Buyer wants to buy a laptop- not sure if he's genuine.

[Thegovernmentsuck00]

Hi, wasn't sure which section to post my question so i'm posting it here.

 

I'm selling my laptop, so i've advertised the sale on a few websites- preloved and gumtree. I received a response from a guy who wants me to send the laptop to his nephew in Nigeria, West Africa, because he's out of the country and he can't do it himself.

 

I know about these scams, BUT the guy wants to pay by PAYPAL? Usually [problematic] would send a bank draft or cheque.

 

Below is the email he sent me... Is it genuine? should i go ahead with the sale?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Thanks for your prompt response,

 

I would like to know if it's in a perfect condition because i am buying this item for my nephew studying abroad, West Africa Nigeria as a Birthday gift, I will paying via Paypal and you will have to ship the item to my Nephew on my behalf because i am currently out of the country and i wouldn't be able to do that my self..

 

I want you to get back to me with the total amount including postage to West Africa Nigeria via Royal mail signed for and your paypal e-mail address so i can immediately effect the payment via Paypal...

 

 

Best Regards

 

Bonnie Magnetti

 

 

(I replied back, asking for the address, he replied...)

 

Thanks for getting back to me...Just let me know how much the cost sending the item to Nigeria would be and i will add it together with the price of the item. The shipping address will be given to you as soon as the payment is made. Also get back to me with your PayPal e-mail address, so the payment can be made.

 

Bonnie Magnetti

[hightail]

[problem] [problem] ..............[problem]!

 

It will be paid for with a credit card and as soon as they have the goods the buyer will claim it was an unauthorised transaction/stolen card. Paypal will do a chargeback and you'll have no laptop and no money.

[Surfer01]

[problem]. Forget it. Take anything from Nigeria with a pinch of salt. The goods will never arrive there and they will claim back through Pay Pal who are no longer your pal. You will lose.

[Thegovernmentsuck00]

Thanks for that!!! : )

[hightail]

You're welcome. Don't ever believe Paypal is safe. It provides certain protections for sales within ebay but absoloutely none for either buyer or seller on other payments. The [problematic] know exactly how to play the system. There are two ways you should accept payment for anything you are selling, either cash on collection or a postal order. You could allow a cheque but you must make sure it has completely cleared before sending the goods.

[Thegovernmentsuck00]

I was thinking! If [problematic] can happily [problem] people on a daily basis, they should be scammed back- what if I was to, after receiving the money via paypal, (not sending the laptop, but making him think I did), then closed the paypal account? Paypal can't really do anything, can they?

[Thegovernmentsuck00]

I'm not trying to commit any sort of fraud here, but these fraudsters need a taste of their own medicine..

[hightail]

Why stoop to their level? There are people who have strung [problematic] along for the fun of it but they are experts and know how to protect themselves. Many of these scams are run by very nasty criminal gangs and the smartest thing to do is delete the emails and ignore them.

[Thegovernmentsuck00]

Why stoop to their level? There are people who have strung [problematic] along for the fun of it but they are experts and know how to protect themselves. Many of these scams are run by very nasty criminal gangs and the smartest thing to do is delete the emails and ignore them.

 

You're right....

 

Thanks : )

[Thegovernmentsuck00]

Thanks 2 everyone 4 the advice...

[buzby]

And it wouldn't work. Even if you got the money out it would be reversed (as a fraud) and PayPal have every right to pursue you for the return. If you want to see how it works, agree and watch the money drop into your account. It normally will be 7-14 days before the reversal hits, so you could delay shipment for a variety of spurious reasons, the dog is sick and you can;t make it to the PO until next week... you;ve just noticed it didn;t power up as you were packing it up and you;ve ordered a replacement power tranformer, which will of course be supplied at no additional charge.... and watch the desperation as they know the sale will bounce and they've wasted a card number and got nothing out of it....

[damian78]

Had a similar issue myself. Sold an XBOX 360 on ebay for £150. Guy paid through paypal, then collected the xbox in person because he said he was in the area visiting his girlfriend.

 

A month or so later I got a chargeback, saying that it was an unauthorised payment or something. I complained, PayPal refused to do anything about it and demanded £150 off us, saying if we had proof of postage we would have been protected. 2 other people in the area were hit by the same guy at the same time, with the same excuse given (i.e. visiting girlfriend in their area).

 

I actually tracked the guy down on google I believe, found a photo on a website which I believed was him, location same as specified on ebay, and another seller who was hit also said he thought it was him. However, police/paypal wouldn't follow it up.

 

I basically told PayPal to take us to court if they wanted the money - they process the payment so it's not my responsibility to check the card isn't stolen. We had one debt collectors letter - I called the debt collector and told them we were disputing this as it was a fraudulant transaction and that was the last we heard from them.

 

This all happened around March last year, we've not heard anything from anyone for months, but my wife's paypal account is suspended and showing a negative amount of about £180. We're basically just ignoring it now, wait for someone to make a move their end.

 

But basically, as others have said, you need to be very careful.

[buzby]

Damian - I cannot understand why, having failled to ensure you sent the item tracked, you feel it is 'all Paypal's fault'. Surely you appreciate, that even if you were not the victim of fraud, if the buyer was genuine and stated he did not recieve the goods, you'd be in the same situation?

 

As for further action... that damage has already been done. You;re wife's credit file will probably show thew PayPal default and this will sit on her file for 6 years. So assuming it is in place, you've only another 5 years to sit it out!

[damian78]

Damian - I cannot understand why, having failled to ensure you sent the item tracked, you feel it is 'all Paypal's fault'. Surely you appreciate, that even if you were not the victim of fraud, if the buyer was genuine and stated he did not recieve the goods, you'd be in the same situation?

 

As for further action... that damage has already been done. You;re wife's credit file will probably show thew PayPal default and this will sit on her file for 6 years. So assuming it is in place, you've only another 5 years to sit it out!

 

If he said he hadn't received the goods, I would have understood. However, they said it was because the card was unauthorised. We actually got feedback on ebay saying "received as described, thanks", but apparently paypal can't use that as evidence.

 

Our credit file couldn't get much worse than it already is We're going through a debt management company to sort our debt out (currently standing at about £30k), which is going to take about 15-20 years on current estimations.

[buzby]

[Monty2007]

Damian - I cannot understand why, having failled to ensure you sent the item tracked, you feel it is 'all Paypal's fault'. Surely you appreciate, that even if you were not the victim of fraud, if the buyer was genuine and stated he did not recieve the goods, you'd be in the same situation?

 

As for further action... that damage has already been done. You;re wife's credit file will probably show thew PayPal default and this will sit on her file for 6 years. So assuming it is in place, you've only another 5 years to sit it out!

 

I have consistently found your posts less than helpful.

[buzby]

I have consistently found your posts less than helpful.

 

Whilst you are entitled to your opinion, you'll forgive me if I treat it with the contempt it deserves. ALL posts cannot be 'helpful'. There are situations where an OPs agtion has been culpable, yet they seek some form of redress, a case of 'blame anyone, but not me'. In cases like these, there needs to be someone who points out the complainant is the architect of their own downfall, and do not require sycophantic agreement with their position.

 

By all means, offer this if you feel a need, but most posters welcome both sides of the argument.

[Monty2007]

...you are entitled to your opinion...

 

Yes I am.

[andydd]

I have consistently found your posts less than helpful.

 

Whilst Buzby's posts are frank, (and the truth often hurts), I do find the last one a bit unfair, I like to think of myself as a wise guy, I work in IT, so I should be aware of scams and such, but I too was very nearly the victim of a Paypal fraud, I only escaped through sheer luck as the item in question developed a fault, so I told the guy coming to collect it not to bother (he was down over xmas visiting relatives, yep, an exuse I know now, but was perfectly plausible at the time).

 

Of course now I am wiser and keep a very close eye on Ebay/Paypal transactions.

 

Andy

[damian78]

It's ok, I can take the abuse thrown at me I'm getting used to it now, over the last few days I've been called unreasonable, impatient, picky, etc. etc. over my current car issues that are detailed elsewhere on this site.

 

Seriously though, yes it was stupid of me to allow him to pick it up, but I really didn't realise the problems it would cause. I just saw that the money had been paid, got the money transferred to my bank, and thought "great, that's me paid, he can now have the XBOX". Though in hindsight I did find him quite dodgy when he picked it up, he had no interest in seeing the condition of it, just seemed to want to dump it in his holdall and get out of there.

 

I believe it's stated in the T&C's for paypal that if you don't have proof of postage you have no protection against this sort of thing, but who reads the full terms & conditions before signing up to a website Besides, I still don't think it's right that they can claim it back from me where it was down to an unauthorised payment when I have absolutely no input into the payment process (except to spend it when I receive it). But now I know better and will not be falling for that one again.

[buzby]

I think if anything is to be learend, you MUST read ther T&Cs to at least get a head start on the potential problems. Ad for the reversal - it is fraud, and as such all bets are off. YOu;ll get nowhere saying yo did nothing wrong, the whole transaction collapses like a game of pass the parcel, the most exposed being left to carry the can. You could argue if you recieved a fake tenner, it would be up to the BoE to give you a correct one - but they dsn't. As a forgery, they take it from you and there's no compensation. Agreed, its a steep learning curve, but once you know the wrinkles its as good as it can be!

[hightail]

I believe it's stated in the T&C's for paypal that if you don't have proof of postage you have no protection against this sort of thing,

 

Wrong I'm afraid and it's where many an unwary seller is caught out. For seller protection to apply you need proof of delivery which can be verified online. RM recorded or special delivery fits the bill as do most courier services.