Scam?

[snufflepuff]

Pretty sure I know the answer to this already! Lol.
I have advertised my car on a local 'cars for sale' group on facebook. I had a lady email me earlier asking a few questions about the car and she has said she would like it so I asked when she would like to come and have a loo at the car. This is her reply;

Hello, I will be happy to buy it but i will not be able to come and
view it in your place because I'm not in town now. Note that you will not be responsible for shipping and handling and the payment will be made through PayPal.My shipping company will come to your location for the pick up. Kindly provide me with the address where it will be picked up so that i can forward it to the shipping company to calculate the cost of pick up for me. Do get back to me as soon as possible so that i can proceed with the payment via PayPal.

Doesn't sounds right at all does it?!
If I give her my address and email address for paypal, what can she do with it? (Not planning on giving her any details by the way!) Who on earth would buy a car without seeing it?!

[Pipsqueak]

ermm no that does not sound right at all. doesn;t sound like a scam though sounds like a thief!

[emmadines]

forward it to the police hun xxx

[rickysmiths]

Sounds as if the car is half decent and you give your address it will dissappear in the middle of the night :eek: I would forward it to the Police.

[Mouse]

If you google it you'll find lots of examples.

It seems as if they tell you the shipping will cost X amount, but the shipping company won't accept paypal, so the "buyer" will send you the full amount for the car & shipping, so you pay for the shipping.
You get emails saying the money has been sent to your paypal account, you pay the shipping, the money is cancelled in your paypal account & you've ended up paying out however much to a non-existent shipping company. They're not interested in your car, they want your money :angry:

[Jods]

IT IS A SCAM hun x

AVOID and report to the police ASAP x

They will do exactky what Mouse posted x


If you google it you'll find lots of examples.

It seems as if they tell you the shipping will cost X amount, but the shipping company won't accept paypal, so the "buyer" will send you the full amount for the car & shipping, so you pay for the shipping.
You get emails saying the money has been sent to your paypal account, you pay the shipping, the money is cancelled in your paypal account & you've ended up paying out however much to a non-existent shipping company. They're not interested in your car, they want your money :angry:

[snufflepuff]

How do I go about reporting it to the police? Just google the local number? Will they come round and check the messages?

[emmadines]

How do I go about reporting it to the police? Just google the local number? Will they come round and check the messages?

yep just call your local police and they will direct you from there

[Mouse]

I'd also contact whoever has set up the FB selling page. They could perhaps put a warning on their page.

[gigglinggoblin]

Paypal payments can be reversed at any time, the person can say it was fraudulent use of their account or that the item wasnt as advertised and paypal usually side with the buyer.

It really annoys me that ebay insist you use it, I asked a question on the forums and was told that the advice was to invite the buyer in and offer them a cup of tea, they would be less likely to defraud you if they liked you! I would never accept paypal for anything that was a significant amount of money, it just cant be trusted.