wittmeba
Virginia
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Joined: 02/02/2001
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Mama got scammed big time.
It all started with the sale of a pair of Diamond Stud Earrings on Craiglists.
She got two different inquiries and one offered to buy.
The one that offered to buy knew exactly what they were doing. It started out casual with an exchange of emails, then chats then shipment of the merchandise.
After the first agreement between the seller/buyer the buyer submitted an email to the seller and the the From: address of the email contained Paypal as well as two others. This is what made the request look official. If you do a mouseover the address does read "Service@Paypal.com" which is a valid account.
One email address had a display name of Alexander William, but the actual address was fredwillis224@gmail.com. The second was pp2shipmentinformation@secureroot.com which could lead you to believe it was from a paypal.
During either email or chat the buyer indicated he was in Ohio and provided an address. He stated these are for his sister in Nigeria who is getting married. When I later Google Earth the location it was a vacant lot with no homes to be seen.
The buyer continued to submit emails under the paypal address, speaking in 3rd Person indicating the buyer has done their part and you must comply doing yours pressuring the seller into taking action. So off they go to Nigeria.
Once in Nigeria the seller sent another email under paypay indicating the seller must pay Duties of $250.00 but this would be credited back to the paypal account and the seller would be reimbursed. The threat was if this is not paid the earrings cannot be forwarded or returned to the seller. So off goes $250.00 thru Western Union. The Western Union email received.
Western Union applied a "Challenge Question" and secret answer indicating the funds could not be collected without this information. This never happened.
Poor mama - she is out about $1900.00 and absolutely sick about it. Pretty costly mistake - shes not stupid just a little naive.
If you are PC literate you can see flaws but the more casual user may spot details such as the ® registered symbol on the PayPal email and may not question everyone to being crooked and be trusting.
Lesson learned. These scammers are smart. They know what to include such as a stateside address, know how to scare others into actions they may feel wrong, but may not fully understand. Gmail is a pretty messy page and it contributes to the uncertainty of email addresses and source of information.
We have made copies of the correspondence and filed a formal complaint with the local Sheriffs office. I dont expect much, but who knows.
I was born in Great Falls, Mt. My parents moved when I was 5. I found them when I was 10 - they were in California.
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Jack_Diane_Freedom
Milton Ontario Canada
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Joined: 05/11/2005
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Just the mention of anything Nigeria would say scam to me.
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Big Katuna
Deland, FL
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Joined: 12/27/2003
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Craigslist is a cyber yard sale. You NEVER ship anything unless they drop by your house and pay with CASH. You can safely sell on Ebay and ONLY accept payment through Paypal.
My Kharma ran over my Dogma.
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hitchup
Fulltiming and on the Road.
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Joined: 02/17/2005
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Jack_Diane_Freedom wrote:Just the mention of anything Nigeria would say scam to me.
I agree. But extend that with anything out of the country would be a Red Flag. Scammers get more clever every year.
2009 DRV Mobile Suite 38TKSB3 (38RSSB3)....our custom home w/2011 upgrades
2010 Ford F450 KR CC 4x4......his office
Working Fulltimers since 3/2005
"Shoot for the Moon! Even if you miss it, you will land among the Stars."
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bmcdonald
georgia
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Joined: 04/27/2008
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Jack_Diane_Freedom wrote:Just the mention of anything Nigeria would say scam to me. 2X agree
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wittmeba
Virginia
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Joined: 02/02/2001
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Yes, Nigeria is a flag.
===
PayPal should work the same for any monetary exchanges regardless of the site. Problem is PayPal wasnt really involved. The buyer took over as if he was PayPal and represented them in all transactions.
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bdpreece
Woodburn Oregon
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Joined: 05/27/2004
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Just in the last few weeks I was corresponding with someone who had a Golden Retriever for sale on the Las Vegas Craig's List. Same type of thing chatty e-mails then dropped the bomb with how they worked for UNICEF and had just transferred to England. They wanted to give me the dog all I had to do was pay $300 dollars shipping directly to a shipping company in England. Scam!! If they really had a dog to give away why would they ship it to England then give it away to someone in the U.S. for just the shipping fee back to the U.S.? Just for giggles I checked and real shipping is over $1000. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!
Brian, Loretta & Daisy (Golden Retriever)
2008 Holiday Rambler Endeavor PDQ40
2008 Ford Explorer toad
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ChopperBill
Colo
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Joined: 03/22/2002
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In town here just this week a guy lost his life savings ($80,000) sending it out so he could collect in a lottery. He was told to send more money. He got arrested for going ballistic because the bank wouldnt loan him another two thousand to send off. Bad day for the guy all around. Hard to believe folks fall for this kind of stuff.
"08" 29.5 FKTG LS
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sue.t
Ibex Valley, YUKON
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Joined: 08/05/2004
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Not to mention the oldie but goodie ... when we were selling our previous fifth wheel, someone offered to buy it but they had only a cashier's cheque for $10,000 and we were selling for $6,000. So he wanted us to deposit the cheque to our bank and give him the $4,000 in return. Apparently he had someone who was ready to come get the fifth wheel then and there and that person could take the cash back.
Yeah, right ... we likely would have learned a couple of weeks later that their cheque did not clear and we would have been out $4,000.
I did have some fun though ...started to get technical about what truck did he have, what kind of hitch, etc. The emails from him stopped soon thereafter!
sue t.
Pictures from our many RV Adventures to Yukon & Alaska from Vancouver Island. Now we live in Yukon.
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magicbus
LBI, NJ or Nantucket, MA
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Joined: 06/16/2002
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My wife owns a real estate company and they had their first close encounter with a scammer. Lots or inquiries and follow-ups and then "we sent the check but oops, it was for the wrong amount. Could you just send a check to our US agent for the balance?" No we can't, bye-bye.
Dave
Our new RV... the adventure continues.
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