There is no buyer.
Notice how the scammer doesn't call what you are selling by name? He uses the generic word "item", that is because he sends the same stock copy/paste email to anyone selling everything that he can find and he has no idea what you are selling and doesn't care.
There is only a scammer trying to steal your possession, your electronic item, name brand clothing or jewelry.
The scammer isn't interested in your identity or bank account only in convincing you to ship your possession to him without him sending you a penny.
The next email will be from another of the scammer's fake names and free email addresses pretending to be "Paypal" saying "kindly send the tracking number and we will release the funds".
Paypal does NOT send such emails, ever. Paypal does NOT have escrow or money holding services like that scammer describes. Paypal does NOT demand you send a tracking number before money is sent. EVER. No exceptions.
Now that you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of being the perfect buyer, great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.
You could post up the email address and the emails themselves that the scammer is using, it will help make your post more googlable for other suspicious potential victims to find when looking for information.
Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don't bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn't worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash.
Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money to a scammer.
If you google "cragislist buyer scam", "fake paypal email scam", "ebay escrow fraud" or something similar you will find hundreds of posts from victims and near victims of this type of scam.
Check out the one and only official paypal website, read up on what paypal does and how it really works.
100% Scam.
"She" is most likely a "he" in West Africa.
He will send you an email that looks like it is from PayPal but it is fake. You would be asked to enter the tracking number of the shipment to release the money. However, as the email is fake, there is no money.
He tosses in the "USAF" at the end to make it look more trustworthy.
This is such a standard scam that I'm surprised anyone has to even ask. The only thing that would make it more obvious would be if she said she or her son was in Nigeria.
Overpayment for a product ALWAYS involves a scam.
Consider Craigslit, SCAMS LIST
Only sell if you can meet the person in public and do a cash transaction.
Most certainly!
Never accept an offer that is overpaying AND setting up pickup through them.
In my ads I always specify that I will not accept money orders and things of that nature and that shipping will be setup through me without exception.
Yes, 100%. If you have to ask, then yeah its a SCAM!
sound like it to me - biggest reason i say so is offering you more money than your asking price. why would they do that
Hi, I'm trying to sell my laptop via craiglist and this person asked whether the item is still available, 1 day later she replied.
Thanks for your reply,i am located in. Manhattan in New York ,i really
need to buy this and send to my son schooling outside the state as a
Birthday gift.your asking price is quite reasonable and affordable
considering others I've seen lately,I'll take it and offer you $240
for the item so as to close the deal as soon as possible. I will be
paying through PAYPAL because i have a verified account with PayPal.
So kindly get back with your PayPal email address so i can make
payment into your PayPal account.Once payment clears,shipment will be
handled by me through my personal FedEx account, so you don't have to
pay for shipment. Get back to me if my approval is granted.I would
like to see the pictures please. Thanks.. Alex USAF
--
Alex
My original posting was 200. Does this look like a scam to you? Is it safe to give paypal email info? Is it possible to handle and pay shipment from the receiver side?
The craigslist mentioned about not doing shipping or giving financial info such as paypal. I've never done this before so please some advise.
Thank you and have a good day :)
