Scam, right?

NewFoundGlory_2

I'm just checking...selling an item on Ebay (T-Mobile Sidekick 3 mobile) and I just received this email...

[FONT=Arial, Verdana]What a nice item you got out there,I am interested in your item
displayed on eBay,i want to get this item for my friend's son who's
is working with british high commission in Africa as a birthday gift.I would have love to bid as others but the nature of my job will not allow me to do this at this time, I will be offering you £200.00 GBP for this item. So please if you are interested in selling this item to me, kindly send me your Paypal Email ID address,so that I can send out payment immediately via My Paypal Account because it secure,fast,reliable, and scam free, As i said earlier am offering you £200.00 GBP for this item this will include both the shipping and handling cost to africa.Your urgent response will be highly appreciated.

Thank and God bless.

---

What do you think?
[/FONT]

PassedAtFailing

Yep. I would say it's a scam. The message has the typical bad grammar that you see in similar scams.

Do you know how to restrict buyers from countries you do not wish to send to and/or buyers with low or no feedback?

d123

Definitely scam, this is probably the most common internet scam around. Avoid him like the plague.

NewFoundGlory_2

PassedAtFailing wrote: »

Do you know how to restrict buyers from countries you do not wish to send to and/or buyers with low or no feedback?

No I don't! Its advertised as worldwide because i know this particular phone is very popular in the US but wouldn't mind at all blocking the typical scamming countries...particularly Nigeria (Western Africa)...I didn't know you could block out certain countries (I have had an ebay account for 3 - 4 years :rotfl:) but I'll search the ebay help sections now - thanks very much

NewFoundGlory_2

d123 wrote: »

Definitely scam, this is probably the most common internet scam around. Avoid him like the plague.

I thought as much...the part about paypal being scam free actually alerted me the most though :rotfl:

NewFoundGlory_2

Grr...I can't seem to find where it is that you specifically block certain countries from your listing...I have blocked the member in question and have reported him to ebay (have no solid proof it's a scam so reported him because it appears he wants me to sell to him outside of ebay)...I hope he gets removed and no one else falls for this!

soolin

You cannot block certain countries only certain regions so maybe just set it to Europe and the US and Canada and knock out the worldwide requirement.

Personally I would not ship a phone overseas anyway as RM will not cover them against loss if they are over £36 regardless of the postage method you choose and its far too big a gamble.

Marty_J

There's an option to block buyers in countries to which you don't post.

It's in My eBay > Site Preferences > Buyer requirements

Bromley86

Can someone give a quick description of what happens with this scam? Presumably a £200 PayPal transfer occurs, otherwise the phone wouldn't be mailed. Is that transfer funded by a stolen card or something?

frivolous_fay

Either a hacked paypal payment, stolen card, or a fake payment email.

soolin

The fake paypal paid email seems to be most common now.