Is this a Paypal Scam on Gumtree

[meeky74]

Hi
Selling my bike for £600 and have received the below email it sounds a bit fishy to me! what should I respond to sound it out?

Thanks,

Alex

Great! please consider it sold as i am willing to pay your full asking price because i need to buy it for my cousin asap, i have read through the advert and i'm totally satisfied with it,sadly i would not be able to come personally to collect due to my hearing loss and me being in wheelchair.
I have a courier agent that would help me to pick it up at your preferred location after you have received your money and i'll pay you via PayPal today.
Where is the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

THIS IS A TYPICAL PAYPAL SCAM............read and see if it fits your transaction.

Also you are not covered for buyer protection for items that are collected >>> 


You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't.

It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.

They will tell you that the payment is released when you provide paypal with a tracking/shipping number......this won't happen.

Or if the item requires shipping they will tell you that they will pay you extra and you must pay the agent via western union / moneygram 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.

They also threaten legal action...have a laugh at that one and ignore it as its rubbish.

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.

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[meeky74]

Thanks for taking the time to reply it seems pretty close to what you are saying.

Thanks

[SeanieG]

Thanks for posting! Just had exactly the same email from "Alex <removed>"

@ON 6 Nov 2015, at 10:11, alex <removed> wrote:

Great! please consider it sold as i am willing to pay your full asking price because i need to buy it for my cousin asap, i have read through the advert and i'm totally satisfied with it,sadly i would not be able to come personally to collect due to my hearing loss and I'm just recovering from heart surgery so I'm home-bound.
I would appreciate if you email me with more photos (if available) since i'm unable to see it in person.
I have a courier agent that would help me to pick it up at your preferred location after you have received your money and i'll pay you via PayPal today.
Where is the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?

---

@meeky74 wrote:

Hi
Selling my bike for £600 and have received the below email it sounds a bit fishy to me! what should I respond to sound it out?

Thanks,

Alex

Great! please consider it sold as i am willing to pay your full asking price becuause i need to buy it for my cousin asap, i have read through the advert and i'm totally satisfied with it,sadly i would not be able to come personally to collect due to my hearing loss and me being in wheelchair.
I have a courier agent that would help me to pick it up at your preferred location after you have received your money and i'll pay you via PayPal today.
Where is the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?

---

[RuTr]

Just to add to this, received a similar email today. I had advertised through MCN, whom I advised....they did not seem too bothered. Not sure what made me check. Copy of email below:

Great! please consider it sold as i am willing to pay your full asking price because i need to buy it for my cousin asap, i have read through the advert and i'm totally satisfied with it,sadly i would not be able to come personally to collect due to my hearing loss and I'm just recovering from heart surgery so I'm home-bound.

I would appreciate if you email me with more photos (if available) since i'm unable to see it in person.

I have a courier agent that would help me to pick it up at your preferred location after you have received your money and i'll pay you via PayPal today. 

Where is the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?

[MalinAnderson]

I HAD THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO ME

Great! please consider it sold as i am willing to pay your full asking price because i need to buy it for my cousin asap, i have read through the advert and i'm totally satisfied with it,sadly i would not be able to come personally to collect due to my hearing loss and I'm just recovering from heart surgery so I'm home-bound.

I would appreciate if you email me with more photos (if available) since i'm unable to see it in person.

I have a courier agent that would help me to pick it up at your preferred location after you have received your money and i'll pay you via PayPal today. 

Where is the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?

lucky i looked this up, jesus

[GergP]

Just received this message from 4 separate people. Fail! I thought it was fishy the first time I received it

[Slav79]

Next name of scam <removed>

[Sclews1902]

Hi. I had the exact same email from the exact same person -Ashleigh. I emailed and insisted on cash on collection as I was concerned about the safety of it and unsurprisingly they didn't reply. Has anyone reported it to the police or trading standards?

[myloginname123]

Hi, I had an email on Gumtree from "Jade Nelson" when I posted an advert of my car up for sale. The message still says "courier agent" to pick up.. a whole car?

But when I replied and said "cash up front and buyer details on V5C for me to send off", the person still replied back and wanted to know the location of the car.

I'm confused because Paypal has not been mentioned so far??? 

PS, I found this thread because I decided to search the mobile number provided into google.