Am I being scammed?

[hulbs2012]

Hi

I'm a recently separated mother trying desperately to scrape up a deposit for a house.  A few days ago I listed my engagement ring for sale, and received a message from a buyer in South Africa offering a princely figure (via Fedex), and giving their email address for future negotiation.  I emailed them accepting the offer, and suggested using Paypal for the transaction. 

I have since received an email from Paypal saying the transaction has been approved, but as yet the transfer is still showing as "pending". 

Am I about to be ripped off?  I have already placed a stop of my bank account/credit card to cover me.

[davewil1964]

There was a link posted on one of these scammer threads over the weekend, where they reckon that scammers are deliberately outrageous.

That way the idiots credible self-select and they don't have the hassles of dealing with people with half a clue.

[davewil1964]

There was a link posted on one of these scammer threads over the weekend, where they reckon that scammers are deliberately outrageous.

That way the idiots credible self-select and they don't have the hassles of dealing with people with half a clue.

[ricardo_361*]

Hi there,

I have also had an item won by a bidder living in the USA. They requested I send the item to their friend as a gift in Nigeria. Given the item was cheap and unwanted, we sent it out, and as expected, the money never arrived in my nominated Paypal account.

A couple of days later, the seller and a fraud paypal acocunt are requesting I send US$200 to Nigerian customs via Western union to release the item lol. Not only is the item worth a 10th of that price, but I am never sending money to these people.

Anyway, I have alerted the buyer that I believe he is a scammer and will no longer pursue dealings with him.

Is there a way to report this user to ebay? The buyer has an excellent track record accoring to feedback here, but I simply don't trust any of this crap relating with Nigeria and Western Union. Paypal has so far been unhelpful in resolving any issues, although I did report the suspect paypal emails to them.

[*kazumi*]

ricardo_361* (4, Nigeria is always scam, and the scammers are not just one person, they are international gangs who now have your details.

Report the ID used buying your item as hijacked, then run all your antitrust programs, and do not click on any links from anybody, especial those that look like from eBay or PP.

Next time the moment Nigeria is mentioned, report the ID.

[gameboarders]

For the veery life of me I can't believe just how many people are so eager to open themselves up to crooks!

The only reason I can think for why it would happen in this case is because the seller was hoping to get away without paying the Ebay selling fees, and if that's the case they are as crooked as the scammer whose trying to rip them off.

[xxstuckonstickersxx]

I don't see how its your fault, as people seem to be eluding to. ?:|

If I get robbed at knife point because I decide to walk home instead of drive, do I DESERVE to get kniffed?

Some of us are automatically aware of scammers and the countries they mostly work from from, but not everyone. It seems a whole heap of people still believe we live in a world where humans act like humans. Its not their fault this isnt the case

[xxstuckonstickersxx]

Sorry for the double post..

Regarding the emails from PP saying the transaction is approved, don't rely on email!! Ring PP customer support. A long time ago I recieved emails from PP and eBay which looked the real deal. However they were clearly too good to be true (my item had sold for $150 and PP needed my info before releasing money) so I didn't respond. Instead I called ebay and PP who both said they were fraudulent emails.

In fact I hadn't sold anything for $150 because I had nothing listed lol

[gemsweddingsupplies-online]

I was selling some household items under another ID. I was surprised by how many times something like this happened with false purchases/payments/scammers etc. Definately more than when I started out with this ID. I do worry about inexperienced sellers.

[superscanner4]

http://www.techworld.com.au/article/428151/why_nigerian_scammers_say_they_re_from_nigeria/

Click on the link within the article for the complete pdf research study by Microsoft if you're interested. In a nutshell, scammers want to find the ideal target (those who have money and are gullible and unaware of the standard scams that are around).   Finding this tiny percentage in the general population is expensive in terms of the scammer's resources (time and money) so the best way to find targets is for them to identify themselves.  i.e. people who do not know that scams typically originate in Nigeria; are not alerted to something fishy by the obvious signs such as outrageous stories, bad spelling, poor quality letter writing etc.  These strategies are used on purpose because educated people who spot them straight away are not the intended target of the scammers.   What scammers hate is putting in the time and effort and then have their target pull out somewhere along the line.  If you read the study you can see how it all works mathematically - it's a matter of efficiency.  They are most likely to succeed if they can locate gullible people by weeding out the smart ones first.  Can you see how it works?  It's a process of elimination.

Note the suggestions of how to get back at the scammers - by pretending to be a gullible target, waste as much of their time as possible then drop them in it a the end.  It is actually a sport.  Many of us have done this with phone scammers.  But don't do it with emails or ebay accounts because you should never make contact that way or click on links. 

You want to be in the population that gets rejected in the first round i.e. by reading all the advice given by banks and software security experts, keeping up to date with the news and websites such as scamwatch.org.au.  Forums are also a good source of information.   

[davewil1964]

I don't see how its your fault, as people seem to be eluding to. ?:|

If I get robbed at knife point because I decide to walk home instead of drive, do I DESERVE to get kniffed?

Some of us are automatically aware of scammers and the countries they mostly work from from, but not everyone. It seems a whole heap of people still believe we live in a world where humans act like humans. Its not their fault this isnt the case

It is the sucker's fault. A minimum of research would show that Nigeria ALWAYS equals scam.

If people want to transact online then it behooves them to at least have an idea of the pitfalls. If they don't or won't then, frankly, they deserve to be ripped off. There are many far more subtle scams out there. But as I said above, the Nigerian ones are after the self-selectors.