Scam alert! eBay Alex Howard aka usdavi.cg53xv

Hey everyone I need some help in figuring out a situation I'm in and before I decide what to do next I want other people's opinions, so recently I went on eBay looking to buy a ps4 and this guy had a bundle in an auction and it was for seven days and I bid up to 300 but eventually lost the bid, however I got an email from the guy and he said that if I can pay him 300 right away he will send it to me instead of going through eBay, so I thought okay and this is where a bunch of red flags shot up.

Red Flag 1 This is his first sell, he has no history
Red Flag 2 In order to get the money right away he wanted to do it by gift send on PayPal and not by transaction, reason why is he needs the money for college. So I did it accepting the risk besides I had his name and number and would call cops if necessary.
Red Flag 3 I did not receive a tracker from him saying that it would cost him ten dollars if he did pay for it, he agreed to pay for shipping and he said it cost over fifty to ship and didn't want to spend anymore on tracking. At this time I called fedex and I confirmed that he did send the package but the phone guy told me that they don't charge for a tracker, but that it is coming.
Red Flag 4 Now this is where things get interesting he ends up texting me saying he is having a problem getting the funds from his account so he refunded me the money back saying that he is going to create a new account and when it's all set up to resend the money to him so right now it is being refunded into my bank account and it is confirmed he sent it for sure just waiting for it to go through. He also told me when he did this that he is trusting me and to not screw him over and that he has my name and address and that he will call the cops if I try anything funny.

Now this is where I am at, he gets angry at times whenever I ask him questions, not angry angry but just annoyed but right now with all these weird things going on what should I do? Do I just give him the money when I get it refunded into my account, or do I hold it til I receive the shipment and check everything out, or should I just call it off and tell him that I'm not interested anymore? There is a lot going on and it just feels weird, why would he not be able to get money from his account? Why is there no tracking number and why would he lie about it costing money or was there a miscommunication between me and the guy on the phone about the cost of the tracking number for fed ex? Any help would be greatly appreciated guys thanks

Hello JBRojo,
This is a scam and he moved you away from eBay to avoid the buyer protections. He wants the PayPal payment sent as a gift because money sent via PayPal as gifts can not be disputed. If the payment was returned to you then I would just walk away and ignore this person.
Every shipment with Fedex has a tracking number so I he can't give you a tracking number nothing has been shipped.

I would just walk away.

Yeah I thought so but something is indeed coming cause I called fed ex and confirmed that something was sent, but yeah it's just been a really weird situation

If something was actually sent then you should be able to get a tracking number.

ETA: He could have shipped anything including an empty box.

I would agree with Mike and I would add that it is very unlikely that you've been refunded anything. If it's not in your account it isn't there and there's the risk that he could always recall the money even if he did send it to you.

Scammers look for ways to manipulate Paypal and other payments systems all the time and the minute they start trying to get you to do things outside the 'norm' then it's time to consider you're being put in a position to get scammed.

It strikes me that he's trying to 'double up' on what he's scammed you for.

You've paid him once and there's no need to pay him anything more until you get the goods and the original money is back in your account. Don't rely on 'spoofed emails'. Make sure it shows on your account balance.

Oh sorry guys I sent this as a copy paste right now I have the money in my account, so it is all safe and in the clear

This is a definite scam, the contact information does not match the claimed location. After you follow up with the suggestions that i sent to you please post an email from this thief and include the email address and telephone number used. be sure to remove your personal information before posting. This information will help others avoid losing money to this criminal.

Will do, I will get all information I can about this person and thanks for all the help you guys with what's going on, I feel a lot more confident in what's going on.

So I have confirmed a scammer
His name is Alex Howard
His eBay username is usdavi.cg53xv
His PayPal account email [email protected]
His phone number is 1(210)739-0659

This is all the info I have of this confirmed scammer, he will attempt to do payments by gift and friends on PayPal

^^^^ You will need to post evidence of the scam or this post will be removed.

Here is the evidence, on eBay I had received a message from him saying that he would sell a ps4 for $300 and that I would pay him through PayPal, now he constantly tried to get me to pay outside of eBay thRough gifts and friends and eventually I decided to take a chance and do it, this was my first transaction and did not know the differences but as it turned out he sent me a message saying he got the money and that he went to go ship the package, however I got a message from him saying that he couldn't afford buying a tracking number on fed ex but that the packages would be coming in 6 to 15 days, the next day I get a message from him saying his account wasn't letting him get the money out and that he was going to refund me the money and for me to pay him in the future once he got the new account situated, now I got my money back but later on I learn that he is trying to sell the same ps4 through an auction on eBay still even though he said that he already shipped me the ps4 awhile ago, I got into contact with the winner of the auction and she said that he was trying to get her to pay for the ps4 outside of eBay as well, this was when we knew he was a scammer, afterwards he constantly harassed and threatens me to send the money or he'll call the cops and was just very angry. Today I called him out on the whole auction thing and he said that he never shipped the box and that he promises he'd ship it if I sent the money again, please everyone stay away from this man, he is attempting to sell a brand new phone and put up the same ps4 listing, I have a bunch of texts backing all this up and I have made claims with eBay and PayPal, he is a scammer and will lie any chance he gets. Just be careful!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-PlayStatio ... 6016.l4276

The new eBay listing he just put up of the same thing I tried to bid on seven days ago and is brand new claiming the same things as the first listing.

Evidence of the scam will be in the text, emails and messages on Ebay.

Please remove your personal information from them prior to posting.