Playing with an eBay scammer

[Dion]

I'm reselling that Fairlane I bought a few months back.

The listing ends in a few days - I got a text message at 03.01 this morning from "tiny.cool73" (not a phone number), which read
"Hi, what is the asking price for your car listed on eBay.com.au?Please contact me at sargedude522gmail. com .Regards"

Alright, I thought, this is a scam. Let's see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

To the email address above I sent "$1000 would end the auction early" (the starting bid is $800).

I then get an email from "Erik Nyberg" (same email address as above),

"[FONT=&quot]Thanks for the response,i will take it for $1,200 including PayPal surcharges since i am interested in the immediate purchase.I just moved to the United Kingdom,where this is needed and i will be making use of a shipping company to have this picked up from you and have it delivered to me.Further arrangements will be made with you in regards to the pick up once i have paid you.

I would appreciate if you email me with more pictures (if available) too since i won't be be able to see this in person,what's the PayPal email to send funds to in order for me to pay in ASAP.

Erik"

[/FONT]Uh huh. eBay chargeback scam I'm guessing - they pay me via Paypal, then organise a flat bed to collect the vehicle, then tell PayPal they never received the vehicle, get a refund from PayPal, and vanish.

I only had to get to where it says "$1,200" to work this out.

Remembering that all I've got from them is an email address, anybody got any ideas for how I can f*** with this guy?

 

[KraftyPg]

Dammit and I thought I was going to get a worn out Fairlane for free

There is a few ways I can think of but you really need to be prepared for consequences that you might not like, the least of which is letting the scammer know more details about you.

 

[Dion]

Dammit and I thought I was going to get a worn out Fairlane for free

There is a few ways I can think of but you really need to be prepared for consequences that you might not like, the least of which is letting the scammer know more details about you.

Hahaha.

Well they'd have to be fake details I guess.

 

[Aussie Frontier]

Hey we could always start sending this guy offers for even more money to buy the Fairlane off him lol

 

[Dion]

The other option is that they send me a fake Paypal email claiming I've received a payment but I need to pay an agent the delivery fees for the money to be released - $800 via Western Union.

 

[Jason]

An oldie but a goodie:

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

 

[Dion]

Here's what I've tried so far:

[FONT=&quot]Dear Erik,[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]That sounds great and I am very happy that you would like to buy the car, but since you are in the UK, I need to be careful to make sure that you can legitimately complete the transaction before I turn away the other people who have made lower cash offers than yours. Please send a 10% deposit - $120 – via MoneyGram, to Dion ***** in Melbourne, Australia. You can find a MoneyGram agent near your address by visiting moneygram.com. You then need to email me the reference number so that I can collect the funds and we will go from there.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Kind Regards,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dion *****[/FONT]

I'm keen to hear the excuse why this can't happen.

 

[Old.Tony]

First, you forgot to edit your surname out of the bottom of your above post.

Now, I'd send him a pic of an old matchbox vehicle and tell him "$1200 for this is perfect mate, I'll take it" then actually send him the car.

 

[Dion]

Thanks Tony.

I sent him some pictures of the real car, same as the ones in the listing.

 

[bullwinkle]

How about a simple "Feck off, you thieving cent"?

 

[raywise]

An oldie but a goodie:

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

Yeah, that makes me laugh every time I read it. That Scambaiters site has some rippers on it as well. Sending washing machines full of concrete to Nigerian scammers etc, LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[superiorcruiser]

i had someone from UK wanting to buy my boat,offered me more money for my troubles and then wanted me to pay them the shipping fees,which they were going to pay back with the boat purchase.
they claimed to have deposited the money to my paypal account,but as expected they didnt...so after a few emails i told them to go and get farkd and buy a boat in UK..
i was suss right from the start.....
but some SIMPLE folk would have sent the few grand as asked for the so called shipping fees and would never hear from them..

 

[KraftyPg]

Tell him you'll pump the tires up really really big and float it too him to save him money on the freight.

 

[Dion]

How about a simple "Feck off, you thieving cent"?

.... but then I wouldn't get my $120....

 

[Old.Tony]

You do have to be careful about these. One of the people at my work was offered $500 for something by an overseas buyer and the cheque arrived for $5500. The sender then asked for a $5000 cheque to be sent by return mail and they'd accept the currency transfer fees as the cost of their blunder. There was considerable urgency in their request - something about a sick relative, I think.

The cheque for $5500 obviously bounced, and this person was glad that they waited before sending the balance back.

There are SO many different ways to get scammed. Glad you're on the ball, Dion!

 

[scottybobcat]

They are doing it on dateing sites aswell.A mate of mine has joined one and has been talking to a couple of chicks for a few weeks and they then ask for some money to pay a tax duty so they can get back into the country or something along those lines but desperate people would send the money I reckin and get screwed in the other fasion

 

[justdrinkbeer]

I got an email offering a "second chance bid" on a MX bike a while ago, dumb arse missed the blokes phone number in the ad, made a call and found out he'd sold it to the original winner.
I pissed the scammer around for a while, same stupid thing about being in the UK & wanting the cash to buy a beautiful gift for his wife, wasn't long before I got bored with the scenario

 

[Tiburn]

An oldie but a goodie:

http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

I love that. It is hilarious. Certainly worth the read

 

[BP90]

when i had my ba falcon up for sale on carsales recently i got heaps of them scam txts all with the email provider 'gmail.com'. i had 10,000 on it at the time and one bloke offered 12,000 without even looking at it, but he lived in WA and im in QLD and he said he would pay for it to be sent over and that.. i wonder if they think that we actually believe them?

 

[KraftyPg]

If they thought people didn't believe they wouldn't still be ripping people off with the scam.