A big thanks to the security and protection team at Pay-Pal, and to those of you who were unfortunately victims of these scammers... who posted your stories and saved me the hastle. Thank you Thank you Thank you!
Today, I joined pay-pal. My son has decided to sell some of his old video games... and we posted in our local classifieds last night. Early this morning, I got a text from a very impatient man going by the name of Eric. He was in such a rush to buy using either pay-pal or western union, and once a deal was made, the "buyer" actually added money to the total to help with shipping costs to his son's address. When I asked for his son's address, he avoided the question, until receipt of a "pending payment" from him was emailed to me. It was at this time that I learned I would be shipping to NIGERIA! The email said that the payment was verified, and all I needed to do was enter the tracking number of the package for the funds to be released to my pay-pal account. The buyer then started pressing me to get the package into the mail... kept asking when it would happen... kept saying he needed to hurry and pay... I kept wondering why such a hurry since shipping to Nigeria was going to take a couple of weeks anyway. All of the sudden, this man started calling me... stating that he was calling from Pay-Pal and that I needed to enter the tracking number as soon as possible, and wanted to know when I would be sending the package. He called from an international number, with a thick accent.... and at first was hard to hear/understand... He must have called 15 times... in a row. Each time, the part I could understand was him saying he was calling from Pay-pal to make sure I entered my tracking number. One of the last times he called... I told him I could hear all the screaming kids in the background... but couldnt here him... and he hung up. He called back moments later... and the background noise was completely gone... but again the message was the same. I told him that I was at work, I couldnt continue with his interruptions.... and I would send the package asap when I got home... and not to continue calling. Then the texts kept coming... so I asked via text are you the one who is trying to call me? Stupid man... sent back a text saying he was, but had a bad connection.... and to enter the tracking number asap so that I would get my money from pay-pal.
Suddenly... nothing about this deal felt right. First off, I felt like I was running a race... and almost being harrassed about this tracking number.... secondly, I caught that the purchaser who was texting me was also the one trying to call me and was claiming on the phone to be working for pay-pal. For some reason though.... It wasnt until I was looking up online the instructions on how to write the address for nigeria.... that I began seeing the forums from previous Pay-pal customers who sent packages under the same circumstances... their packages got held up in customs, and they were being asked to pay money in the hundreds of dollars to clear the item through customs. Many had written that they just wished they had verified things by calling pay-pal security... so I did. I have since called of said transaction and will continue to try and sell my son's old games... to someone NOT in Nigeria.... and NOT trying to scam me!!! According to the pay-pal employee that I spoke with.... anytime they start brining up western union, or Nigeria, or especially anytime your payment is being held for a "tracking number" it is a red flag for a scam. She educated me that pay-pal will not hold money until items are shipped.... and if this happens.... its a scam.
Thought I would share.... previous posts on this subject (from a couple of years ago) helped save me tonight.... hoping to help save someone else a headache... trying to pay it forward!!!! 🙂
I have to be careful, Thank you for sharing.
