New scam?

[Silvia71]

 I had an item for sale and someone (UK number) was interested to buy it. We agreed on a price and he said he will make a payment into my PayPal account, then send an agent to collect the item from my location. A little while later he sent an email claiming he deposited the money into my PayPal account, charges included, but I have to pay 50 Euros for Western Union charges. We never agreed on me paying any charges and I don't know why Western Union would have to be involved. I've checked my Paypal account, and there is no money deposited.

Also, the guy's name is Michael Marcos (as per his email), but he asked me to send the 50 Euros to a name and location in Nigeria.

He also told me to check my spam email for Paypal confirmation, and sure enough, there were three messages from "fastServiceintl at consultant . com" - two with no information and one asking me to complete the Western Union transaction and keep all communication through this email address. The message was written in very poor English as well.

This to me has scam written all over!

[kernowlass]

@Silvia71

Not new, this scam has been ongoing for about 15 years, glad you were not caught out................

They may buy on Ebay but they use an anonymous or hijacked Ebay account and DO NOT have a Paypal account so they can't use Ebay checkout.

They don't quibble on cost and may also say they can't view the item as they are disabled or working abroad etc etc but they will arrange a shipping agent to collect it.

If the item requires shipping the 'fake' paypal email will tell you that the buyer has paid for the item + shipping costs but you must send those shipping costs to the courier/ shipping agent via western union, moneygram or walmart etc BEFORE the funds are released to you.
They are not interested in the item, they just want the western union etc funds and you will never see money in your paypal balance.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal NEVER expect you to use a rival money transfer service eg Moneygram or Western Union etc.

Also their is no seller protection on paypal for any type of item that is collected by the buyer.
Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.