I'm from Canada and am looking to upgrade my digital camera so I posted some ads on a couple online sites. Within 12 hours I get a response to my kijiji add from an eager buyer who claims to be from the U.K.
They don't try to negotiate the price, this should have been a "red flag" but I figured maybe this was do to the declining Canadian dollar. So anyway, the buyer asks for my (Paypal) info to pay me and requests express shipping.
I get an email that is supposed to be from (Paypal) very professional looking with Paypal letterhead and all stating that I cannot receive my funds until I provide a tracking number. So I go and spend $80 on express shipping and email them a tracking number.
This is where things get a little fishy. This is my 1st time using paypal to receive funds so I assumed that I should have my money immediately. I don't get it so I email the buyer.
About 30 mins later I get an email from what looks to be paypal saying that I should receive my money momentarily and a number is provided to verify the transaction. The number happens to start with a foreign are code which leads me to make some inquiries as I assume Paypal would always have a 1 800 #
It turns out my gut instinct was right. I contact Paypal and they have no record of the transaction or the sender. I immediately contact Fedex and stop the shipping. I then give the buyer 1 last chance to prove that they are 4 real and tell them all the info and inquiries I have made.
They email me back within 10 mins and assure me that a Paypal representative will phone me to confirm the payment. In the meantime I decided to go back into my inbox and take a look at some 100% authentic emails that I had received from them.
I notice quite a few discrepancies that if anyone is interested in knowing about I will gladly share. But basically the thing that led me to realize I was being had was that the emails that supposedly were verifying my payment fro Paypal came from a (Gmail) account with a Nigerian sounding name
Most would probably overlook this but I happen to have Nigerian inlaws and am fully aware of the global scams that they pull. At this point my phone rings. Me "hello" (on the other end in thick African accent) "hello, this is Paypal"
I say " thanks for calling, please give me your Id # and a direct line that I can return your call to verify that you are who you say u are" I get a click and the line goes dead. I'm happy I'm not going to lose out on my camera but it looks like the $80 shipping cost is gone.
Take this as a lesson fellow DJ's and if anyone has had a similar experience I'd like to hear about it and discuss ways we can avoid these types of scams
They don't try to negotiate the price, this should have been a "red flag" but I figured maybe this was do to the declining Canadian dollar. So anyway, the buyer asks for my (Paypal) info to pay me and requests express shipping.
I get an email that is supposed to be from (Paypal) very professional looking with Paypal letterhead and all stating that I cannot receive my funds until I provide a tracking number. So I go and spend $80 on express shipping and email them a tracking number.
This is where things get a little fishy. This is my 1st time using paypal to receive funds so I assumed that I should have my money immediately. I don't get it so I email the buyer.
About 30 mins later I get an email from what looks to be paypal saying that I should receive my money momentarily and a number is provided to verify the transaction. The number happens to start with a foreign are code which leads me to make some inquiries as I assume Paypal would always have a 1 800 #
It turns out my gut instinct was right. I contact Paypal and they have no record of the transaction or the sender. I immediately contact Fedex and stop the shipping. I then give the buyer 1 last chance to prove that they are 4 real and tell them all the info and inquiries I have made.
They email me back within 10 mins and assure me that a Paypal representative will phone me to confirm the payment. In the meantime I decided to go back into my inbox and take a look at some 100% authentic emails that I had received from them.
I notice quite a few discrepancies that if anyone is interested in knowing about I will gladly share. But basically the thing that led me to realize I was being had was that the emails that supposedly were verifying my payment fro Paypal came from a (Gmail) account with a Nigerian sounding name
Most would probably overlook this but I happen to have Nigerian inlaws and am fully aware of the global scams that they pull. At this point my phone rings. Me "hello" (on the other end in thick African accent) "hello, this is Paypal"
I say " thanks for calling, please give me your Id # and a direct line that I can return your call to verify that you are who you say u are" I get a click and the line goes dead. I'm happy I'm not going to lose out on my camera but it looks like the $80 shipping cost is gone.
Take this as a lesson fellow DJ's and if anyone has had a similar experience I'd like to hear about it and discuss ways we can avoid these types of scams