Selling Phone - is this a scammer?

harley1

Good morning All.

I am selling a Nokia N73 phone and this morning have had the following question.

[FONT=Arial, Verdana]Hello seller, [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]I'm a Marine Officer, residing in USA, but out of the state now due to official duties. I saw your item on Ebay, & i will like to buy it as a Birthday gift for my grandchild, who's on Holiday with the mum who works for the British high commission in Africa. I need to get it as a matter of urgency, since this particular item is being crazy about. I will like to know the condition of the item, 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 £150 GBP for this item, So please if you are interested in selling this item to me, kindly end the auction and send me your Paypal Email address or full names and address, so that I can send out payment immediately via paypal or Postal Order because it's secure,fast,reliable and scam free. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]Your urgent response will be highly appreciated.[/FONT]


My main question is: does this sound like a scam? I've listed it for £50. There are still 5 days to go and there are other phones finishing ahead of mine.

If it sounds genuine, am I right in thinking that I can't track something sent abroad? And if he sent a postal order which I cashed before posting the phone, wouldn't that mean that I am covered against a claim?

Sorry for what are probably silly questions but I have never sold anything of any great value before, and have read so many stories of other people getting scammed, that I am a bit untrusting now

Many thanks in advance for any opinions you can offer

Harley x

soolin

Yes it's a scam, the most common one there is.

If you had any hesitation at all in thinking about this one then I suggest you look up 419 scams, advance cheque fees etc and aquaint yourself with them. They are all sort of variations on a theme, th eonly thing these scams have in common is that thousands are perpetrated every day and it just takes one naive seller to fall for them to make it worthwhile for the scammers.

Also when listing phones on ebay it never hurts to put a line to say you are aware of the 419 scam and will not ship abroad. Also don't forget to set your preferences to exclude overseas bidders otherwise you will get stung unless you are a bit more savvy.

harley1

Thanks soolin. I thought that was the case but thought I'd ask just in case. I have altered my preferences to only dispatch to UK. I'm learning all the time but I guess I'm still a bit naive to the levels some people will go.

Many thanks again for taking the time to answer

Harley x

amcluesent

>[FONT=Arial, Verdana] in Africa<

= Scam!
[/FONT]