New Ebay And Gumtree Scammers!

[shan7-8-6]

Just thought I'd fill you all in, recently I saw a listing on ebay (ice cream machine, usually costs £3000-£4000 second hand but this guy had it up for £1200). Basically I emailed the seller said I wanted them and I could pick them up anytime of any day that week (this seller had a feedback of 5000), they had specifically asked people to email them directly. I'll post a copy of the emails she/he sent me from the email address newebaysale@gmail.com:

Hi,

The buy it now price including shipping and insurance is 1200.00 GBP ! Transaction will be handled by ebay, so we can both be protected and able to exchange feedback after transaction is successfully closed! I will offer a 5 day inspection period, so if by any reason you are not satisfied with it, you can return it against a full refund!

In order to start this transaction we need your ebay username,full name and shipping address...
You will be after contacted by them with further instructions on how to complete this sale.


Thanks

After that I replied back saying thats great, gave my address etc, and they emailed saying they had sent the invoice, I have added the relevant text from the "invoice" below.

Payment Instructions:
At seller request, we have verified all the details of this transaction.
Please follow our instructions to complete the transaction safely.
Payment must be submitted via bank transfer to seller bank account assigned for this transaction.

Make the payment ( £1,200.00) to the eBay Seller Maria Meszaros

Payment must be sent by Bank Transfer to:
Name: Maria Meszaros
Bank: Barclays,
Sortcode: 209821,
Account: 33579867
IBAN: GB19 BARC 2098 2133 5798 67 .

Conditions to be met before you may ask for a refund:
Here are the situations suitable for a refund request:
1. If the item doesn't arrive and/or the seller stops communications after the payment was received;
2. If the merchandise you receive has different specifications than the ones you agreed on;
3. If your merchandise arrives in a much longer period than the one you agreed on (more than 15 days from the payment clearance day);
For cases 2. and 3. you have to send back the merchandise to the seller prior to ask for your refund. If you did not pay the seller by the payment method required by us, your refund request will be declined.

Regards,
eBay

I then realised straight away this was a scam (the email came from his own email address, stupid f**ker). I then looked into the ebay account he had used, it was a golf seller selling clubs etc, and then all the new listings that had been put up that day were expensive high end equipment at low end prices, obviously the account had been hacked and he was trying to pull a quick scam.

Also I had someone try to scam me on gumtree, saw a pair of bodymax dumbells with rack and brand new they are £400-£500, this person was selling them for £100, I thought great I need a pair of these, and emailed the seller, they gave me a number (which was never on and they claimed they had very poor reception where they lived). Next she said she was going away for work the next day and If I wanted them that she could arrange for "her business account with ups" to pick the item up from her and have them sent to me. I thought great saves me time, so I get an email from so called "UPS" in which they ask me to go and buy a £100 UKash voucher, scan it and send it to them. Realised straight away it was a scam, sent "UPS" an email back with this picture:



In the email, I asked when I would expect delivery? I never got a response :(.


So just to summarise, If anybody asks you to send them Ukash or direct bank transfer, and the item they are selling is unbelievable cheap, then its most likely a scam, so be on the lookout (even accounts with feedback as they may have been hacked). Maybe we should have a sticky on the latest scam attempts? Just so people know what to look out for?

[Thankful]

If the person is on eBay and he's asking you to carry out a transaction outside of E/B they can't be trusted fullstop.

I think some of the information you gave is rather sensitive, the account/sort code and such - you may want to edit that.

Either way sounds like a total scam.

People would do anything for money these days

As the saying goes "If it's too good to be true, it probably is"

[moneyhustler88]

It's probably a nigerian..no offence. I had someone bid on one of my phones from Nigeria asking me to post it there.I just laugehd and was like good joke. I new there was no way in hell i was shipping an item to a country notorious for online scammers.
then I got a message off ebay surprise surprise, the bidder had been banned and removed from ebay and they told me not to post the item. Open a case and got final value fess back.
Then I had a women from bedford, uk who bidded on a item and never paid, she had 800 feedback.
I think the main thing to remember is this and this is how i do it.
If they want the item outside of ebay, forget it. Only do the transaction if theyre' willing to let you see the item, take photos of it with a sign saying your name and there username and will also do it straight through ebay/paypal. I also always make sure that at worst you pay using a debit card so if it is fraud, call your bank and get the funds back.
I've dealt with around 50 messages, phone calls and emails on Gumtree from Nigerian scammers just for one listing, so i don't really use gumtree as i find the high amount of people on there are dole seekers and bums.
I listed 2-3 items which were working fine and in good condition, only reason for sale was no room in my university halls (i only have 1 room so limited space) and i got tons of people saying they'd come get it, but when it came down to that day it was 'oh can you save it me till next week'. So i said f no!!

[levi6482]

I've been had by the nigerians with a phone also!! They generated an email exactly the same as paypal & asked me to send the item & once shipping number is entered then funds will follow......haha boyooooy was i done lol

[Thankful]

Reminds me off that Fonejacker program

[BiN4RY]

This is nothing new. I've seen plenty of these emails myself.

[GrannyT]

Many years ago I had an account hi-jacked and the SOBs were selling Apple Mac computers - usual nonsence - myself and two others bombarded them with emails while at the same time contacting EB

Lost the account due to other issues but got a lot of pleasure getting the hi-jackers thrown off

I used to do the 419 baiting as well - now that's a lot of fun - annoying the MUGUs

Love those Nigerian lads

[SUVE]

I agree with BiN4RY on this, this is old news.

Ukash or direct bank transfer/WU/MG are well known conduit for this type of fraud.

[GrannyT]

They are only well known though if you move in those circles - the ones they catch tend to be the naive first timers sadly

[SUVE]

You have a valid point GT.

I get an email every day or two telling me I have won the national lottery or that some funds need to be expatriated due to some calamity someplace somewhere in the world & that I have been chosen to be the lucky beneficiary.

[GrannyT]

Well, I'm afraid I wont be around on these forums much longer. Right now I am in the process of helping a young lady get her late fathers inheritance out of Africa and she wants me to help her invest it in Britain. It's supposed to be confidential but I know you lot wont tell anyone but it's over $40,000,000 dollars and she is arranging to transfer it into my bank account. My normal commission applies so it will be a tidy sum for me.

I just have to get certain legal documents sorted for her and it should be on its way. I have been communicating with the lawyer, Mr. Bungas Sumoney and he is dealing with it right now. Does anyone know where the nearest Western Union office is to me?

[SUVE]

Originally Posted by GrannyT

Well, I'm afraid I wont be around on these forums much longer. Right now I am in the process of helping a young lady get her late fathers inheritance out of Africa and she wants me to help her invest it in Britain. It's supposed to be confidential but I know you lot wont tell anyone but it's over $40,000,000 dollars and she is arranging to transfer it into my bank account. My normal commission applies so it will be a tidy sum for me.

I just have to get certain legal documents sorted for her and it should be on its way. I have been communicating with the lawyer, Mr. Bungas Sumoney and he is dealing with it right now. Does anyone know where the nearest Western Union office is to me?

I think I had a light bulb moment, so it was you all along offering all this money to me from the goodness of your heart, if & if only all I did was give you my full details along with my bank information.

How kind & generous of you.

[GrannyT]

Now Now - I've done the deal with the young lady. The poor girl has no money so I'm paying her legal fees for her.

You would think these Nigerian lawyers would have decent email addresses and not Yahoo accounts wouldn't you? I guess they must be in a poor area.

Mr. Bungas Sumoney has assured me that as soon as the legal difficulties are sorted out the funds will be transferred to my account. Just as soon as I transfer the $3,200 for the release certificate and the $1900 for the diplomatic courier fee - I will try and send it this afternoon as soon as I can locate a Western Union office and I expect the money will be in my account early next week - I can't wait!!!

[rsot]

NEVER do bank transfer unless you are 100% certain. Always try to go via credit card for added protection.

[shan7-8-6]

The thing is, nowadays it isn't the Nigerians, trust me if you see the English they use in the emails etc, they are nothing like they use to be, unless they finally discovered spellcheck! But they also use pretty good replicas ebay emails! I know these sort of scams have been around a while, especially the lottery ones. But now they are doing the scams for small amount, amounts you wouldn't expect.

[shan7-8-6]

Originally Posted by Thankful

If the person is on eBay and he's asking you to carry out a transaction outside of E/B they can't be trusted fullstop.

I think some of the information you gave is rather sensitive, the account/sort code and such - you may want to edit that.

Either way sounds like a total scam.

People would do anything for money these days

As the saying goes "If it's too good to be true, it probably is"

Lol....No I'd rather people saw that information, and hopefully somebody finds a use for it (verify a paypal account? LOL). I was trying to think of that saying but it just wasn't coming to me!

[Thankful]

I some what feel sorry for them slightly if they live in third world countries, for we all know they could be trying to feed their kids and family.

I'm sure there are some genuinely real poor people out there with no opportunities of a future in the country they inhabit, but then again i'm sure theres a huge amount of rich hungry people who are doing it out of greed.

I'm not by any means trying to excuse scams - just being opening minded and flipped the coin - imagine you were on other side of it in a war torn country and had no option but to scam and scavenge of other peoples money for you and your family to survive.

Although i know there large majority that do this are organized criminals.

/Just my thoughts

[Killuminati]

Thankful is right