I received attempted Scam when I posted my kayak on Paddling.com this week.
James Flynn, jameseflynn01@gmail.com, (707) 985-8217.
Same story as others have posted - “will arrange pickup by his moving agency once payment is received & confirmed by you.”
Thank goodness #1: I used to work for UPS & have heard about these scams and, #2: I trusted my gut/intuition that it was a scam.
James stopped corresponding with me when I shared a pick of Paddling.com "Avoiding Scams’
Loved other peeps stories on how they 'F’ed with these folks…thanks for the great ideas!!!
I also received a suspicious generic inquiry about my kayak for sale here in this forum. I could be totally wrong (and I apologize if that is the case), but the message reads funny to me.
Here is the message, as it is, with sender’s name and email removed:
“Thanks for the response…Please let me know how to proceed with the payment and what is the total asking price ?”
First, this is the very first message, so there is no “response” to speak of.
Second, my “asking price” is/was clearly written down in my for sale post. So I don’t understand why this person asked again, if he was not a scammer.
I suspect sender of this message wants to get my email and Paypal address to scam me. I clicked on “reply” to the paddling.com relay message and found that I would be emailing the sender directly, if I reply (unlike with Craiglist email relays, you are replying through Craiglist and your email is not visible to the other person).
To the message sender, if you are reading this:
Again, if I am wrong, please let me know. I will remove this post and I apologize. But I want other forum members to be cautious of scammers.
I sell a lot of different stuff through various forums and buy/trade sites and would say such bogus communications from scammers constitute about one in 3 responses I get to posted ads. The blatant clue that it’s a scam is that they immediately begin asking questions about how to pay and pick up rather than requesting details about or asking specific questions about the item for sale. Even if it was the case that, for instance, a kayak I was selling is EXACTLY what a buyer wants and they are eager to show up and claim it, 99.9% of legit buyers are going to ask some question specifically about the boat itself and want to inspect it or see more photos.
One of my schemes for ferreting out a scammer when the initial communication is not as obvious as usual is to respond to them with something like “I want to let you know this model I am selling has the copper muffler bearings, is that OK and do you still want it?” Since the scammers are cutting and pasting stock “responses” they will always say “Fine, just tell me how to arrange payment.”
I deflected a kayak “buyer” after I played along with him for a while – when we got to the point where he claimed he was arranging for his “agent” to come pick it up the kayak (which I had meanwhile sold to a neighbor anyway) I told him the agent would have to bring a gun. I explained that there was a large and very vicious raccoon that was nesting inside the boat and since I was a Quaker it was against my faith to shoot it myself. Also mentioned he would probably have to plug a bullet hole in the hull after the critter was dealt with. Didn’t hear from him (or his “agent”) again.
That “vicious raccoon” has also nested in cars and appliances I have placed for sale over the years. Perhaps it was some sort of weird karma that I had to REALLY open up the wall in the rental property I bought last Spring to remove a 15 pound dead raccoon that had crawled inside and died. The raccoon gods were punishing me for my calumnies against their species.
Our Paypal email address and maybe phone numbers and physical address, if we fall for them? Then they may fake some more emails to fish out our passwords to take over our online payments methods/cards?
Such scams likely won’t work well, when first message already looks so suspicious. Those scammers probably use automatic programs and send thousands of such scams?
I have sold hundreds of things on many other online forums and eBay. But this one is the first (or second to the first) scammer (edit: of this kind) that I have seen.
@zzffnn said:
What do the scammers gain, by playing such games?
Your money, if you’re gullible.
^ If you read my entire post, you would see that I already suggested “money”. That is obviously the best outcome for scammers, but an unlikely one.
As the scammer’s very first email is so generic and suspicious, I really doubt any seller would provide his/her paypal information.
So I guess scammers just want to get your email address as the first step. They can easily sell that for advertisements (you will see a lot more junk emails, as a result). Then they can try to fish out more of your payment information, by faking another email saying, for example, “This is Paypal and we found that your account has been hacked. Please click the following link to reset your password”. If you (are slightly drunk or not fully awake and) click that link to " reset your password ", you then give away your Paypal password to the scammer. That is a more subtle scam.
So maybe the best way to deal with them is not to respond at all.
I got another suspicious email today. This one is even more subtle. Why do I keep getting these scammers only from listings on this web site (I don’t remember getting any from listings on other web sites)?
Quote
Hello am interested in buying it please get back to me if its still available for sale at m*******8@gmail.com.Hope to read back from you soon.
ZZffnn, Strange. I got the same email from michaelwall988@gmail.com and when I asked him to send me non-sequential, un-trackable cash and that only then would I deliver the ergometer via militarized drone he went silent.
That is the same scammer. His second email said that he has a shipper, lives in a military base and will send a check. He went silent, after I told me to prove that he is not a scammer.
Same scammer with a new email address, loganmccardle1@aol.com, “Thanks for the update am currently out of town due to the nature of my job (Military)now at Fort Carson Army Base Colorado am okay with the price & condition my mode of payment will be a certified check and i only have access to email for now.I need the name and address so that the Check can be can be issue out also my shipper will come for the pick up.Let me know how you will like to proceed with this and get the Payment.Logan” Beware.
I’m sorry for my lack of sympathy, but really… The small percentage of people that fall for this obvious and well publicized scam deserve what they get.