Advice needed for large PayPal transaction, possible scam?

Discussion in 'General Precious Metals Discussion' started by House, Nov 11, 2012.

  1. House

    House Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Good afternoon everyone,

    Just want to know what people think of a possible transaction from Gumtree I'm a little bit suspicious of.

    Buyer emailed me saying he wants to buy 13kg worth of silver I have for sale and happy to pay via PayPal, fees and all.
    Apparently he's in the middle of moving to the UK so can't pick up/view himself and instead will send a shipping company to pick it up on his behalf once payment has been received.
    His Yahoo email is signed off as a building inspector for the W.H.O. which to me is a bit strange. Googled his Yahoo email and name but no results.

    I've had scammers offer to pay after goods had been received(!) but this guy is offering to pay first and then collect. I'd drop the metal off at the shipping company's office or have them pick it up in a public place once funds have been received and transferred to my bank account.

    Basically just trying to figure out if I can be scammed in anyway with this kind of arrangement given the size of the transaction. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
     
  2. Silver Soul

    Silver Soul Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    its a scam
     
  3. worldbubble

    worldbubble Active Member

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    tell him to paypal gift( or there are other options as well) and get the shipping company to grab the silver ...
    provide him with clear invoice what you sell and for how much, so if the scam comes from you he can go to police and the things will get very serious for scammer as there will be clear evidence that things went wrong

    personally I wouldn't go for this deal as the other party can end up both with silver and money ...
     
  4. REDBACK

    REDBACK Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    ^^^^^
    Agreed listen


    REDBACK
     
  5. House

    House Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Well that's that then! Cheers for the quick responses guys, looks like I'll be leaving it.

    I've asked for a direct bank deposit and more info so will see what the response is.
     
  6. scone

    scone Active Member Silver Stacker

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    I had exactly the same sort of thing happen to me with a car on ebay. Someone else here has as well, remember a post about 6 months ago about it. Its a scam.
     
  7. Au-mageddon

    Au-mageddon Active Member

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    f*cking scammers - give you the sh!ts, dont they!
     
  8. spannermonkey

    spannermonkey Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Got any tungsten bars to send him :lol:
     
  9. goldpelican

    goldpelican Administrator Staff Member

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    This is the giveaway part of the scam - any time the buyer offers to organise a courier, it's a scam. It's their modus operandi.
     
  10. trew

    trew Active Member Silver Stacker

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    And they usually can't come personally because they are working on a ship and are in the middle of the ocean somewhere.

    From what I've heard you can list just about anything on craigslist or gumtree (not just PMs) and you'll get the same scam attempts almost immediately.
     
  11. Naphthalene Man

    Naphthalene Man Active Member Silver Stacker

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    i received three of these scams from Gumtree when trying to sell my car. They were very quick on the pick up.
    All stories were very similar:
    1. based in NZ, courier to collect car please give bank details
    2 based in FNQ with dodgy reception, please give bank details for electronic transfer and courier will collect car
    3. based in offshore oil rig, please send bank details so payment can be made and courier to deliver car to FNQ where they will be having a holiday

    the first i told to f off and the rest i just ignored.
     
  12. boston

    boston Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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  13. GoldenEgg

    GoldenEgg Member

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    Why are you offering large amounts of gold & silver on gumtree?
    I think you are crazy.
     
  14. shinymetal

    shinymetal Well-Known Member

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    i listed my motorbike on gumtree about 6 months ago, and all i got was potential scam responses a lot of people on oil rigs, in England, a million and one excuses as to they they couldn't come and view it all wanted to arrange a courier to pick it up.. but they were all so keen to hand over the $4900... i didn't really know how the scam was suppose to work. i just got the distinct feeling it was a scam :p so i ended up keeping it
     
  15. Billythekid

    Billythekid New Member

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    They tell you they are on an oil rig or whatever and they only get paid monthly or similar and they are skint at the moment because they had a stack of bills / bad luck happen to them etc and have no cash . The scam is they tell you that if you would kindly pay the courier fee they will later reimburse you and will add it on to the final amount they give you on their pay day next week... so you are not out of pocket. They are only scamming the courier / shipping fee out of you. Because they are on an oil rig earning 'big bucks' you think they are good for it. = get scammed. They often agree to pay you above spot/going rate for the goods on sale to get you to agree.

    A similar one that is operated the same way is when you put your stock standard car for sale in the trader or gumtree and you get a offer from an 'oil rig worker' or whatever, living overseas where they don't have any Datsun 180B's or whatever in the country they are working in and he 'had one as a youngster' and 'loved it so much and and he just desperately has to have one again'... Again, because he only gets paid monthly, "can you please pay the freight for it to be shipped over and i'll add it to the final amount i pay you". They will tell you that because that 180B or whatever is as rare as hens teeth in their country they now live in that the going rate for one in good nick is double what you advertised it for and as such they will give you double. $$$ This is where the seller gets greedy and agrees to the request of the buyer/scammer and agrees to pay the freight . Once you have sent the freight fee you'll never hear from them again. It's amazing how many people fall for these scams.

    For the OP - Were you offered a rate above spot or above what you were asking? That is always a sure sign.

    Bill.
     
  16. House

    House Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Definitely but I've seen a good few TV shows detailing how scammers make off with hundreds of thousands so I'm not surprised they're so persistent. Conversion rate would probably be quite low but the jackpot makes it worth it for them. That tungsten bar idea would be some nice just desserts!

    Only one bar was being offered and he enquiried about anything else I may want to sell so gave him the list.

    I've been targeted by the "I'm in a different country" scammers before but first time I'd been offered full payment first so that kind of make me think differently. Don't really use PayPal so wasn't aware of the chargeback situation that could occur. Like shinymetal, not sure how this scam works as I'm (supposedly) receiving full funds and not having to pay a cent for the PayPal fees, courier or whatever.

    Bill- I was offered the full asking price on the bar and the rest was negotiated by deducting 5%, nothing unusual to me there
     
  17. Franko

    Franko Member Silver Stacker

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    If it's not a stolen paypal account it's normally a fake paypal email saying your account has been credited x amount.
    Always sign in to your paypal account to double check.
     
  18. southerncross

    southerncross Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Another potential problem with paypal even if the buyer is legit is actually having the funds released if you are not verified or whatever they call it now. IE once your account turnover reaches a certain level they will ask for personal information to verify your ID and until the information is provided they freeze your account.
     
  19. DanielM

    DanielM Active Member Silver Stacker

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    or "you payment of $xxx has gone through click here to cancel"
     
  20. willrocks

    willrocks Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    It's a scam for sure. Could be one of:

    1. Stolen PayPal account,
    2. Fake PayPal account, created with a stolen credit card,
    3. Genuine PayPal account, but buyer will charge-back after getting bullion.

    Insist on irreversible transaction.

    Also a note to other SS members, bank accounts are now being hijacked. It's only a matter of time before someone on SS gets done and the bank reverses the transaction AFTER you send bullion.

    How it works? Online black markets (i.e. Silkroad alternatives) sell bank login details of people's computers they've hacked. The person using that account then needs a way to redeem funds from the hijacked bank account. This is the hard part because banks can reverse most transactions. Bullion would be ideal for them.
     

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