Almost got scammed...eBay.

[Fweedombypepe]

Long story short I have a listing on eBay for an Athlon scope. Got a message yesterday on eBay from a brand new buyer with zero feedback saying they're interested in my item..I should text them. A 360 area code. Washington state.

So I did..started a conversation..the guy said he wants to buy the scope but wants to pay fifty dollars extra for two day shipping to Florida...so his son has it for his bday. All the time warning signals were going on..but I figured I'd play it.

Oh and he wants me to include a 200 dollar steam or eBay gift card in the box..so it's memorable for his son. Because he's in the Navy on multiple deployment and can't do it himself...whatever that means.

So he gave me his PayPal address. I sent a generous request...making sure I'd profit over 120 bucks after all fees and the gift card He agreed to pay using goods and services.

Got a text message from him the seemed automated...saying I should check my email for payment confirmation. All the while..nothing shows up in PayPal. I had an official looking email from fast service.paypal saying the payment cleared and I should send receipt of shipment to release the funds. This email did not go to spam folder. So they fooled Google too.

So I went online..searched a bit..quickly found out it was a scam..that PayPal doesn't work that way....forwarded the email to PayPal's spoof department. They quickly replied saying, yes..it was a phishing attempt. That if I clicked on anything in the email I should change my password...I hadn't...but I changed it anyways.

Anyways afterwards all this I texted the guy promising him to ship it out tomorrow. He said ok...but I could check with him before I put the gift card in the box..to make sure it's the right one yah know. Guaranteed he'll want me to scratch it off and send pic.

So what do I do now? I kinda wanna pull him as far as I can before revealing I'm onto him.

 

[TheGerman]

So since its still for sale, can I just mail you a bank check for it?

Only problem is that the official bank check I have is for $1100 more than what you're asking, which is fine. Just send me like $500 back for your trouble.

 

[MadDuner]

Damn.... I ALMOST had a free scope and $200 gift card!

No, honestly - there should be some process in place to castrate these people.

 

[NukeMMC]

Report him:

Welcome to fbi.gov | Federal Bureau of Investigation

www.fbi.gov

 

[Nodakplowboy]

String him along with a few excuses until you get tired of it then forward the P.Pal emails to him. Since there was not a completed transaction, he can't leave negative feedback. Then, go into you account settings and block him from bidding on this, or any other items.

 

[Fweedombypepe]

Btw...I'd have never mailed anything without cleared money on PayPal ..transferred to my second PayPal account...and then cashed out at the local ATM with my PayPal cash card.

 

[Tims]

Can you post his info here so we can mess with him too?

 

[TheGerman]

Is this still available?

 

[Fweedombypepe]

I'm not sure I wanna report him...because I broke an eBay rule by contacting him outside of eBay.

 

[Fweedombypepe]

Is this still available?

No! Lol

 

[Fweedombypepe]

Can you post his info here so we can mess with him too?

I will once I'm done with him.

 

[Spblademaker]

Sounds like my uncle from Nigeria, who’s also a prince.

 

[davsco]

had a guy hack into my last employer's email (some idiot there must have clicked on a phishing email...), so he was able to figure out name and positions. sent me (cfo) an email from the prez to wire money for something. but the language/context/etc in the email wasn't right so of course i asked the prez ( as i would have even if all looked good) and of course it wasn't legit. so i played with the guy over a couple of days (shouldn't we buy it from provider B; don't you want to run it thru our LOC; etc) and he finally went away.

 

[diverdon]

Report him:

Welcome to fbi.gov | Federal Bureau of Investigation

www.fbi.gov

If his name is Donald Trump then they will get right on it.

 

[TxWelder35]

Turns out I owed a debt to the IRS. They graciously acceptes iTunes gift cards for the amount owed. Glad to have that behind me now!

 

[supercorndogs]

Sounds like my uncle from Nigeria, who’s also a prince.

Could you get a hold of him for me, I am waiting for a check, he must have lost my address. No more go be poor somewhere else for me.

 

[Maggot]

Do you have anything that goes boom when you open it?

 

[Fweedombypepe]

Do you have anything that goes boom when you open it?

I do not. Any of you got some of those exploding paint things that they put with cash shipments that youd like to ship to him for me?

 

[Fweedombypepe]

So I just texted him..."what made you choose this particular model of scope for your son? Have you personally used them? (It's a Ares btr 4.5-27 btw)

A minute later..."yes, I am in the US Navy I know a lot about Athlon optics.

So I replied...yeah they're great optics for the price!

He replied.."yes they are really nice.


I'm not making this up I promise!

 

[Fweedombypepe]

I do not. Any of you got some of those exploding paint things that they put with cash shipments that youd like to ship to him for me?

At least in that one movie they did.

 

[SuckitTrebek]

Long story short I have a listing on eBay for an Athlon scope. Got a message yesterday on eBay from a brand new buyer with zero feedback saying they're interested in my item..I should text them. A 360 area code. Washington state.

So I did..started a conversation..the guy said he wants to buy the scope but wants to pay fifty dollars extra for two day shipping to Florida...so his son has it for his bday. All the time warning signals were going on..but I figured I'd play it.

Oh and he wants me to include a 200 dollar steam or eBay gift card in the box..so it's memorable for his son. Because he's in the Navy on multiple deployment and can't do it himself...whatever that means.

So he gave me his PayPal address. I sent a generous request...making sure I'd profit over 120 bucks after all fees and the gift card He agreed to pay using goods and services.

Got a text message from him the seemed automated...saying I should check my email for payment confirmation. All the while..nothing shows up in PayPal. I had an official looking email from fast service.paypal saying the payment cleared and I should send receipt of shipment to release the funds. This email did not go to spam folder. So they fooled Google too.

So I went online..searched a bit..quickly found out it was a scam..that PayPal doesn't work that way....forwarded the email to PayPal's spoof department. They quickly replied saying, yes..it was a phishing attempt. That if I clicked on anything in the email I should change my password...I hadn't...but I changed it anyways.

Anyways afterwards all this I texted the guy promising him to ship it out tomorrow. He said ok...but I could check with him before I put the gift card in the box..to make sure it's the right one yah know. Guaranteed he'll want me to scratch it off and send pic.

So what do I do now? I kinda wanna pull him as far as I can before revealing I'm onto him.

What do you do?

Not pretend you are setting up a sting and move on with your life.

Or you can move to Tanzania and try to take him down equalizer style.

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

Did he give you a ship to address? Can we mail him some shit?

 

[shoot4fun]

I do not. Any of you got some of those exploding paint things that they put with cash shipments that youd like to ship to him for me?

I have one left from the last time I was at a bank, uh, making a large withdrawal. Trade you for an Athlon scope.

 

[Fweedombypepe]

Heres the google street view pic of the address where im suppossed to ship it to...you know..his sons house.

 

[Fweedombypepe]

Did he give you a ship to address? Can we mail him some shit?

Yes!

If you promise to provide me with a tracking address that I can give to him.!

 

[kenny1773]

ebay and everything else is full of scammers these days. The part that really sucks is the majority of the time ebay will help the scammer and side with the scammer.

I had someone somehow create a new ebay account as me, and I am baffled as to how that is allowed since ebay verifies ID with credit card info (or should be)

It took me months to get that worked out and all ebay told me was, "sorry someone stole your identity and used that stolen identity information to impersonate you on ebay, but this isn't an ebay problem, this is an identity theft problem and you should contact the authorities"{ (meanwhile ebay left my account suspended for unpaid sellers fees that the criminal racked up in my name)

Long story short, I did not have an identity theft problem, I only had a stupid ebay problem, they eventually cleared it and enabled my account (BTW - I have been on ebay with the same account and same email address since a few months after ebay started operations, with excellent feedback, that did not matter)

screw them, their shitty security and overall shitty way of doing business leaves me looking for any other option first when I need something...