EBAY PAY PAL SCAM

I have recently listed a scooter for sale on eBay and two days ago I received an email from Mark Geier [email protected] stating he would like to buy the scooter for $3000 even though it was only listed at $1550........... I should have clicked at this point but Ive never been scammed before so I didn't know any better....... I did not want to rip him off so I said he could have it for $1800 buy it now and that I would end my listing early.....He insisted on paying via pay pal and because he said he was based in Texas I understood his need to use this payment method..... I did tell him I thought it was strange that he didn't buy one from his own country and I said I feel like someones pulling my leg but he assured me he was for real....... I received an email from [email protected] as follows

Notification of An Instant Merchandise Received from Mark Geier (Transaction ID: 5X472815E1267414M)?
Dear ************,
This email confirms that you have received an Instant payment of $ 3,100.00 AUD from Mark Geier ([email protected]) via PayPal MERCHANDISE Payment Service.Payment Details
Merchandise Amount: $ 1,800.00 AUD
Agent Charges: $ 1,300.00 AUD
Taxes and Insurance: $ 0.00 AUD
Total: $ 3,100.00 AUD
Transport Company: UAB"Kuršiu Linija"
Name:Gloria Valencia Salazar,
Address:1333 Haines Street
City:Combes,
State:Texas,
Post Code:78535
Country:USA
Address Status: Confirmed https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd= ... ed_address
NOTE: This is to confirm to you that the said amount has been successfully transferred by Mark Geier and has been deducted from his PayPal account,which is ready to be credited into your account,been that this Payment has been subjected to be a Payment for an MERCHANDISE purchased from you, we reserve the right to make sure this transaction is safe and secured also to verify the legitimacy level on this transaction because of the high sum of funds involved.
The above sum includes the charges of the shipping company and taxes.(as per PayPal MERCHANDISE PAYMENT POLICY). You will receive a Message from the PayPal Customer Verification Department Shortly informing you on how to send the shipping charges and taxes to the transport company to the above details as soon as possible.
You may click here to contact the PayPal Customer Verification Department and Quote the Above Transaction ID for quick recognition of this transaction.
Sincerely,
PayPal

I immediately checked my paypal account and found nothing, not even a payment pending which straight away made me realize something was up..... I Googled "PayPal Customer Verification Department" and that's how I found scam warners as it came up straight away under new paypal scams going around....Everything I read in these paypal scam warnings is exactly the same even the transport company and so on.............. So thanks for warning me I just thought I'd return the favor and warn you of my scam artist....

Hi, welcome and thank you for posting! I'm so glad to hear that you avoided the scam by doing a bit of research. Good for you!

Yes, the scammer sent a spoofed paypal email. Notice that the email supposedly from paypal has some pretty bad grammar/sentence structure, punctuation use:

NOTE: This is to confirm to you that the said amount has been successfully transferred by Mark Geier and has been deducted from his PayPal account,which is ready to be credited into your account,been that this Payment has been subjected to be a Payment for an MERCHANDISE purchased from you, we reserve the right to make sure this transaction is safe and secured also to verify the legitimacy level on this transaction because of the high sum of funds involved.

If you have the initial email sent to you from the scammer, please do post that as well. He's likely used it many times.

I am glad you clicked and did a litle googling.
Please post the email from the scammer as this will help other people who do a search like you.
We would also like to see the headers with your personal details removed if you can.

delete

Hello voltiixpl,

Yes that is a scam mail, so well done for being suspicious!

PayPal do not require you to send money by Western Union.

PayPal recommends:

If you think you have experienced PayPal fraud or received a PayPal scam via email (e.g. a fake email pretending to be from PayPal), forward the entire email to [email protected], and delete it from your email account.

Do not send any money to the scammers - they are not telling you the truth.

for delete

I'm sorry to hear that. How long ago was this? If the scammer hasn't picked up the $900 from Western Union, you can retrieve it.
And you could ask the courier firm if it's possible to retrieve the watch before it's delivered to the scammer.
I don't hold out much hope though.
Report it to the police of course, but there's little or no action they can take about foreign scammers. I take it that you sent the watch abroad.

I had a friend that almost lost a laptop to a scam similar to this. Once he found out it was a scam, he was able to talk to the shipping company (fedex I believe) and they were able to ship it back. He had to pay for the extra shipping but he was able to get the laptop back. He was very lucky that the scammer hadn't picked up the package yet as it had already arrived in Africa.

for delete

Unfortunately, you have sent a watch to a scammer and he has already received it, there is nothing that can be done.

If you are not sure if the watch has been delivered, don't wait--call the company you used for shipping, and see if the item has been delivered. If not, explain that you were scammed and ask them to immediately stop the shipment and return it to you.

this one fot delete too

Perhaps I can just add to this that the best way to guard against being ripped off by online sales or auctions of any kind, eBay inlcuded, is to use a bona fide online escrow company. Although it does add some cost, that will take uncertainty out of the transaction.


Take care,

Ulf Wolf


Removed link and website promotion--we do not allow business promotion in posts. However,as you have pointed out, eBAY's safe trading section does contain a wealth of information, including advice regarding use of escrow services, and it is a good idea to read through - dotti

I am grateful to Scam Warners for bringing this scam to my attention before it was too late. There were several red flags for me which made me investigate this offer of purchase before I sent any money or ended my auction early. It is all lies and waiting to take me for a ride. The biggest flag was the request to use Western Union in a fake paypal email. Really!? They are competitors. They try hard, but we all know how easy it is to use Western Union with no traces left.

I wanted to add my story back into this thread to help stop others becoming a victim.

The magic email from paypal:
Dear XXX,
This email confirms that you have received an Instant payment of £1,842.90 GBP from John James ([email protected]) via PayPal MERCHANDISE Payment Service.

View the "NOTE" of this pending transaction below
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Payment Details
Merchandise Amount: £1,142.90 GBP
Agent Charges:
Taxes and Insurance:
Total:
£700.00 GBP
£0.00 GBP
£1,842.90 GBP
Transaction Id: 5X472815E1267414M
Quantity:
1
Merchandise Title: Honda VFR400RR NC24 1987 - 180488103792
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transport Company: UAB"Kuršiu Linija"
Name: Eric Gary,
Add: 189 Mangold Way,Erith
City: Kent,
Post Code: DA18 4DD,
Country: United Kingdom.

Address Status: Confirmed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: This is to confirm to you that the said amount has been successfully transferred by John James and has been deducted from his PayPal account,which is ready to be credited into your account,been that this Payment has been subjected to be a Payment for an MERCHANDISE purchased from you, we reserve the right to make sure this transaction is safe and secured also to verify the legitimacy level on this transaction because of the high sum of funds involved.

The above sum includes the charges of the shipping company and taxes.(as per PayPal MERCHANDISE PAYMENT POLICY). You will receive a Message from the PayPal Customer Verification Department Shortly informing you on how to send the shipping charges and taxes to the transport company to the above details as soon as possible.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You may click here to contact the PayPal Customer Verification Department and Quote the Above Transaction ID for quick recognition of this transaction.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sincerely,
PayPal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Red Mist

Welcoem to Scamwarners.

I am gald to see you have managed to avoid being scammed and very happy that the information here was helpful to you.

Thank you also for posting the details of the scammer which may well prevent somebody else from being scammed.

If you have any questions, please dont hesitate to ask.

Of note, scammers will often pretend to be working for banks and will often request fees to be paid by Western Union, again, no bank would ever suggest you use Western Union to send them money, interesting that many of these scammers pretending to be from a bank will not be able to provide a bank account for you to send money to.

Anybody who asks for money to be sent by Westrn Union should be considered as a scammer until you can prove otherwise.

I came across this same person trying to scam me in a slightly different way. This 'Gloria Salazar' posted a Toronto apartment listing that I responded to. She claimed she had been transferred to Texas for work and was looking to rent out her Toronto apartment. She said that the keys were with her in Texas so she could not offer any viewings but if I sent her half the rent and deposit through Moneygram she would courier me the keys and I could then pay the rest of the rent. Obviously, alarm bells were ringing so I googled her name and immediately found this posting advising of the scam (as well as a few other internet sites warning of her scams) so would like to say thanks for posting this warning! I've posted a warning on the apartment listing for anyone else but just wanted to add my experience to warn anyone else.

The email she sent said:

Hello,

I can see your willingness in this rent,I am a responsible person, born again christian to be precise, I ain't after the money but someone responsible to take care of the place while i' am away and that is why i make it fair in putting the rent at $800. In the ad,it read rent includes utilities and utilities includes the following cable, internet, hydro, laundry,there is permitted street parking.I shall be giving you the apartment for rent. You have a good profile and I have considered you to be my new tenant.

You'll pay the half of the first month rent and damage deposit which is $625 and the other half when you have received the keys and other documents. The monthly rent for the whole apt is $800 which includes utilites and a damage deposit of $450 which is refundable making a total of $1250, i required half which is $625 to show your commitment to the apartment, secure and hold the apartment..

The package contains Entrance and the rooms Keys, Paper/Permanent apartment form, The apartment documentary file and Payment Receipt.

The payment will be made via Money Gram and as soon as your payment is confirmed, I'll get back to you with the tracking number for you to know when the package will be delivered to your door step the next day.

Here's the payment information:

Receiver's Name: Gloria Salazar
City : Combes
State: Texas
Zipcode: 78535
Amount Sent: $625
Text Question: to who
Answer: Gloria

Get back to me with the Money Gram payment details which includes the sender's name, address and 8 digits Ref#

Regard and God bless you!!!
Gloria Salazar