Scam: Looking For Term-Of-Art

AFIK: "Nigerean 419" involves a request by person A for the target to send money to person B after the target has received/cashed some sort of financial instrument from person A - typically a cashier's check. Some time after the target has transfered money to person B, the instrument from person A bounces and the target, to their surprise, finds that cashier's checks aren't really "as good as cash" when their bank debits the account for the amount of the bounced instrument, leaving the target poorer and person B richer by the amount forwarded.

Have I got that one right?

Then how about this one:

• The target puts something up on eBay with method of payment specified as "PayPal"
• Target gets notified (legitimately...) by eBay that person A has made the winning bid.
• Target starts receiving emails from person A asking them to ship the merchandise, although no PayPal credit has appeared.
• Target reminds person A that PayPal was preferred, but offers to accept personal check or money order.
• Person A counters with some other option that involves target sending them target's home address.
• Target tells person A what their PayPal email address is.
• Target immediately starts receiving fake PayPal messages telling them that a payment has been made, but cannot be credited to target's account until evidence that the merchandise has been shipped is received.

I brought this up in another thread - and got responses to the effect that it is a fairly common scam.

That being the case, I figure it must have a name.

The essence seems tb to get the target to ship merchandise before money is actually transferred.

Can anybody hang a name on this particular methodology?

That's not exactly correct.

Nigerian 419, sometimes referred to simply as 419, is actually advance fee fraud. 419 refers to the section of Nigerian penal code that applies to this crime.

Advance fee fraud is when the criminal convinces the victim that there will be a big payout, but the victim has to pay advance fees in order to get the nonexistent windfall. Classic examples of this type of scam include lottery scams (pay in advance to get your millions), the "unclaimed inheritance" scams, in which the victim is supposedly posing as next of kin for someone who died and left millions, and a variety of other related scams.

Check scams, in which the scammer sends a fake check and the victim is expected to cash the check and forward most or all of the cash to the scammer, are often carried out by the same scammers as the classic advance-fee scams above, but aren't quite the traditional 419. Someone who collects stolen money and forwards it to the scammers may be referred to as a "mule."

Fake Paypal scams, which have become increasingly common, are also often carried out by the same groups, but they have no special name at this point in time. I will say, though, that your scenario is not the typical one. If the scammer is planning to go the fake paypal route, he will generally push for paypal immediately--in these scams, the longer it takes to execute, the more likely the victim will discover it is a scam. He will quickly push for paypal, send the fake emails immediately, and start demanding the item be shipped (or money be forwarded to the bogus shipper, if that is his angle) right away, before the victim has a chance to investigate.

If the target indicates that he/she wants a check instead of paypal, the scammer may simply drop him--but if he also has access to fake checks or runs fake check scams too (many scammers run multiple types of scams), the scammer will simply switch to a fake check.

This is basically a typical fake paypal scam. On ebay they are "winning" the bid more than likely bidding a higher amount than most people would bid. This secures the victim for the scammer. He can now go into his fake paypal scam by sending the fake emails that tell you the tracking number must be sent to get your funds or an overpayment angle asking you to pay part of the funds to the "shipper".

This is really the only way they can do it on ebay they have to win the item or do a buy it now. The scammer just wants you to fall for the fake paypal emails. They are not expecting you to tell them to pay with a check which as Dotti said they will either drop the victim or do a fake check if they have access to them.


It is much simpler on craigslist or gumtree where they do not have to worry about the auction portion. However most transactions are done via paypal on ebay so they have a higher probability of the scam working. The scammer is paying you as you requested via paypal (fake of course). On craigslist or gumtree the scammer has to convince you to take a paypal payment since the norm would be cash in person. Most items are shipped when sold on ebay so once again the scammer is offering the seller what he expects to get a paypal payment and to ship the item to the buyer. If it is an overpayment scam there may be a red flag for the potential victim as typicaly the seller pays for shiping and handles getting the items to the buyer charging the buyer the shipping cost. It is a little less obvious when the scammer is just trying to get your item sent to him withouth really paying for it through the fake paypal emails.

It all comes down to the potential victim recognizing the paypal emails are fake. Hopefully most regular users will recognize this off the bat but those that are new to ebay and paypal can be very susceptible as I have seen a lot of very official looking fake paypal emails.

...paypal....

In another thread, somebody mentioned that a person can reverse a PayPal payment after it has been made.

e.g. Scammer actually credits the target's PayPal account, target ships the merchandise, and then the scammer reverses the payment.

This seems counter-intuitive to me, since it would make PayPal pretty much useless for transactions with strangers.

Can somebody comment?

What you describe is possible however not something I have run across. eBay and paypal do offer protection for buyers and I would assume in this situation for the seller if you can prove the item was shipped and received. Don't quote me on that as I'm not completely sure but I will research it.

If I had to choose I would do a legitimate paypal transaction on eBay over any other option. I'm not saying it's 100% risk free but considering the options it is what I would choose.

The fact is any transaction via the Internet with an individual has certain amount of risk associated with it. Asking questions like you are helps identify some of the higher risk so I appreciate you doing so.

There are a couple of common scenarios in which the payment can be reversed. The first is if the buyer claims the item was never received. This shouldn't be an issue if the seller keeps proper records--but if you don't, you could be looking at a reversal. Keep in mind that Paypal would quickly notice any buyer who repeatedly makes claims of items not received, and there is a lot of paperwork to fill out, so it is not a suitable technique for your run-of-the-mill scammer.


Second, if the payment was made using a compromised paypal account, it may go through, and ultimately be reversed when it is determined the payments were unauthorized. This same exact scenario can also apply to checks, credit cards, and even bank transfers in some cases, so it is not a risk limited to paypal.

I too believe that Paypal is one of the better ways to conduct business online. The point I intended to make when talking about reversing transactions is simply that there is always an element of risk when you are dealing with anything that isn't cold hard cash.

help is this a scam?




This is an authorization letter from PayPal to confirm that Judy Kain([email protected]) is a Verified buyer, and your fund has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been " APPROVED " but will not be credited to your account until the shipment is sent to [email protected] for verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller.And again There is no way the buyer of your items can cancel the payment because it has been confirmed by us already and you cannot also cancel this transaction because it has passed over 5hours and we have been making processing on getting your account credited.


So, do carry on with the shipment as instructed and your account shall be credited as soon as we confirm the shipment tracking number through our [email protected] if you are having any problem here and failure to comply with this instruction may result to suspension of your PayPal account.

We also heard from our Valuable Customer Mrs Judy that she have another transaction to do with you,you don't have to be panic about it,Just go ahead and ship the both transaction out so that we can credit all your account together.

NOTE: *****Do not send the reference number to the buyer till your account is credited account******.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you for using PayPal
PayPal Team

*CUSTOMER SUPPORT*
If you have any question, Please contact the Customer Support Representative that has been assigned to this particular Order : [email protected]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROTECT YOUR PASSWORD

NEVER give your password to anyone, including PayPal employees.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------


PayPal Email ID: PP1557

PayPal, an eBay company
Copyright 1999-2011 PayPal. All rights reserved.



Reply to:

I replied to your other post, but just to confirm--this is a scam. It is a fake paypal email sent by a scammer who wants to steal whatever you are selling.