Bay 12 Games Forum
Finally... => Creative Projects => Topic started by: umiman on February 03, 2010, 04:58:30 pm
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Heh heh. I'm selling my laptop online and I got this reply:
Hi,
I need this item for my adopted-son whose Birthday is February 20th. Presently he is studying in a missionary college in West Africa.I will need you to ship the item to him in Lagos Nigeria.I know this item worth much more so I'm offering you the sum of $850 for the item and $250 for shipping and handling charges to Africa through Canada Post Regular Mail.
I'm willing to make the payment through PayPal because they protect both buyer and seller.kindly forward to me your PayPal email address and I will send you the money as soon as possible,or is this your PayPal email address( umiman@gmail.com )??.One last thing I want you to remove the item from the website as sold because I don't want to lose it to some else.Thanks
Warm Regards,
Jason
Nice scam. I'm curious how he will run the scam though. Any ideas? I'm thinking the typical hidden expenses gag and he doesn't pay a cent deal but am not sure. It is Paypal and IF he pays me $250 in shipping and I don't do jack shit, I get a nice free cheque. The problem is if his intention is to send me to a fake paypal phishing site and steal my login info, then that would be a problem.
What do you guys think? What is his game?
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ITS A TRAP
Yeah, it is probably a scam. Reassuring your hunch.
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You actually considered doing it? These sorts of messages practically scream scam. There are probably easier, cheaper and faster ways of getting a used laptop than that. And it's not like when a laptop goes up on a bidding site and everyone swarms it. Plenty of people sell laptops through such things.
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My brother's birthday is February 20th. I didn't know we put him up for adoption.
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tell him that you don't need 250 for shipping, shipping is only $X. But you will gladly remove it as sold as soon as he buys it.
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Tell him you don't use paypal, you use onlinemoneywire.on.youknowexactlywhatgoeshere.org
Chances are he's scamming from an internet cafe, and bludgeoning his computer with popups and "WOOHOO I'M LOOKAN AT PORN" will likely get him banned from said cafe. You'll be doing Nigeria a service.
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You actually considered doing it? These sorts of messages practically scream scam. There are probably easier, cheaper and faster ways of getting a used laptop than that. And it's not like when a laptop goes up on a bidding site and everyone swarms it. Plenty of people sell laptops through such things.
I'm selling the laptop. He contacted me to buy it.
My friend who works at the Better Business Bureau tells me that the way this works is that it's possible to send you temporary money in Paypal which can expire after a time period. I have no clue how this is done though. So I bet it's either that or phishing.
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Don't do it!
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You actually considered doing it? These sorts of messages practically scream scam. There are probably easier, cheaper and faster ways of getting a used laptop than that. And it's not like when a laptop goes up on a bidding site and everyone swarms it. Plenty of people sell laptops through such things.
I'm selling the laptop. He contacted me to buy it.
My friend who works at the Better Business Bureau tells me that the way this works is that it's possible to send you temporary money in Paypal which can expire after a time period. I have no clue how this is done though. So I bet it's either that or phishing.
He's paying you, correct? If that's the case, I don't know how he could scam you. 'Temporary money'? Please. If you mean, 'pay with credit card then lie and tell your company that you didn't authorize the payment' that might be possible, but I'm pretty sure that's more than a little illegal.
You could set up a seperate paypal account (that is, one not linked to your bank account/credit card) and get him to pay into that, then don't actually send him the laptop. No one would pay $250 (plus the actual price of it) to ship a second-hand laptop overseas -- if he would, then he's clearly got money to burn anyway so it's a victimless crime, so to speak.
No real danger.
Also, as for the phishing scheme? Just don't click on any of his links, I guess? Since he's the one paying you, he's the one that should be depositing money, after all.
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I would have done something like say that unfortunately there are alot of scams, and/or ask why not ship the laptop to him, so he can send it where it needs to go himself.
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Couldn't you just have him pay first, into a separate account, and close the account and withdraw the cash before sending the laptop... if he doesn't pay, you don't send the laptop, if he does, make sure he can't try and claim it wasn't an authorized payment, take the cash out and close the temp account...
If you're not comfortable with it, you can always just turn the guy down and take a slightly more normal offer too.
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Paypal allows you to "take back" a payment for no reason weeks after you've made it. This is very common for scammers to do.
Also, if he's paying with a stolen credit card, paypal will take the money back from you.
I'd stay miles away from this one.
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You could aways try to pull an awesome stunt like the P-P-POWERBOOK was.
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Do not under any circumstances think this will actually benefit you. I've fallen for a scam in the past, it seems like you're getting money and then they find a way to reverse it and you have nothing.
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right. Paypal is not a bank. They are not insured. your "balance" with paypal is not real money. They can push those bits around at will and with no repercussions. There are several disappearing money tricks, as well as the potential for your account to be locked and all funds inside lost with no legal remedy.
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Why is it that whenever someone requests something be mailed to or from Nigeria people immediately think it's a scam?
Seriously though, you'd think they'd start using a less suspicious country. Why is it always Nigeria?
Also yeah, don't trust it. Nigeria.
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Lol nigeria...
I always love reading scam emails, fun times... fun fun times...
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Nigeria has developed a reputation. I'm sure not all of Nigeria's commerce is scams, but there are only so many times you can cry estranged royal heir before people stop trusting you.
Also, I second Tilla's suggestion. Scamming is this guy's business, and I highly doubt you're the first person to have thought of trying to reverse-scam him. He knows what he's doing.
Of course, that doesn't rule out less risky ways of messing with him that don't involve exchanging of paypals.
EDIT: In addition, it's not just the fact that he's from Nigeria, it has the other classic hallmarks of a 419 scam. The missionary thing, implying that he's a Christian and wouldn't do such things, the offer of a much higher price. I'm not sure why he wants you to remove it from the website as sold, it may be to mess with your ability to do something about the scam after it's over, although since it's in Nigeria there's not much you can do.
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You could just cordially inform him that his offer sounds very suspicious, for a number of reasons, and that you feel uncomfortable doing business with him. Or at least mailing anything anywhere until you have the money, in cash, in your hands. It's impolite to mess with a scammer if you don't know HOW he is trying to scam you. :)
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Why is this in Creative Projects anyways?
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because he wants to know how to creativly deal with the situation?
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Lock?
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...Why lock?
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I suppose not then.
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Print out his email.
Get a video camera.
Record yourself burning the email he sent.
Send to scammer.
???
Profit?
I always wanted to do one of them.
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Giving them your face might not be the brightest of ideas. Pull a 419 eater and constantly argue with this dude, asking for things like a bank statement proving he has the money because your grandmother is sick and needs the money badly.
Also, demand that he mails you the money, or at least a check.
Or better yet, demand him to send recordings of his adopted son reading passages from the bible to prove that he really wants to be a missionary.
And that is why this is a creative project.
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In the slight/impossible chance that this is legit,
you people are all very terrible.
: )
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Do missionaries really need laptops?
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Lock?
please do
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Just watch, there's a real Nigerian prince out there somewhere, looking frantically for someone to help him keep his fortune, and wondering why everyone keeps calling him a scammer.
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Just watch, there's a real Nigerian prince out there somewhere, looking frantically for someone to help him keep his fortune, and wondering why everyone keeps calling him a scammer.
There's a Collegehumour video about that.