx courier. Nearly fell for it. Thank god western union system was down and I checked them out as was all too good to be true.

[craigx]

Yep, just got this today from a buyer. I was just about to reply and ask for payment when I thought I'd have a quick Google to check if there was amiss about the buyer. The format of the mail I received is strikingly similar to others. The email came from somebody claiming to be "Jennifer Annie"

"please consider it sold and take the ads down off gumtree,i am buying it for my son and i am ready to pay your full asking price, i have read through the advert and i'm totally satisfied with it and i will be glad if you can get back to me fast,sadly i won't be able to come for the inspection and pick up due to my disabilities,i loss my hearing and being on a wheelchair but I have a courier agent that will help me to pick it up at your preferred location .

Regarding the payment i can only pay via PayPal at the moment and I will be responsible for all the PayPal fee/charges on this transaction kindly get back to me with your PayPal email,Phone Number and the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?

Awaiting your reply soon..."

Thanks for posting

[scubaowl]

Got the same message from JenniferAnnie007(at)gmail.com

Refused to discuss over txt on phone and the phone number is +447418337315

Found it dodgy that they wanted to buy my bike with just 1 photo at the asking price. Even dodgier that she stays in the most northpoint in UK!

[mjpieters]

I've reported my two incidents to Action Fraud. I encourage everyone to do the same; incidents like these all build evidence against the scammers if and when they do get caught.

See Gumtree scam to watch out for from Justina Simon for my full report.

[blooey007]

I have just had the same thing happen to me, although without realising it was scam i have already replied back to them for payment. I was not going to let them have the item before payment had been cleared anyway, but is my PayPal acct safe now that they have my email address?  Thanks

[kernowlass]

@blooey007

As long as you have not given them your password then yes, loads of folks presumably have your email addy don't they?

[blooey007]

No i've not given any passwords out, so that's ok. Thank you for your reply.

[rosaann]

This scam is so common and nothing unusual.
.

One rule is that on Gumtree or off, never use PayPal to receive funds if selling.

Cash in hand, bank deposit or post money order are much, much Safer

Using paypal costs you in fees and opens you up to a lot of risk even not counting the scammer originally mentioned.

BitGid