Thread: e-Bay Scam ?

Originally Posted by DeanoH

Thanks everyone for your input, I was 99.999% sure he'd been scammed, but needed the other .001%.
I advised him last night to contact the Feds.

My mate is a decent, hard working bloke. Honest as the day is long and just not used to dealing with ****s. He's not dumb, just naive to the ways of these scammers. He gives, or used to give, people respect and treat them as he would expect to be treated in return.
Welcome to the real world.

Thanks again for everyones input. I'm about to ring my mate and not looking forward to it.

Deano

Hey deano how did you get on telling your mate the shock wasnt to much..???

Originally Posted by p38arover

The difference is that the scammer claims (despite having internet access) that he can't do on-line banking, etc. so wants the seller to cough up in advance.

Right on the money Ron. This was the clincher for me too. The guy claims to be on a research vessel, presumably intelligent/educated/worldly, has access to satellite internet and telephone but can't access/manage his own accounts? I don't think so.
Advised my mate of the above but I still think he hopes that all might be OK. I think he knows but is just unable to wrap his head around it yet. I also advised him to follow that link 'oceanographer scam', thanks.
Anyway I've fair put the wind up him and there's no way the car is going anywhere untill he has ALL moneys cleared.
I'm having a beer with him tonight so should have more later.
Thanks again all for your input. I'd love you to be right Gumnut but I don't think it will happen.

Deano

Has he paid any money out or transferred any funds?

Yes. $3000 in two hits via Western Union to an account in the UK. Mate contacted PayPal after I originally told him I reckoned it was a scam and says PayPal told him he'd get his money. Doesn't sound right which is one thing I'll be talking about tonight. I don't think he fuilly understands what Paypal does, which is what the scammers rely on I guess.

Deano

I wish your mate all the best with getting his money back but I wouldn't count on it though .



I have a similar mate who opens up & goes through the 'Bank/PayPal account verification' emails.
Well, he used to.

I love to play with these scammers.

A quick search & you will find the same story a dozen times on the net, with usually only a few tweaks to them.

I usually like to string them along for a while, and promise them the payments etc. Even gone to the extent of sending them a copy of the Western Union receipt... Guess they cant Google from their ship, igloo, ice flow, space ship or wherever they are at the time...

I even have a special email account set up just for this type of thing.

The worst part is the heartache they cause for legit people. My daughter was advertising a new business, and was approached by someone. Something didn't look right to me in their email, so I Googled the phone number they supplied. BINGO The same phone number was used in about 20 other emails that came up, all basically saying the same thing, with only the major points changed.

She was heart-broken, as she thought she had found her first big break. Once she calmed down a bit, then she got mad...

had a woman come into work and report a different one, there isnt much that Police can do, Fed's might be able to but i doubt it. These people just fade into the darkness when they think they have been found out.

The woman had been talking to people on the net, now this scam was put into place over 12 months. The first person she was talking to reportedly takes a turn for the worse and then the second person steps in and tells the victim that over the time the first person was talking to her on the net that she really liked her. Second person comes back a few weeks later and tells the victim that the first person has died and left a large sum of money to the victim. All the vitcim needs to do is transfer $1500 via western union for legal fees and all of her details so that they can transfer the inheritance. Very cunning scheme but she thought it was suss when they kept dropping the price when she told them she couldnt afford the $1500. The guy comes back and says he has spoken to his company directors and they will take $1000, still cant afford it so it drops to $800 and so on.

I had a guy contact me via my website saying he wanted to buy this and that, in total it came to $10000 or there abouts, then he said he would pay via credit card. I use paymate, a secure credit card processing site, sort of like paypal but the other person doesnt need to be a member and they can use their visa card. I got suss from the start but went along on the off chance he was genuine and he wasnt asking me for money, and i wasnt sending the products until i had the cash.

But i rang Paymate to ask how it would work with a large transaction like this, they said it would be fine but because of the large sum they would do extra checks, so i told him this to see how he responded. You can all guess what happened next, I never heard from him again. I guess that he was using stolen credit cards or something to that effect.

But they are all out there and with the increases in technology etc new forms of criminals pop up everyday.

Originally Posted by DeanoH

Yes. $3000 in two hits via Western Union to an account in the UK. Mate contacted PayPal after I originally told him I reckoned it was a scam and says PayPal told him he'd get his money. Doesn't sound right which is one thing I'll be talking about tonight. I don't think he fuilly understands what Paypal does, which is what the scammers rely on I guess.

Deano

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but paypal won't cover his money that's been paid to Western Union. On second reading, it seems that you already know that.

Break it to him gently.

I was myself scammed for $3000 odd dollars a while ago. Realised within 36 hours, and notified bank, police, ebay, etc. I didn't see a cent of it returned. The bank couldn't have given a flying **** what happened, and didn't assist in any way even though the account I transferred into was with the same bank and the account was Australia based. The police said they did all they could, but nothing ever came of it. And ebay, well they can stick their site up their arse, as they are the worst of the lot.

Needless to say, I changed banks, and I'm now very, very sus on everything.