Scam Vechicle Buyers

Just wanted to let other TM users know about a scam that was tried on me this week. I got a text the other night asking if the car I was selling was still available to view and could I email the guy back. I did and said yes it was. I got an email back from him (Pryor Colin is his name.) soon after saying that he was currently at sea (a marine engineer apparently) but that he wanted to buy the car as a gift for his Dad and that he had an agent who could come and pick it up. Cos he was at sea he wanted to pay for it using PayPal. He didn't once ask me how much I wanted for it or any other questions about it. I went back to him with a price which he accepted and asked me for my PayPal account name (which I gave). The next day I got an email (supposedly) from PayPal saying that the money (including $600 for the pick-up agent) had been transferred to my account but was on hold. I got another email from the 'buyer' saying that he had a small problem and that he had to pay the pick-up agent in full before he came to get the car and the agent only accepted Western Union payments, and could I go and make the $600 payment (from my own money!). The payment was to be made to the headquaters in Maylasia.Once I had done that I had to send a copy of the WU reciept to PayPal and then they would release my money. I contacted PayPal in the USA and they told me it was a well known scam and not to do anything. They would never require an account holder to make a payment using another money transfer agent in order for PayPal funds to be realsed. I told the 'buyer' that I knew it was a scam and that he wasn't getting any money. I'm still getting emails from the fake PayPal & buyerdemanding and mandating that I do the Western Union payment. The latest email is threatening me with legal action from the FBI. TM also know about this scam. If you're not familiar with PayPal then there are a couple of things to look out for in the emails.The ones that are a scam will come from a .co.nz address and via Yahoo (the real PayPal is a .com address and doesn't use Yahoo). The english in the emails will also be quite bad and the font differs a few times.
There is nothing that can be done unfortunatley as most of these scamers are overseas.
Good luck and keep a watch out!

Gee thanks for that.for the 27th time.

Thanks,derrr.

It's the first time I've come across it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Holy crap it was hard work reading that!

Yeah sorry - it was a bit of an essay.

Just needed to be broken up by a paragraph or two.

Silly as it may seem, there are actually people who are falling for this scam. One posted on here just the other day - assuming he wasnt just pulling our legs.

I get a txt about once every 2 weeks saying "can you tell me the interior condition of the car!" and then refers me to an email address.
Whenever I hear someone is 'overseas' or any talk of 'wiring over the money', it's 99% scam.

Poster, your reserves already met anyway, so what are you doing telling this guy what you are willing to take for it!

I got the text and emailed the guy at the start of the week before any bids had been made. The scam emails have continued since then

thanks Jimmy, good to know

My partner works in a Post Shop and has stopped 2 people sending money via WU with this scam.People here are still falling for this well known scam.

Cool story bro.

More like 1000 and 27 times. OP - suggest you read the "sticky" thread at the top of TM Discussion.

What amazes me is that people with very ordinary vehicles for sale can actually believe that somebody overseas would want to go to the trouble of buying and shipping it overseasand without even viewing it. How could you be so dumb!