I put a non-Corvette project on Craigs list last night. Today I received an offer to pay full price with Paypal and have the buyers "agent" pick up the car as soon as the payment cleared Paypal. The reason is the buyer is on a ship somewhere and cannot access his bank funds. There is another one born every day, but it's not me ! Bob

 

I agree this is a scam but what does the scammer get out of this? How does it work?

Tom

 

Scamers are Usually one in the same

 

I saw a 1965 396 Vette for $16,600 by lady that wanted your Paypal address, your name address and and phone number. She said that Paypal would contact me. She would not provide the VIN, nor her phone number. She said that she did not need to be there. The shipping was prepaid and I would have 5 days to inspect and accept the car. If rejected, she would pay for the return shipping.

 

Is the buyer stuck in the hull of the Costa Concordia ?

Ciao, Raimondo

 

I had the same thing happen to me a few months ago on a 69 Z-28. I told them they could save the shipping fee and I'd be there in the morning with cash and a car trailer. They wouldn't accept that and all communication ceased at that point.

Jim

 

How does this scam work?
If the funds clear Paypal what's their next move?

 

Tell him to PayPal the buyers agent and when the funds clear PayPal the buyers agent can bring the cash and pick up the project.

 

I'm not saying it's not a scam, I'm just trying to understand it.
If Paypal has the funds in the seller's account and the funds have cleared, how does the buyer get the car without giving up the cash? Paypal does not will not acknowledge or confirm funds without actually having it. (One of the major and obvious points of using Paypal.)
The times I've sold and the many times I've bought with Paypal, there was no deal until the cash was secure in the Paypal account and Paypal stood behind it. The only way to scam after that would be if the seller didn't give up the goods to the buyer, not the other way around.
I just want to know so I know what to look for in the future.

 

In the other Paypal scam the seller is asking for the buyers Paypal info which is backwards. Then they ask for more personal info which must be used to retrieve a lost Paypal password like name address and phone number. Never a live voice and never a VIN number and never a face to face.
I did sell a Vette to a guy in Spain but it was face to face and cash at my bank here in the USA and he drove away and handled his own export.

 

When I purchase something I will need the seller's Paypal account ID first so that I can transfer the funds to him/her. If they ask for my password, obviously that's a scam, but that didn't happen here. How can I pay without knowing what Paypal account to sen d the funds to?
I still don't get it.

 

Watch out for that tree, Rubi!

 

I got an ebay second chance offer on a '64 that was a virtually perfect copy of a legitimate ebay message. Except it was a scam. Same deal as you, offer to inspect and they would pay return shipping. Wanted to use paypal and said he "wanted to use ebay." Very pushy individual on the other end. I offered to pick up and set a time I would call the seller (using the phone number in the original ad listing). No communication afterwards. I did call the original seller and we discussed the car at length, only when we came to the price discussion did we realize the scam was running. It had happened to the guy selling in the past (small classic car dealer). Turned it in to ebay. BEWARE. The level of authenticity copying ebay ads is getting EXTREMELY good.

 

The current paypal scammer sends a fake paypal email that says the funds wont be released until the western union transfer to the "shipper" is complete...I have a premade email showing a fictitious western union transfer...funny, but I never hear from them again after that...

 

I don't think this particular E-Bay scam can be used anymore since they started disguising the bidders identities to everyone but the seller.
In the past, yes it was open season for scammers.

 

I wish it was open season ON scammers. There should be a dollar amount awarded for each hide.
The ones that really pizz me off are those that take advantage of the elderly.

Jim

 

The original "buyer" was to have the car delivered to his brother as a surprise. It would be a hell of a surprise since the ad included NO pictures and the car was described as a rusty project. The potential buyer even supplied me with an off-shore tel # starting with 44 which is England. I emailed him back stating I thought his response was a scam and have heard nothing since. Bob

 

I still don't get this particular scam. Yes, if they try some side step with waiting for Western Union transfers that's obviously a scam, but from what I read that didn't happen here. The funds were to be deposited (and therefore verified and cleared) into Paypal. From there, if they don't come to get the car the transaction stops, if they do, Paypal, not the buyer, releases the funds. I'll stop here because it seems none of us know exactly if or how this particular scam works.


That always gets me pissed! The one time I got scammed on Ebay (I got most of my money back through Buyer Protection), Ebay and Paypal don't seem very aggressive about going after these creeps criminally. I occasionally get Phish to my email that I forward to spoof@ebay.com.
It could be that they go after these crooks but we never know how or what come of it.
But, I never here on the news or papers that these guys ever get caught. It's stealing (or attempted theft) just like going to a bank and taking money. I know it's complicated since alot of these thieves work across state or even national borders and they hide behind false addresses but still, and with small amounts of $ it may not be worth it for them, considering the scope of the problem, you'd think you'd hear that these guys get caught occasionally, but I never do. I don't know but I would think the technology is there to get these some of these guys.

 

They send you a FAKE paypal email claiming paypal will not release the funds until the shipper has been paid...here is an exert from one of the scam emails...

"For security purposes,

This PayPal payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been " APPROVED" but will not be credited to your account until we confirm that the shipping fees has been sent upfront to the above address via Western Union Money Transfer and the money has to be sent from your pocket. The above amount has been fully deducted from the buyer's account and the money is now in escrow with PayPal but we want you to send out $1,500.00 USD which will be used by the shipping service agent for the pick-up of the Merchandise."

 

This one actually happened after the names were disguised, just a couple of months ago... so they were sophisticated enough to get into my account to see what I was bidding on or the sellers account to see the identities. They had my old GA address which is buried somewhere in my profile, the car was in WA. I guess they thought the distance would help close the deal. When I offered to fly in and inspect before purchase it really put a kink in their plans. This kind of thing makes me furious.

On another post about this someone linked to a website where all people do is teach you how to torment these criminals using fake identities. I find it hilarious- some are priceless. Maybe someone has the link?