Suspicious Buyer Who Contacted Me

[Sean_Cassidy]

Hey guys, I just posted an ad on the classifieds section here and put my number in the ad with the last digits reading "7one8one" so that I could avoid any kind of scammers or bots - not that I would assume any to be on this website or anything but still. Anyways, they offered to buy my m30 engine and trans and have sent me money via paypal claiming they will "arrange for someone to come pick it up after the check has cleared".

Needless to say, it seems odd that they would send me money without proof that I even have the thing (which, believe me, I do).

Has anyone ever had something like this happen to them on here?

Thanks
Sean

[oliver.r]

I sold a 2002 to a guy in socal. he just saw pics, didn't send him anything until the check cleared then he arranged pick up. theres a lot of trust in the community i'd say

[gtdragon980]

Sometimes these scammers send a fake email claiming you have received funds to your paypal account. I would send an invoice to him through paypal stating the motor & trans is "as is" and put the total amount that you want for it. Once he receives it, he will make payment and you should see the funds in your account. Don't go by any confirmation by email.

[joncrz]

Well ask what his r3v username is and see if he is established. It is all about establishing some kind of trust, if he seems fishy then tread lightly...

As for my opinion...
Seems kinda scammy, I get those kind of emails all the time on CL. What happens is they send money through paypal (or send check), they have someone pick it up (unknown hired dude?), check will bounce if the teller doesnt laugh you out of the bank with a obvious fake check or paypal charges gets reversed because it was a hacked paypal acct that was used. They strike because there is a timeframe that a check/paypal needs to clear and they hope you will give up the goods before the bank/paypal wises up. Either way you are out the money and the engine.

[Poorboyz]

There are PayPal scams going around where the buyer uses a hi-jacked PayPal account to pay you then they get your item...afterwards the real owner of the PayPal account you received the money from puts a claim into PayPal, get their money back and you get screwed out of the money and your item.

Be careful

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[mr2peak]

I've bought stuff that way, but low dollar items. Maybe he just trusts that you will deliver? Did it sound like a personal note or a form written ind of thing?

[Sean_Cassidy]

Did some research. I received a "paypal" email claiming that someone under the name "Alex Amber" had sent me money for the engine. Upon closer inspection of the name it came from was "service@paypal.com.". I noticed an extra period after ".com" and looked at a few other emails received from paypal (I do a lot of shipping etc and deal with paypal a bit) and it was without the extra period mark.

I found out that apparently it's a fake paypal website where you enter your information and then they get access to your bank account that's linked to it etc.

Happy I figured it out, but when it said that the guy was located in Nigeria I knew it wasn't a practical purchase on his behalf.

So evidently there's someone watching this site so beware.