Is this email a scam or not?

  • avatar

    by: wwckyd
    SaleHoo Junior Member
    36 posts

    Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 26 Jul 06 7:37 pm.

    Hey guys, I thought I'd make a thread where you can ask people's opinion on whether or not an email you got is from an honest person or a scammer. First, I'm selling my ps2 on craigslist, and I got this email.

    Dear seller, am interested in buying the item you posted on Craigslist website and I like to know if it is in good condition.
    regards
    felix

    I replied and then got this message,

    Dear Ryan,
    Thanks for your reply ,actually i am buying it for my son in college and i will be paying by USPS money order as i said, if you are ok with me pls send your name and address as is going to appear in your money order, and upon my payment confirmation i will send you a shipment document without you spending penny, pls reply me asap. thanks.
    regards
    felix

    I'm pretty sure it's a scam, what do you think?
  • avatar

    by: tab10us
    SaleHoo Master Member
    230 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 26 Jul 06 8:20 pm.

    I might be able to tell if he could actually speak some good English. I'd be cautious.
  • avatar

    by: Jennifer77
    SaleHoo Master Member
    163 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 27 Jul 06 2:20 am.

    his english is horrible! hmmm Where is he from?

    I usually only deal with people in the states. See if he gives you his address in the email and not a P.O. box #

    Ask for a bank certifed money order. From a bank name that you know of. If he agrees to that then I would take it to the bank and have the check it out. If they cash it then I would send out the ps2.

    Otherwise...on to the next person that wants it
  • avatar

    by: jackaxe926
    SaleHoo Junior Member
    18 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 5 Aug 06 5:19 pm.

    I'm selling Portable DVD players on Yahoo Auctions. When the auctions are close to closing, I get emails mostly from Nigerians to purchase the item, or they will bid my buy it now price right at the end. They will then try to use an escrow service to pay for the item. Almost all of the escrow service emails are fakes. They try to use USPS. USPS does not do escrows. Paypal does not do escrows.
    Be aware of Qchexs, (I was fooled by this one)It cost me money for a bounced check at my bank. Buyer sent me way too much money and wanted the balance sent, by way of western union, to another person in Nigeria. Don't fall for this. In the past two months I have had 6 DVD players won on auction by Nigerians, none have paid and none have recieved a DVD player. I also get emails(totaling more than 10) from people wanting to buy for relatives birthday, send to my store in africa(can't they get access to a wholesale warehouse?), my son going to school in africa, my wife traveling abroad. Anything you can think of they have tried. I think the main problem is that they don't have credit cards. Some use a womans name and I get the idea that they are not. They all what to use some sort of payment method that I would have a hard time verifying. There is a common destination Lagos, Nigeria. I have wasted so much time with these people that I'll never get compensated for. Most of them don't respond back after I tell them my requirements. They don't seem to understand a lot of what you tell them. They don't answer questions or give requested information. They want you to send the item before you get paid for it. Be wary of these inquiries. You almost hate to not respond because maybe its an honest inquiry. Hope this helps.
  • avatar

    by: mslilly
    SaleHoo Master Member
    180 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 7 Aug 06 1:15 am.

    I'd wait until I got the money in my hands before I ship anything! Make sure whatever he sends can be cashed.

    :)
  • avatar

    by: mana2006
    SaleHoo Master Member
    379 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 12 Aug 06 3:27 pm.

    Sometimes that doesn't even work. I had a cashiers check in my hands and the bank cashed the check. Three months later the bank sent me a letter saying the check was a fraud and that they were taking there money back. I lost 1500 dollars on that transaction. I wont take checks of any kind anymore unless I personally know the the person handing me the check. What I hate is once the bank cases a check we are obligated to send the goods. Why don't the banks make sure all checks are good before cashing them. Why do they wait months down the road before telling us.
  • avatar

    by: backalley
    SaleHoo Junior Member
    11 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 13 Aug 06 1:08 am.

    All I have to say is that any email you get like this is most definately a scam.
    What I usually do is send an email back explaining that I only accept Paypal or all major credit cards through Paypal as a payment method.
    Also I add that if they would like to buy the item (usually its some kind of electronics item of fairly high value) they should bid or hit the buy it now and pay for it.
    After sending that email you will get either no reply back or a reply that pretty much says the same as the 1st one you got - kind of like they don't even know what you said to them when you replied, thats because they probably don't - most of them don't understand english very well.
    If they still keep trying and emailing you ( I've had them email me when they didn't even view the item, I could tell since the counter was still on 0 for the listing) I found that they do understand a hearty F--- OFF!!, that seems to work pretty well.
    Hope I was of some help to you, JD
  • avatar

    by: Jennifer77
    SaleHoo Master Member
    163 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 13 Aug 06 3:43 am.

    its a scam i got the same email 2x this week about 'oh my son is inschool blah blah blah' so SCAM!
  • avatar

    by: bruce12003
    New SaleHoo Member
    3 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 22 Sep 06 6:46 am.

    it's a scam-i was selling a ps2 on craigslist last month--and i got the same offer'buying for son in nigeria' i told the guy i only except paypal and i waited for 5 days to see if he would respond--and he didn't. that pretty much confirmed that he was trying to pull a fast one on me. Beware the Nigerians have access to printing almost any document in Nigeria. They are well educated but prefer to do scams for fast cash.
  • avatar

    by: imstallion
    SaleHoo Junior Member
    13 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 22 Sep 06 8:13 am.

    Hi everyone,
    I too had the same problem. Was selling 2 Xbox 360 bundled with many extras and got the same kinda emails. One wanted to send me $5000 and send them the difference via Western Union. I said BS! Though I did check out the Qchex website but didn't get the right feeling. The other offered some other way of payment and told me their son was in Africa and they would send me a shipping document so I won't have to pay shipping fees. Funny thing was, this user was registered from out of Tennesse, US! One way to tell is if the user has recently created their id. Also pretty much anything that has Lagos and Nigeria, I simply stay away. Just tell them I only take Paypal.
    As far as fake or scam checks go, I don't understand why you have to pay once the bank cashes the check! That too after 3 months!
  • avatar

    by: bacpro
    SaleHoo Master Member
    330 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 22 Sep 06 1:51 pm.

    Yea! Theses people never stop trying. I had a guy that said he was an author of childrens books and miss-spelled author.

    I use the service of Read Notify....It a great service
    these are some the features that they offer, you can try it free.

    * Date and time opened
    * Location of recipient (per their ISP city /town)
    * Map of location (available on paid subscriptions)
    * Recipients IP address
    * Apparent email address of opening (if available)
    * Referrer details (ie; if accessed via web mail etc)
    * URL clicks
    * How long the email was read for
    * How many times your email was opened
    * If your email was forwarded, or opened on a different computer

    here's the link if you want to try it:
    link hidden

    John (bacpro)

    J Baca
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  • avatar

    by: mike7418
    New SaleHoo Member
    3 posts

    Re: Is this email a scam or not?

    Posted 26 Sep 06 12:53 am.

    Hey guys, I thought I'd make a thread were you can ask peoples opinion on whether or not an email you got is from an honest person or a scammer. First, I'm selling my ps2 on craigslist, and I got this email. Dear seller am intrested in buying the item you posted on craigslist web and i will like to know if it isin good condition.
    regards
    felix
    I replied and than got this message.
    Dear Ryan ,
    Thanks for your reply ,actucally i am buying it for my son in college and i will be paying by usps money order as i said ,if you are ok with me pls send your name and address as is going to afear in your money order ,and upon my payment comfirmation i will send you a shipment document with out you spending penny,pls reply me asap.thanks
    regards
    felix
    I'm pretty sure it's a scam, what do you think?
    I got a couple messages like these on my eBay auctions. Ebay support are definitely watching these. They are scammers, so be very leary of hem.

    Mike