I put my motorcycle up for sale (if you’re interested click HERE) and listed it on a number of sites to help get the word out. Those included paid ads as well as enthusiast sites.
Within 24 hours, I got a response. Beauty, I thought, and what’s better he didn’t haggle. He offered to pay me the advertised cost. Too good to be true? Yep.
Here’s the scam: he could only pay me by PayPal. Supposedly he’s an oceanographer at sea at the moment, with no access to his bank account but did have access to his PayPal account, which was linked to his bank account. He could transfer money into my PayPal account and then organize an ‘agent’ to collect the bike when the money had hit.
Sounds foolproof, right? The money goes in, he sends his guy around, collects the bike and we’re all happy.
As a former journalist (ex-crime rounds), all of this sounded fishy in the extreme. His story sounded lame (‘if he can access PayPal over the Internet, why not his bank account?’; ‘what’s with the flimsy oceanographer at sea line?’, etc.) and I did some homework as to how PayPal works and doesn’t work.
Essentially the scam works because PayPal allows buyers to dispute a transaction and if done with a credit card, the issuer can ask for a ‘chargeback’ if the buyer disputes the sale. This means that after the money has gone in, even if you have transferred it to your account, the buyer’s issuing bank can order a ‘chargeback’ on the money you were paid, which means you have to pay it back one way or another. Meanwhile, your goods have been delivered or picked up and you have no way of recovering them because the phony buyer has disappeared.
This asymmetry in the buyer/seller dynamic means the seller can be caught short — big time.
I emailed my erstwhile oceanographer with a hanking to buy a motorbike for his favourite cousin in Perth saying I would only take cash (on pick-up was was fine), a cashier’s cheque (with goods to be picked up AFTER the cheque cleared) or a direct deposit (bank-to-bank, with 24-48 hour pick-up after the transaction cleared). I never heard back from him, which was not much of a surprise.
Also, one more word of caution: it’s not just PayPal, it’s also Western Union that you can have problems with, so beware folks, there’s some serious shonks out there that are waiting to take advantage of you if you don’t have your wits about you.
Same scam in Canada! Only the job is different and the car needs to go to a Father in UK.
Thanks, everyone saved my skin.
Thanks for the swift response…I am willing to offer you $3,500 for it.due to the nature of my job and location…i will not be able to come for inspection,am a very busy type as i work long hours everyday,i have gone through your advertisement and i am satisfied with it.
As for the payment..i will be paying you via the fastest and secure way to pay online(PayPal).
I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after the payment have been made …so no shipping included.
You can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in right away and also include your address in your reply.If you don’t have a paypal account, you can easily set up one…log on to http://www.paypal.com.au and sign up. its very easy.I await your reply asap.
……………………………………………..
this was the response to me. Now his email is @live.com">barrysmith99@live.com … seller beware.
this stank of a scam as soon as I read ‘no shipping included’. on top of all the other stinky bits of giveaways.
No fool me.
“Got this email today from a “Judy Turpin”
Thanks for your swift respond,i really appreciate it,i am an oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my dad,i want to make it a surprise gift for him,so he won’t know anything abt the gift until they get delivered. I can only pay through paypal. So pls kindly get back to me immediately so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the Item up immediately after payments…….
Looking forward to hear from you soon”
Thank god for this forum!!!
Nice work people, this blog saved me heaps! Chris Apergio tries to strike again!
I have just recieved another email regarding the sale of my car.
Email Address: @gmail.com">collinsloop12@gmail.com User Message: Get back to me regarding this car,what is the last price and how is the condition?
I know they are a scam email, but I wanted to see his reply and this was his reply after i replied saying the car is in excellent condition….
Thanks for the swift response…I am willing to offer you $20,000 for it.due to the nature of my job and location…i will not be able to come for inspection,am a very busy type as i work long hours everyday,i have gone through your advertisement and i am satisfied with it.
As for the payment..i will be paying you via the fastest and secure way to pay online(PayPal).
I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after the payment have been made …so no shipping included.
You can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in right away and also include your address in your reply.If you don’t have a paypal account, you can easily set up one…log on to http://www.paypal.com.au and sign up. its very easy.I await your reply asap.
I replied back saying ‘In my advert it states NO PAYPAL BUYERS…READ IT AGAIN!!!
I haven’t had a reply as yet. I haven’t been able to trace the email he uses as yet.
I too have recieved several emails for my car I have for sale. I really is annoying. I almost got scammed the first time, but now I just ignore the emails. I also had one from this email @yahoo.com">andrewlohanbb@yahoo.com, I traced it back to Sunnyvale CA.
Selling $6,000 piece of furniture and I received the same hit as Melissa within 24 hours of posting it with the name Martin Woods.
Hi
My son has been contacted by Morris Wood, wanting to buy a motorbike, same story, oceanographer at sea, wants to buy it for his son, no access to bank account but can use PayPal account, will transfer money and arrange a courier to pick up.
clearly the guy has changed his name as he is referenced here so many times, SO BEWARE MORRIS WOOD.
I to got the same story Chris apegio works off shore blah blah blah
very glad i googled his name!
2010joebaker62
this guy did the same thing to me on ebay… i have now cancelled the transaction just incase.. was buying for his dad…
Thanks for the heads up!!
Thanks to all for posting this as I just got scamed with the same story.Sonds like he might be from Nigeria with the rest of the scammers
Thought it sounded very fishy and way too good to be true. We got a couple of emails from Chris Apergio wanting to buy our car as a surprise gift for his father without having seen it and only paying by Paypal. Thanks for the heads up!
And sure he’s back agion, under different aliases, try to fool me twice now with 2 different instruments I built and pt up for sale at ebay:
—————————
Name: Judy Turpine
Location: Rhône-Alpes, France
Email: @hotmail.fr">pdp.mint@hotmail.fr
Thanks for your swift respond,i really appreciate it,i am an oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my son,I’m not a musician, but i love the make of the product and i know my son will love it too ,i want to make it a surprise gift for him,so he won’t know anything abt the gift until they get delivered to him. I can only pay through paypal. So pls kindly get back to me immediately so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the Item up immediately after payments…….
—————————
Name: Morris Jones
Location: NL, Canada
EMAIL: @yahoo.com">jonesmorris95@yahoo.com
I am an oceanographer and am currently at sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my Dad, i want to make it a surprise for him,he wont know anything abt the item until they get delivered to him, i can only pay through paypal as i dont have access to my bank account online as i dont have internet banking,but i have my bank acc attached to my paypal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through paypal,So pls kindly get back to me with your paypal details so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done, i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the item up after i have made the payments for the item…….Greetings
Just received this email from “Chris Apergio”. If these scam artists are being investigated, providing the “long-header” version (shown below) of the email will assist in the investigation. The way the email is written is obviously a scam (in my opinion). So, yeah, thanks to all who share info on sites like this one. I will alert Craigslist too.
From: Chris Apergio
Subject: About Your Craigslist listing
Date: June 27, 2010 8:19:04 AM EDT
Status: RO
Return-Path:
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Hello,
i Saw your proposed advertised and i’m interested in buying the item.I need to know if you have the item in your possession and the present working condition, are you the real owner of the item?please do Get back to me as soon as you read this message and will also like to know the last price for it.
i just posted my car in the quokka again and chris apergio was interested in my car”
Email Address: @hotmail.com">chris.apergio1@hotmail.com
User Message: I wish to inquire if this vehicle is still available for sale and what\’s the final price and is there any other that you advert so that i can have a look
Chris
The same guy, Martin Wood the oceanographer, is still at it. Tried to close in on a $5,000 furniture set my family posted on Craig’s List. He wanted to purchase it sight unseen, offering an additional $50 for us to take it off the listing and used the same story about being at sea and not being able to use his bank account and requesting to use Paypal.
Exactly the same oceanographer email, 2 hours after posting on Quokka, he must be catching a few people, otherwise he couldn’t possibly carry on with it! Had exactly the same questions – no internet banking but paypal? Will buy the car without seeing it? Thanks for sticking this post up, confirmed my suspicions
i was selling my bed on craigs list and the same thing happened to me
it was $2400 and he wanted the bed for $3000 and he insisted i use paypal WTFFFF
thank you also for posting this. i was fishy when i recieved this reply from Martin Wood. im glad i found this site too, because i was also going to set up a paypal in order to recieve the funds. I feel such a relief that i didn’t do it because $3500 would be a tremendous lost to me and my family, has anyone tried to trick these people or call the police? just wondering if there is anything they can do? i will never fall for something like this again and will google names when i recieve offers on items.
After posting my furniture on Craigslist I received the following email from Martin Wood (woodmartin299111@gmail.com):
Hello My name Is Martin, i will love to make an instant purchase have seen the picture and am okey with it the price , please do withdraw the advert from the site.I don’t mind adding an extra $50 dollars for you to take the advert down from the site so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item , I really appreciate it, i am an oceanographer and, i am on sea at the moment, i am buying the it for my dad , i want to make it a surprise for him,he wont know anything about it until its delivered to him, i can only pay through paypal as i dont have access to my bank account online as i dont have internet banking,but i have my bank account attached to my paypal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through paypal also paypal is the best way to do business online if you dont have one you can check online wwww.paypal.com to set up account. Kindly get back to me with your paypal details and your last asking price so, we can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been credited to your account, i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the item up after i have made the payments for it.. I will be looking forward hearing back from you.. Greetings
I didn’t believe this guy so I googled him and this is what came up. My husband and I are so glad that we found this site. THANK YOU!!!
THANK YOU thank you THANK YOU for taking the time to post this.
I just got an E-mail from Martin Wood with all the blah blah blah story. It sounded fishy, so I decided to check it out and I found this info!!!! I’m very happy I didn’t fall for it, thanks to this information.
The whole thing is pretty crazy! Can’t believe there are such scams!!!! How do they get away with it over and over again? I wonder!!!
Thanks again for had posted!!!
i just got done!! $930 down
what an ass!! so angry but glad i figured it out before we lost more!! i knew it was suss from the start but i was doing it as s favour for my dad!! should have been more careful– he played the paypal pretty well!! never selling anything online again!! a lesson learnt! i got done with the prezzie for dad!!!
I’m so sorry to hear you got done…
How did you lose the 930 dollars? Did he force you to pay shipping or something similar?
I’ve been having trouble understanding the details on how he actually gets the money..
D-mn bastard, he is..they are..or whatever..
Thanks for this posting. I advertised my car on quokka online and he replied within a day. I hope lots of people read this because he’s not just going after small items. He’s aiming high. Thanks again
How about this one today!!!! “Hi thanks for mailing back,i am an oceanographer, i am at sea right now,i am buying this for my son as a surprise gift and I am glad you accepted my offer.I can only pay through paypal at the moment as i dont have access to my bank account online(i dont have internet banking with it),but i have it attached to my paypal account, and this is why i insisted on using paypal to pay,all i will need is your paypal email address to make the payments,and if you dont have a paypal account yet,its pretty easy to set one up at http://www.paypal.com.i will be expecting your email.I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been sorted.”
I really appreciate that you and others made the effort to expose this scam. This is a meritorious act which has undoubtedly saved many people a great deal of grief and suffering. Thank you.
I agree Stephen. I have been lucky but there are others who weren’t so fortunate. Millions of people scammed with no scruples whatsoever…senior citizens and people that don’t have access to information like this forum. There is a definite need to disseminate the different scams that exist.
Just got one from Chris Apergio … his email to me … “I am happy to read from you,i really appreciate it,i am an oceanographer and am currently at sea at the moment, i am buying the car as a gift for my dad, i want to make it a surprise for him,he wont know anything about the car until it get delivered to him, i can only pay through pay pal as i don’t have access to my bank account online and i don’t have internet banking,but i have my bank account attached to my pay pal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through pay pal,So pls kindly get back to me with your pay pal details so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done, i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the car up after i have made the payments for the car…….Greetings
what is your reserve price,and how about you send me more pics and once am provided with your paypal email address i will send in payment”
Glad I googled his name.
Im from Australia, i let him go for a while cause i wanted to see how he was going to scam me i received three emails yesterday from a fake paypal asking me to pay his shipping agent ( himself )$2000 via western union ( alarm bell) within 6hrs of each other i mean come on why the urgency if it is legit give me a chance especially when yesterday was a public holiday and i had no access to a post office which makes me think he probably is not in Aus. When i asked him how i pay the $2000 when i cant access the paypal account as it is on hold untill i pay his agent he said i should pay it with my own money thats when i sent him my nasty email and told him what i thought of him.
He may also be posing as Zachary Thomas petroleum engineer on an offshore rig he is trying to buy our truck on ebay but wont go through ebay and insists on paying through paypal, he has transfered money into my paypal account and i recieved a hoax email from paypal saying the money was in my account already Suspicious i did not open the email but phoned paypal and surprise surprise no maney in my account he is also requesting i pay a pickup agent $2000 .THANKYOU for your posts has saved us alot of heartache
Hey guys I was quite close to selling to him but thought it was very fishy. So I googled “martin wood oceanographer” and lead me to this website HAH! good thing I checked. But I am starting to worry that this is some international scam which would be quite hard to deal with. I am from Canada and was about to contact the local law enforcements until I realized many of you are from different countries, so it probably wont make a difference. Any guess to where this guy is from? His english is quite bad.
Awesome Site
THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POSTING. IT SAVED ME SOME HEADACHES !! HE TRIED TO GET MY BOAT.
thanks
I just got an email from this character martin wood ocenographer re a car I am selling. I was suspicious and sent him a list of questions so will see how he responds.
I just received an email from this fellow too. Offered to buy my boat without seeing it. thought it was kinda fishy. I asked him where he was & have had no reply.
Thank you so much for posting this. He was trying to buy my car which I was desperate to sell, and I almost fell for it. Thanks!
Me too – Sturgis MI, under the name (again) of Martin Wood … @gmail.com">martinwood999211@gmail.com
Just got an email from this guy too. He is using the name Mark Devon.
Thanks for this website!
Hello funny Martin Wood contacted me this morning with same story…wants to buy my sleep number bed at full cost and give me extra $50 to take down add….hmmm oceanographer at sea, unable to access bank account…surprise gift for his father …aslo has agent to pick up bed….emailed him back with link to this site and said “I do my homework Im on to you” Thanks for all of your posts as this helps to identify these scammers
Jen
Ah yes, Mr Chris Arpegio is still at sea and still an oceanographer. He has attempted to buy almost every car in Perth for his entire family, and now (such a good boy)wants to buy my car as a surprise gift for his Father. He has recently been assisted in his endevours by his associates, the lovely but implausible Miss Wanda Smith (wandasmith84321@gmail)and Mr Jones (refletties@gmail.com), both of whom have no doubt been influenced in the choice of their email addresses by the 1970′s “B” Grade TV series, “Alias Smith and Jones”, a series about 2 very mediocre and inept cowboy/conmen/criminals! This is a very crude scam, don’t pay them any money on PayPal, don’t sell them your car, and don’t be suckered in!
Just got the same email scam except it was from Kim Ford still an oceanographer and using a gmail acct. If it sounds fishy it’s probably a scam.
Thanks for whoever set up this!! I got an email today from this guy, named, Chris Apergio. I was first suspicious as he talks terrible english! I got the same email as a lot of other people. Am going to email asking for COD and see the response, if any. We are in Western Australia. Pity there wasn’t a way to stop him, cause I’m right there with whoever figures it out!!!!!
Cheers
Just got the same pitch this morning for a motorhome!
My husband and I got the same email……..oceanographer at sea (jordan evans). I was going to set up paypal just because we wanted to sell our truck that bad. Glad I checked the web and found this first. I emailed him back and said certified cheque or nothing and haven’t heard back yet.
This “oceanographer” has tried to pull a fast one on me with the same scam….he wanted to buy my car for his son. Be very careful and don’t engage!
Selling my car in Dublin, Ireland and just got a string of emails from an Air Stewardess, Oceanographer… Their english is getting better but once you push for details they have to stray off the script and the pidgeon english comes out. “What es your best price” “My agent will be a better to tell you” etc.
It’s a real pity that nothing can be gone but in the age where a new gmail is only a couple of clicks away they can call themselves anything. They even started using some really Irish names..
Hope no one falls for the lies..!
Great website BTW
just got one form dora an oceanographer as well, wanting to buy my volvo with 100k on he clock and send it to the UK. Great to see that there is a blog where other people have got these emails as well and can then warn others.
Hi everyone,
I’ve been contacted by ‘Larry Atwood’, a marine engineer, then, when I relisted the vehicle, I was contacted by ‘Mark Smith’, oceanographer.
He’s very persistent… I think he thinks I am still a viable option.
Very appreciative to you all for your comments: it was easy to google this silly little scam.
Cheers, Kim
I’m fending off Mark Smith as we speak and have reported him to Paypal, WA Police, Scamwatch. I wish this guy the following curse “may you live in interesting times” since he is without doubt superstitious. We can all be satisfied with the knowledge that whatever goes around comes around. Lookout Mark Smith – karma is not your friend, and will definitely be paying you a visit real soon.
this just happened to me. THANKYOU SOO MUCH FOR THIS WARNING. I found it fishy when i got another email just the same – stating they were at sea and can only use paypal. as if two people want my car with the same job and terms? they wanted me to send $950 to there agent for the pickup but before the paypal funds would be transfered. dodgy asians. they send fake paypal emails too so everyone watch out if it is too good to be true, it sure is!
Hi ,just a follow up to your post, thanks for posting it, I found it by searching for “I am happy to read from you,i really appreciate it,i am an oceanographer and am currently at sea at the moment”
I also got the same scam email. As they say .. If it sounds too good to be true … it usually is . I checked it out straight away and found it was a scam but strung him along for a couple of days to find out how he was going to make money from me, if he was going to deposit all the funds, and costs into my Paypal account.I knew there would be a catch somewhere and there was 
… the way he was after getting my $$$’s was to supposedly have the Paypal payment pending, get me to send the shipping fee to the agent (him !!) which in my case, for a car, was $1040, before completing the transfer and then he would deposit the funds to Paypal !! I reported him to the police in Western Australia and they are investigating through Computer Crime Squad and Cyber Fraud, I also contacted Paypal Australia and they will follow it up but … he will move on and cover his tracks no doubt. At least if we have made some people aware .. it’s a start 
thanks for posting this info got the same email from mark smith as soon as i put car sold as is in the email he stopped replying also recieved same scam from destiny brandy and daniel collins
You are a lifesaver to post this out here.
This SOB with the same email address try to buy my car too.
Luckily someone who doesn’t bargain with my asking price deserves a background check.
Kudos mate.
cheers for the info