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Almost conned! Lets see how this turns out :D


ins1dious
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Last week I decided to sell all of my camera gear as I just couldn’t find the time to use it regularly. Here I had almost $3,500/- worth of camera and lenses that was just sitting in its dry cabinet. So I wrote a nice little description about the gear and posted to ebay, HWZ and gumtree.

A couple of days later, I get a reply for the ad posted on gumtree. Buyer communicates via email asking for best price so that she can gift the camera to her brother in Malaysia. So I make her an offer, we negotiate and settle on a price.

Now I buy a lot of new stuff online. But when I buy or sell second hand stuff, I prefer to deal with people here in SG as its easier to meet and you know who/what you’re dealing with. Now the girl says she’s on assignment outside of the country and that she will pay via paypal collect. Hmmm….

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I have to raise a paypal invoice and money will be credited to my paypal account. Hmmm… I’m not happy about this but still, I only have to spend a couple of minutes creating a paypal invoice so what the heck! I did it and emailed her the invoice. Busy over the weekend so I read her reply only this morning.

email%202%20confirming%20payment.jpg

In it, she says that she has completed the payment and that I should send the tracking number so paypal can complete the transfer.

[me: wait… what? I have to send my stuff and then paypal will transfer? uh uh]

She also says she sent the funds to paypal account (prabhjot something@gmail) and that paypal’s service message might be in my inbox or spam folder

[me: hmmm… who the fck is prabjot whatever? And why the fck should paypal messages be in my spam folder?]

I check the spam folder and lo and behold, there’s a message with the email alias “[email protected]

[me: wtf? I pay for stuff using paypal and I’ve always got the messages in my inbox. Now its in spam. Doesn’t smell right]

email%203%20paypal%20service%20email.jpg

And then I notice the actual email ID used in sending the message. “[email protected]

[me: haha. Now why the fck would paypal use accountant.com domain to send messages]

email%204%20paypal%20service.jpg

Lol, they even have a small "how do you know this is not a fake email" disclaimer :D:D

So I google the email ID pp_service and sure enough, plenty of hits about people being conned out of their stuff by peeps in MY. The MO and address is the same;

1) reply to personal ads (mostly camera’s) on ebay/gumtree (seems gumtree being abused more)

2) try some token negotiation to instil confidence

3) get seller to send paypal invoice and promise to pay to paypal account for both the item and the shipping cost

4) send a bogus email claiming funds will be credited once paypal verifies evidence of shipment

5) disappear

 

So guys beware when peddling/buying stuff online.

Just for laugh, I sent this reply to "Kim" this morning;

email%205%20me%20trolling.jpg

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Thanks for the heads up. There are too many online scams that went unreported. I think the awareness must be raise so that less ppl get scammed.

Edited by Watwheels
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Big wall of text [dizzy] [dizzy]

 

I read later ok? [grin]

 

haha [thumbsup]

 

I tried to be concise :D I really did. Anyway, the gist of it is;

 

If you are going to buy/sell second-hand/used stuff online, make sure that you complete the transaction face to face. No sending money or goods before seeing the person.

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This is a common scam these days. They claim that the money is in a paypal escrow account (sending you a fake email from paypal).

 

Tell her you have no money to pay the courier if she can't pay you upfront. Ask for her to transfer 200USD to you to pay the courier and then send her some stones.

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yes! confirmed cheater lai de.

There's a lot of same scam in the internet nowadays using fake paypal email to inform seller that they have already trf the $ and you should mail out the item first then paypal will release the payment.

 

Paypal will never do that de loh!

 

But i like your reply! hahahaha.. :P

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Thanks for the heads up. There are too many online scams that went unreported. I think my awareness must be raise so that less ppl get scammed.

 

+1 yes, have to be vigilant at all times. But this put me off trying to sell online. I think I'll just go to Peninsula and sell it there.

You can send a used condom with a couple of stones to make up the weight, just for the heck of it.

 

awesome plan! +1

 

This is a common scam these days. They claim that the money is in a paypal escrow account (sending you a fake email from paypal).

 

Tell her you have no money to pay the courier if she can't pay you upfront. Ask for her to transfer 200USD to you to pay the courier and then send her some stones.

 

now this is even better! I think I will try to get the b**tard to pay the shipping cost upfront. Maybe his greed will give in

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my friend bought a foldable bicycle for few hundred dollars. Turn out to be fake also. Lol "goods stuck in indonesia".


btw what camera stuff u selling?

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This is a common scam these days. They claim that the money is in a paypal escrow account (sending you a fake email from paypal).

 

Tell her you have no money to pay the courier if she can't pay you upfront. Ask for her to transfer 200USD to you to pay the courier and then send her some stones.

Yes a small piece of stone maybe cost $10 delivery. Remaining usd 190 can go makan haha

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+1 yes, have to be vigilant at all times. But this put me off trying to sell online. I think I'll just go to Peninsula and sell it there.

 

awesome plan! +1

 

 

now this is even better! I think I will try to get the b**tard to pay the shipping cost upfront. Maybe his greed will give in

Post your items for sale in Clubsnaps

 

What sort of cam stuff you have?

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You can send a used condom with a couple of stones to make up the weight, just for the heck of it.

Great idea. The girl can inseminate herself and file a paternity suit against TS. [laugh]

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Great idea. The girl can inseminate herself and file a paternity suit against TS. [laugh]

If it a girl and if TS has commando sperm that can survive the journey.

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