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.
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This is terrible!!! Such a pathetic thief…
*****************************************
> On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 11:15 AM, David bobby Dean
> wrote:
>
>> Hello Friend,
>>
>> Thanks for the quick response. Well i am Bobby by name am from
>> London and i am highly interested in purchasing this your furniture as
>> soon as possible. I have been in search of this particular furniture
>> for a very long time and i was happy when i came across your advert.
>>
>> Let me know the present condition of the furniture as well as the
>> exact year you have been using it. Also i will like you to send me
>> more pictures if there is any
>>
>> Concerning the Payment i will proceed and make the payment of the
>> furniture right away by Paypal Online secure payment Okay. I will be
>> the one to handle the shipping myself as i have a shipping agent in
>> London UK who is an expert in this field. I wait your response as soon
>> as possible so we can make moves concerning the transaction.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Bobby
On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 1:46 PM, David bobby Dean wrote:
Have being looking for the type of furniture.. And am interested in
buying it from you… Am from United Kindom and am presently on a Ship
sailing to Bermuda.. My shipping agent will come and finish the pickup
of the Furniture once i make the payment… Get back to me as soon as
possible..
well now the name’s scammer is janet jonze && she’s oversee’s but the only she can send me the money is thru paypal,, but she wantss me to send a money gram of $700 to the “movers”,, then ill get the whole 4,800…which is stupid,, thanx gor this blog,, i juss copied & paste the address & this blog came out
NAME:Ola Micheal
ADDRESS:
85, Disraeli Road, Putney,
London,SW15 2DY,
United Kingdom
Hi,
Thanks for the message. I was browsing through sites and your ad caught my eye. I am very interested in purchasing this from you. At present, I am currently out of town due to the work I do. I am based in Drogheda and work as an engineer on ships. Now what I propose to you is this; Due to the fact that I am so far away right now I will gladly transfer you the amount via PayPal plus any excess transfer charges, what I would then also do is arrange for a private courier company to pick up from your address once you have received the payment into your Paypal account. The reason I choose paypal is that it is a reliable and secure way of making a payment online so works out better for both parties.
Bernd Harder
Age:
50
Date of Birth:
08/08/1961
Most Recent Address:
Kichweg 31, 25566, Rethwisch, Germany
Criminal Records:
0 records found
Aliases/Name Variations:
Bernd Harder, Bernd Harder
Passport ID: 1144118046
So in order to enable me to proceed with the payment could you please provide me with the following information:
Name:
Your PayPal e-Mail Address :
Amount:
Phone Number:
Kind regards,
Bernd.
he is still at it guys
Hi,
Thanks for the message. I was browsing through sites and your ad caught my eye. I am very interested in purchasing this from you. At present, I am currently out of town due to the work I do. I am based in Drogheda and work as an engineer on ships. Now what I propose to you is this; Due to the fact that I am so far away right now I will gladly transfer you the amount via PayPal plus any excess transfer charges, what I would then also do is arrange for a private courier company to pick up from your address once you have received the payment into your Paypal account. The reason I choose paypal is that it is a reliable and secure way of making a payment online so works out better for both parties.
Bernd Harder
Age:
50
Date of Birth:
08/08/1961
Most Recent Address:
Kichweg 31, 25566, Rethwisch, Germany
Criminal Records:
0 records found
Aliases/Name Variations:
Bernd Harder, Bernd Harder
Passport ID: 1144118046
So in order to enable me to proceed with the payment could you please provide me with the following information:
Name:
Your PayPal e-Mail Address :
Amount:
Phone Number:
Kind regards,
Bernd.
Almost got me! Didn’t see how it could be a scam if I didn’t allow for my motorcyle to be picked up before payment. Now I sort of wish I’d gone through with it and not given him the bike! Ha! Scam the scammer. Also, why can’t this person be busted by his credit card number – oh ya, probably is a stolen credit card. Anyways…thanks for the heads-up.
thank’s so much i got the same ocean liner guy today wanting to buy my truck, want’s to use palpal, i’m glad i looked up this site for info my guy’s name was chris dawson, beware of him.
Our friend ” Eng. Bruce Ronald ” is still working to buy cars with Paypal money transfer via Credit card. I saw at some Youtube movies that the money will charged back after some days or weeks.
At 8th of September Ove from Sweden has got a mail from this bandit too.
Now he wrote to Italy to buy a Volkswagen T3 Syncro. He is asking very few questions and wasn after one mail ready to buy for 12000 Euro. All fees for money transfer he want pay.
And Ove, he use still the word OKAY very offten.
Possible he was not at highscool 
Here is a copy of his mail:
>> > 2011/11/17 Eng. Ronald Bruce
>> >
>> >> Hello Friend,
>> >>
>> >> Thanks for the quick response. Well i am Eng. Bruce by name am
>> >> from UK and i am highly interested in purchasing this your item as
>> >> soon as possible. I have been in search of this particular item for a
>> >> very long time and i was happy when i came across your advert.
>> >>
>> >> I will like you to let me know the Final Price you are willing to
>> >> sell the item and also let me know the present condition of the item
>> >> as well as the exact year you have been using it. Also i will like you
>> >> to send me more pictures if there is any though i am okay with the
>> >> pictures on the site.
>> >> Concerning the Payment i will proceed and make the payment of the
>> >> item right away by Paypal Online secure payment Okay. I will be the
>> >> one to handle the shipping myself as i have a shipping agent in London
>> >> UK who is an expert in this field. I wait your response as soon as
>> >> possible so we can make moves concerning the transaction.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> NOTE
>> >>
>> >> The item will not be picked up until the full money clear in your
>> >> Paypal account Okay.
>> >>
>> >> Regards,
>> >> Eng Bruce
*****************************************
>>
>> Oh Okay I can see that the Item is in Good condition from the picture
>> you sent to me and i am ready to buy the item as soon as possible
>> without any delay. So concerning the Payment i will be making the
>> Payment as soon as possible Via PayPal Online secure payment method,
>> the reason why am using this payment method is due to the nature of my
>> Job as i don’t have an access to my Online banking service so with
>> PayPal i can easily make the payment with my personal credit card ( I
>> will be responsible for the PayPal sub-charge Fee so no worries about
>> that). So i want you to Send me Your name and PayPal Email address so
>> i can proceed and make the payment. And once the payment is made and
>> it clear into your Bank account then My shipping agent will come over
>> and pick up the item at your own convenient time.
But i think he will change his name and his email address soon but the script will be always the same.soo