Can you say Scam...

[DGXSER]

Sure you can ...say it with me...S..C..A..M!!

I have my bike for sale on craigslist, and get an almost immediate hit asking if it is still available and what the final price would be (my lowest price I would take I guess). So I respond it is available and that the list price is final price. After all, its been up for less than a day.

So I get a return email .......

"After much inspection of the pictures of the Bike on the site am very Much Pleas with the Condition Of the Bike And i will be buying the bike from you for My Husband As a gift for Son Next Week,so i will be making the Payment For the bike,so i will also like you to know that Your Phone Number is very Crucial In this transaction so that i can always call you about the sending of the money and how i can pick the bike up from You.
And i will Like you to Know that i will be making the payment of the bike through PayPal which is the most Secure Method And the Easiest Way to transfer the money to you,Because Am a Very Busy man I don't have the time to Move Around with Huge Amount of Money as am Writing You from My Military Camp Right Now,so let Me Have Your PayPal email account for the payment of the bike and if you don't have one You Can Get one open on their site its Very Easy And Fast,i will like you to know that the Money has being ready In my Account right now for the transfer so get back to me with your PayPal email account for the immediate Payment Thanks"

Now maybe its just me, but I spot several inconsistancies such as a busy man...with a husband...for their son. It is also interesting it is almost an ad for paypal. Not to pick on folks with a language barrier, but with that broken english, I have to wonder what Military Camp they are in. As to paying on Paypal for something you plan to pick up in person at some point.....hmmm.

Maybe it is just me.

[81xsproject]

Yeah, sounds fishy. But, if they want to send money to your Paypal email, sure. Just don't fall for the fake email from paypal that says you have received a payment from this person. I have a buddy (not so sharp) that fell for that one and didn't go to his paypal account to verify that he had actually had money posted to the account.

[cywelchjr]

Sounds like a scam here too. When I bought my bike, I emailed, then called and went down and looked at it, took it for a test ride etc. Then I left a deposit and went and got the cash and traded cash for the signed title and rode it home. Can't say that I would have even considered paypal for a bike I was going to pick up.

[natemoen]

I posted some parts once on craigslist and got an email similar to that wanting to buy my bike. I was suspicious of it but responded saying that it was only such and such part and not the whole bike. And right after I hit send I got about 15 spam emails and then knew I should not have responded.

I would say ignore it. If they are truly interested and its real they might send another one.

[STEPPENWOLF]

Dang I got busted

[madmax-im]

In a scam the 1st thing they ask is if the item is still forsale...I posted some pics of my bike from my photobucket account and someone got a hold of the link for my PB acct and changed my password info...how the F*** did they do that? I had to contact PB and found they had created another account which i couldnt access because the password had been changed... I had that acct deleted and changed my password and everything is back...plus I left a phone # to call rather than deal with spam emails..and then I get spam text messages on my phone...plus a phone # that would call me everyday but yet no one amswered,and when I redialed the # an automated response said the # was not in service...strange sh** Always happens with CL ads

[79XS11F]

The quality of the English is a dead giveaway that the buyer is a SCAM.
Rob

[DGXSER]

Yeah the quality of the english and a military camp seemed a very interesting combination. Then the paypal concept along with the advertisement type stuff ensuring me how safe and secure it was was strike two. But the topper was a busy man...with a husband...and a son. If they are coming to buy that bike, they are not coming from any state with legal gay marriage laws all the way to Ohio. Its nice, but it is not THAT nice.

[Mr.Bill]

Yes the guy does seem to have very broken english, or just has a hard time at the typewriter

But with him wanting to pay via paypal, I would not look at this as a scam, that is protecting you and him as well. Just be 100% sure the money is there and before he take possession of the bike.

Look at it his way also, He has probably heard of the scams where a guy comes to pick up a big ticket item, with cash in hand and gets mugged and robbed for the cash, and nothing was really available, but nice pictures on CL.

By asking you for your phone number is good insurance for him of being able to contact you, but if you dont like doing that (giving him your number) go get one of those pay as you go phones, and make the transaction and after 20 minutes of phone time, pitch it

but good to have suspicions, and perhaps good to see if "he" contacts you again.

[81xsproject]

You can also purchase forwarding telephone numbers kind of like the anonymous CL email address. You still get the call, but they were given and dialed a different phone number.

[barberad]

My buddy just got this hit on his bike that he had for sale today:

Dear,

Thanks for the mail.

I am buying this for Son and I am a Petroleum Engineer currently on a rig offshore I really want this to be a surprise gift for my Son so I wont let him know anything about this until it gets delivered to him , I am sure he will be more than happy with it.

I can only pay with paypal here, I will need you to give me your paypal email address so I can make the payments asap and please if you don't have paypal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to www.paypal.com and get it set up , after you have set it up I will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with paypal so as to put the money through.

Tell me more about the advert price is okay
Note:
Pick up agent will come for the pick up as soon as i have made the payments, I would have loved to talk to you on phone but I am a Petroleum Engineer I work mainly offshore, our phone is down on the rig right now due to bad weather, we can only communicate with our base for now.

Thanks

Cheers.


Looks like this is the scam of the week.
Dan

[firemanstan7]

our phone is down on the rig right now due to bad weather, we can only communicate with our base for now.

Dan

Ha Ha...love it...our phone is down but our internet is still up so I can send you email...bad weather, my a$$, bad thinking...yup

Some of these scam letters are a hoot!

[natemoen]

The basic jist of the ad replies here are pretty much the same.

Someone believe is email gives them their paypal address and they then get a fake email from paypal saying they had been sent money and then some person shows up to get the bike. While there really was never any money transfered to the paypal account.

[freebird01752]

The basic jist of the ad replies here are pretty much the same.

Someone believe is email gives them their paypal address and they then get a fake email from paypal saying they had been sent money and then some person shows up to get the bike. While there really was never any money transfered to the paypal account.

Or a few days after they get the bike they file a reverse payment with pay-pal.

[TexinMaine]

Yep it sure is a scam. Your paypal accout I.D. is your e-mail address, which is what they are after. Once they get that you'll get hundreds of scam e-mails a day.