Car sale PayPal scam

Hi Scamwarners - I got the same text message within a day of posting on AutoTrader.com:

From phone number (214)612-3977:
(1/2) Do you still have the vehicle listed on AutoTrader? If yes kindly email me at [email protected] for further communication. I'll
(2/2) look forward to hearing from you

Exact same form as the scam text messages others have listed above. I will not be emailing a reply to see if this is legitimate or not as it immediately felt suspicious to me. Clearly this scam is still being used.

Welcome to Scamwarners kahdrick.

kahdrick says

Clearly this scam is still being used.

The truth is that if you're selling or buying a car, or anything else on the internet, you'd better be wise as to the tricks scammers play, otherwise you're going to get burned.

I'm not implying you're a newbie but In a forum the worst that can happen to a newbie is they'll get 'flamed' - on an ad site they'll get their pockets emptied. We welcome newbies and try to warn them what will happen to them if they're not cautious and aware of what to look out for.

You advertise on the internet ? - a scammer will reply. Bear in mind that only an idiot or a scammer will buy a vehicle 'sight unseen', and usually it's a scammer.

I received the same offer and emails selling a truck on Craigslist In my Paypal emails that read the money was intersected to protect both of us But sent a red flag up to me was the bold Statement "Please DO NOT call us at PayPay because we are too busy" If I had any questions to email this link I forget it but it didnt look to me like a paypal email I deal with them alot, So I called them anyway guess what? They were more than happy to talk to me as usual and asked if Id forward the emails to their fraud department

So I text the person back and told him what i thought of him It wasnt pleasant and that I forwarded his contact information and all emails to Graigslist,PayPal, and my State Attorney General Now I know they'll never catch that person but hopefully they'll have to change their email phone number and other things they use to scam Us and cost them some time and headache

Well thought id share that hope it helps

So here how it went down for me...

Receive a text on my cell from Phone # (260)-632-7560
"is your car listed on Kijiji still available for sales? What is the price"
(even though the price is shown on the kijiji page - first ref flag)

Responded ...with price

Followed by a very long text but only few seconds after I sent my response (second red flag - no one can type that fast)
"(1/3) Thanks for getting back to me. I am happy with the condition and and price. I'll pay the amount directly to you through"
"(2/3) PayPal.am from Canada but I'm working mining Outskirt of Phoenix with my Company euro max resources at the moment, So I won't be able"
"(3/3)to come and do things personally, however I will make sure that all costs will be fully covered by me and I will arrange for pick"

Responded - "not sure about this"

"(1/3) Due to my present location, my choices are milited and not often available by the phone. I am an honorable woman and"
"(2/3)you will receive your money cash in hand before this is picked up. However, It's easy and free to open a paypal account. just go to"
"(3/3) there website www.paypal.com and sign up a personal account there. Paypal is the world leading payment master that protects both"

Signed up to Paypal and send a note saying I was ready to transact

"good, so what is your last price, and send me your full name, paypal e-mail address with your phone number so I can make the payment"

---- chicken out and stop corresponding

Welcome to Scamwarners lnantel,

The scammer is not interested in your car. He wants to steal your money.

In this scam the scammer will ask the Seller to take PayPal for more than the price of the car. The fake email from Paypal will look real but it is a fake. He will then ask the Seller to send the OVERPAYMENT to his FAKE SHIPPER / Agent by Western Union or Moneygram to pay for the pickup and shipping. The scammer will tell you that Paypal will release your funds when you send the over payment. PayPal will never hold your funds.

If you send money to anyone via Western Union or Money Gram there is no way of getting it back.

This same scam can be used by the scammer sending fake cheques, money orders and cashier checks.

It is best to deal locally face to face with cash in a public place.

I wanted to sell my car in Austria, and get e-maill from a "person" who want to buy and py PayPal.
they want to send me €880- more and i should pay with WesternUnion a "company" for shhipping(they will come to Austria from Bermingham and pick my car up) ??
How f*** strrange is that:
Here are info´s about that Crime-mafia:
-------->>>>> e mails i receive ------>>>>>> from: [email protected]

I will be paying the PayPal charges from my account and i will be paying directly into your PayPal account without any delay. I will need your home address for it to be Picked Up by the Shipping Company as they are suppose to pickup the Car 2 to 3 days after I make the Booking and here is my address also if you will need it for the Agreement Form:

Name: Maria Laura
Address : 41 Station Road,Solihull.
City : Birmingham
Postal Code : B91 3RT
Country : United Kingdom.

I will proceed with the PayPal payment as soon as i receive the PayPal payment notification to my PayPal email ([email protected]) or
you send me the following details to make the payment
PayPal email
PayPal name
amount to send
item description

Await your response asap.
Thanks,
Maria.
________________________________________________________________
I have just received an alert from PayPal Customer Care with the confirmation email that the payment has been made,a total of 2,480 EUR was sent, 1,600 EUR for the Car and the extra 880 EUR for the shipping charges. Kindly check your Inbox or your Spam/Junk for the email confirmation from PayPal. You will have to refund the excess 880 EUR to the shipping company and send the western union receipt to PayPal for verification so they can activate the pending funds which has been sent to your PayPal Account. Here is the Information of the Shipping company you will be refunding the shipping charge to:

Name: Eric Bauer

Address:
12 Galgate
Barnard Castle
County Durham
DL12 8EL
United Kingdom.

PayPal will activate the pending funds in your PayPal Account as soon as you send the western union receipt of the Shipping charge to them which has been added to the money sent. The shipper would be coming around to your area to have the Car picked up once you have sent the shipping charges fee to them,as i need you to send me your home address for the pickup and let me know what time you want them to come for the pick up.

I will be waiting to hear from you once the money has been sent to the shipper.

Thanks,
Maria.
________________________________________________________________________

******
i wrote them back (not nice mail i wrote)
So they need to change their data, mail, Names , addresses,.....

BE AWARE OF F***** FRAUD

Welcome to Scamwarners dccor.

Any time you're selling something on the internet and the buyers wants you to make a payment, it's a scam. There's no reason why a buyer can't pay his own expenses and obviously any money you pay out will go straight in to the scammer's pocket and any mail he's sent confirming payment to you is spoofed.

Note that he'll never ask you to make payment the same way he claims to have made payment to you. If he wants you to pay the imaginary collection agent by Wuxfer then that's the way he should pay you.

The moment a buyer starts giving excuses as to why he's going to buy a vehicle without seeing it first, it's a good reason to suspect that you're dealing with a scammer.

The chances of a UK person buying a left hand drive car from Austria - unless it's something super special, there's no likelihood whatsoever.

I listed my car on Autotrader and Gumtree and have had 3 seperate scam attempts! Why wont these people do the world a favour and naff off!

Thanks for the mail.. Am Alex i live at Werrington, Peterborough, am interested in buying your vehicle as I'm offshore at sea and due to the nature of my work. I really want this Car to be a surprise birthday gift for my Dad, so I won’t let him know anything about the Car until it gets delivered to him, I am sure he will be more than happy with the Car. I had read your advert and I’m well satisfied with it including with the present condition of the car

I insisted on PayPal because I don't have access to my bank account online as I don't have internet banking access, but I can pay from my PayPal account, as I have my bank account attached to it, You’re only required to get back to me with your PayPal email address, so I can make the payment as soon as possible. Please if you don't have PayPal account yet, it is very easy to set up and will only take 3 minutes; go on http://www.paypal.com to get it set up. Immediately you have the account set up, you’re to send the e-mail address which you use for registration with PayPal so as to put the money through


Don’t worry about the shipment of the car; I have a reliable and a reputable pick up agent who will schedule an appropriate pick up date and time with you, immediately after you have receive the payment in full into your account. I will be expecting your PayPal e-mail in the next mail


Nice doing business with you.

Welcome Tom!

Can you please post the email address the scammer used?

Hi there everyone,

Just a warning of a scammer that just tried to get me in the UK. I was selling a car and they reply came:

... Hello, if this is still available, I am ready to buy it now,And due the nature of my work,phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it. i would be glad to pay for it as soon as possible thought will not be available to come for an inspection due to my tight schedule. Kindly get back to me with the following questions below:1) Are you the Owner? 2) Pick up Location? 3) Your PayPal Email ID to effect the payment 4)what is The final Price 5)is there any other issues with the item not mentioned on site? 6)kindly remove the post from the site i would be glad to make the payment immediately PayPal so kindly get back to me with your PayPal ID. You need not to worry yourself about title transfer and pickup,i will instruct the carrier company to handle that therefore in order to complete the transaction do get back to me with your PayPal ID and total cost so that I can make the payment asap. I will be waiting for your reply,thanks...... Oliver
Sent from my OLIVER's computer

THIS WAS NOT A GENUINE INTEREST. There was very little about this on the net, so i wanted to post so others could avoid being tricked. Thanks!!

Welcome to Scamwarners emilyd,

Please post the email address the scammer used. Many people will search for clues on the internet using the email address.

I just got the same type of message and they said almost the same thing verbatim with the only difference being that he said he is a truck driver and want to get the car for his father. I will post more detail later.

Hi guys, I just got the same thing happening to me after offering a car on Autoscout24.at. Here's the email address that was used and the last email he sent for future reference:

From: Marvin Erwin <[email protected]>

Hi,

Thank you for getting back to me. Can you assure me that it's in good state and that i will not be disappointed with it. I'm ready to pay your asking price and to be honest, I wan to buy it for my self and the family, but the issue now is that i have just been called up to work abroad in my company and now all is set as i will be leaving the country with my family in few days to abroad to start a new life so the car would been going to United Kingdom because that is where i have just been posted. Since we are all set to move abroad soon we have had to block all the tides linking us to Sweden as the family already had their hearts set on moving abroad to start a new life in United Kingdom.

So because of the short space in time my only quickest payment option will be PayPal as i can send money with it anytime any day as i will be able to make most of the internet for the time being. Since I'm requesting this transaction to be done via PayPal, i will be responsible for all the paypal charges on this transaction and if you don't have an account with paypal, its pretty easy, safe and secured to open one. Just log on to http://www.paypal.com. I hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible. Already i have been in contact a private shipping agent in United Kingdom who is my friend. He will be coming for the pick up once payment is done and confirm, The agent will be the one to take care of very necessary paper for me. So i look forward to hear from you soon. I would like to see more pictures as i will also need your home address where the shipping agent will meet up with you.

Many Thanks

I'm slightly concerned about this person having my personal mobile phone nr., email address and full name, should I be worried about this at all?
After this email I got suspicious and googled it which is how I found this thread, so thanks for being there! So I have not made any further contact, any recommendations on this? Should I report him to live.com, paypal? Should I respond and scam the scammer? Who's got any good ideas?

Cheers,

Tom

If he has your name, phone number, and email address, there's nothing he can do with that except contact you. Don't worry.

There is no sense reporting him to PayPal, as he doesn't have a PayPal account. He sends fake emails that look like they come from PayPal.

Don't scam the scammer. If you'd like to bait the scammer, please see 419eater.com for the necessary precautions. Otherwise, don't answer him at all.

......we have had to block all the tides linking us to Sweden as the family already had their hearts set on moving abroad to start a new life in United Kingdom.

Sounds like the myth of King Canute.