Being paid via PayPal - can this be a scam?

[MickM]

I'm selling a previous generation brand new 32GB iPod for $250 on the Boston Craigs List. A new current generation one from Apple costs $300. So I get an email from a guy in Africa claiming he'd pay me $250 plus an extra $100 shipping and that he'd pay me via PayPal (provided I forward him the PayPal email address).

This has scam written all over it (and I'm certainly not proceeding with the transaction), but if he's paying in advance via PayPal then I'm scratching my head as to how this guy can scam me. Any ideas?

[allin]

i am lucky i read this topic man ...tommorow i was going to ship my phone to some guy from Nigeria but after i read what everyone sayed on this topic i am not going to do it...

[GenoFarlo]

Do not even communicate with anyone from Nigeria.

[Apirateat60]

the ammount of scammers out there is unbelievable, I have come accrossed three of them in the last three days, The latest is a scam simular to yours, I informed he buyer to handle hid own shipping. He proceded to "send" me an extra amount of money to pay his transporter. The payment never was credited to my account and I recieved an email supposedly from PayPal saying that I had been reported to the D.O.J. and the F.B.I.  I forwarded these emails to spoof at PayPal and was informed by PayPal that these emails were indeed fraudulant. The other two scammers sent me checks drawn on nin existant acounts. Both of those checks were confiscated by the banks. What planet are these people on to try and scam somwone with the word pirate in their moniker or email. The volume of fraud is so high that I will stop selling on Ebay. SELLERS, BECAREFUL OUT THERE!!!

[Emmasmommy2008]

Its a scam. I am selling a used diamond ring on craiglist and he offered me $1,000 which is $200 more than i asked for it. 

Here is his email:

Thanks for the mail, My name is Martin Lawrence
i should have come for the pickup of the item
but am presently out of state. am sending the
item to my Wife that is managing our store.
I want her to put it in our store before valentine.
Do you accept paypal? all because i have money
in my paypal account,kindly get back to me with
your paypal email so i can transfer the money
from my paypal account to yours.I will be adding
$100 for the shipping cost of it directly
from you to her. and i will be giving you $1000 for the item.

I told him I would meet him or his agent at a jewelery store in my town and haven't heard back from him.

[bigdaddyj80]

Ha Ha! His name was Martin Lawrence? Really? "You so crazy!" (said in the style of Martin Lawrence, lol) You were smart not to fall for that one. Although, I smelled a scam from the first sentence in his message.

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@Emmasmommy2008 wrote:

Its a scam. I am selling a used diamond ring on craiglist and he offered me $1,000 which is $200 more than i asked for it. 

Here is his email:

Thanks for the mail, My name is Martin Lawrence
i should have come for the pickup of the item
but am presently out of state. am sending the
item to my Wife that is managing our store.
I want her to put it in our store before valentine.
Do you accept paypal? all because i have money
in my paypal account,kindly get back to me with
your paypal email so i can transfer the money
from my paypal account to yours.I will be adding
$100 for the shipping cost of it directly
from you to her. and i will be giving you $1000 for the item.

I told him I would meet him or his agent at a jewelery store in my town and haven't heard back from him.

---

[rimcrazy]

I think this person is working overtime. I am selling a Pelican case on Craigs list.  Got this, this morning after I had sent him back an email saying I would sell it for $150.  The guy comes back offering me $225 and will pay FedEx shipping which on this item I know would be close to $50 minimum.  **bleep**, you can buy it new for around $300.

Here is his reply

Thanks for you reply,i am located in Remsenburg city in NY,i really
need to buy this and send to my son schooling outside the state as a
Birthday Gift, have been trying to buy this on eBay but is very
stressful buying on eBay and i will not want to miss out on this
opportunity so am making you an offer of $225 to rap the sale off. I
will be paying through PAYPAL because i have a verified account with
paypal. So kindly get back with your paypal email address so i can
make payment into your paypal account. Once payment clears,shipment
will be handled by me through my perasonal FedEx account, so you don't
have to pay for shipment. Get back to me if my approval is granted. I
would like to see the pictures please.

This just stinks of SCAM. No I did not go for it.  Sent a reply, cash only, local sale only.  I was wondering how they could be scaming PayPal. Glad I logged on.  Thanks to the previous responders on how they are doing this.

[surplusdealdude]

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@rimcrazy wrote:

I think this person is working overtime. I am selling a Pelican case on Craigs list.  Got this, this morning after I had sent him back an email saying I would sell it for $150.  The guy comes back offering me $225 and will pay FedEx shipping which on this item I know would be close to $50 minimum.  **bleep**, you can buy it new for around $300.

Here is his reply

Thanks for you reply,i am located in Remsenburg city in NY,i really
need to buy this and send to my son schooling outside the state as a
Birthday Gift, have been trying to buy this on eBay but is very
stressful buying on eBay and i will not want to miss out on this
opportunity so am making you an offer of $225 to rap the sale off. I
will be paying through PAYPAL because i have a verified account with
paypal. So kindly get back with your paypal email address so i can
make payment into your paypal account. Once payment clears,shipment
will be handled by me through my perasonal FedEx account, so you don't
have to pay for shipment. Get back to me if my approval is granted. I
would like to see the pictures please.

This just stinks of SCAM. No I did not go for it.  Sent a reply, cash only, local sale only.  I was wondering how they could be scaming PayPal. Glad I logged on.  Thanks to the previous responders on how they are doing this.

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ebay is "stressful" because tey've figured these guys out.

If you let the buyer use their courier, they can redirect the parcel and it will show that you did not send to the address in the paypal payment advice.  You will lose any item not received claim as a result.

Additionally, the courier's account is usually stolen, so the courier will come back on you for the shipment.

And, of course, the payment notification you get will be fake.

[robertswww]

Never ship a product without first logging directly into the PayPal website via their direct url (never via an email link), and verify the funds are indeed there.

As has already been stated, you can easily recieve a fake/scam email from PayPal (if you view the email source code and trace the IP and/or domain names, you can usually find out where the fake email originated and forward it to: spoof@paypal.com).

Shipping anything out of the country runs a high risk of fraud, so you will need to get verification of the buyer's identity, address confirmation, etc. before shipping.

If you ship, then you will want to have both a tracking number and insurance.

If the person pays via PayPal using a credit card (most likely a stolen credit card), then a chargeback will be filed by the owner of the stolen card.  If a chargeback is filed by the shipper, then you can dispute the chargeback within PayPal by providing proof of shipping, etc. (NOTE: Remember that chargebacks are filed directly with credit card banks and not with PayPal).

If they paid via PayPal account funds, then you can dispute it, again, with your proof of shipping, etc.

Please note that Craigslist is divided into local markets, and you should only sell within your local listing market for safety.

If a buyer is from out of the country and you still want to sell to them, wait until the funds are in your bank and cleared by your bank before shipping anything.

Also, make sure you are eligible for PayPal's Seller Protection before selling:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/securitycenter/sell/SellerProtection-outside

[LarryJr]

If they DO send funds to pay pal, and I can get it out using my pay pal atm card, how can they scam you?

[surplusdealdude]

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@LarryJr wrote:

If they DO send funds to pay pal, and I can get it out using my pay pal atm card, how can they scam you?

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The funds might be paid using a fraudulent credit card.

When Paypal gets the chargeback, they come after you to make good on the negative balance in your account.

Paypal has VERY efficient collection agencies and they WILL get their money.