Hi there
I've had a similar one pop into my mailbox a day after posting an ad to sell my car on Auto-Trader from a Gerald <removed> using a gmail address with the following text:
Hi, Thanks for the prompt response. I am ready to buy it now as a birthday gift for my brother-in-law. I am at the sea at the moment as I am a marine engineer and due to the nature of my work, phone call and visiting of websites are restricted but I just have to squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it. I really want the car to be a surprise package for my brother-in-law so I won't let him know anything about the car until it gets delivered to him, I am sure he will be more than happy with the car. I insist on PayPal as my mode of payment because I don't have access to my bank account online and also, I don't have internet banking, but I can pay from my PayPal account. I have my bank account attached to my PayPal account, so I will need you to get back to me with your PayPal email address and your final price as I am not good at offering so I can make the payment for the car asap. Please if you don't have a PayPal account yet, it is very easy to set up, log on to www.paypal.com and get it set up. After you have set it up, I will only need the e-mail address you used for the registration with PayPal so as to put the money through. I have a pick up agent that will come and pick up the car after I must have made the payment for the car and funds available in your account. My Regards.
I seemed a bit odd that someone was willing to pay without looking at the car at all so I asked a friend if this seemed odd and we both agreed it was. A 2 minute search on the web brought this forum up with strikingly similar stories from other car sellers. Thanks to all forum members for confirming their experiences so that newbies like me don't fall prey to scamsters at 'sea'.
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