scammer or not?

sheraz2

I received the following question on a phone that I am selling:

"hi, i am after 2 of these razor phones, unblocked so we can use whatever sims here in ireland, i would like a black 1, and a pink 1 for my wife if possible, please call me if you wish and we can talk turkey, we currently use vodaphone simes here in the republic prepared to purchase directly,,,,regards ray d,00353877496704"

0 feedback completely but a join date of Nov 05 (could be a red herring used by a scammer who has registered mutiple accounts and then leaves them dormant for a while)

what do you think? My gut instinct tells me to kick him to the kerb Maybe the whole Ireland thing is a smokescreen too.

and what does 'talk turkey' mean. If you goto the Nigerian bait forum they feed them with colloquial expressions in a humorous way in the hope scammers use them against other people for a cheap laugh

ScrumpyJackRussell

Did you try the number? When I am selling something which normally attracts these sort of emails I just tell them that I have got lots of watchers and do not want to end the auction early, but welcome them to bid on the item in the normal way, and wish them luck!

Sugar_Coated_Owl

Sounds like a scammer. I'd probably just delete the question and hope they don't bother you again. The whole Ireland thing is probably a lie, you'd probably find out that it was Nigeria like it usually is.

Maybe the bidder meant turnkey instead of turkey?

jenniferpa

Talk turkey is an americanism. It means, roughly, get down to brass tacks, talk honestly, so it was used appropriately in context.

Jennifer

buggu

I would be very wary of it. I would let the listing carry on and dont end it early. If you got loads of phones and are prepared to sell it outside of ebay then it may be ok if he pays by bank transfer or cheque.

Babbler

I doubt I will list a phone on e-bay again after my current one ends. It gets far too many scammers, even though I do UK only, no neg feedback, no unpaid strikes. I currently have 2 sus bidders, one with 1 negative feedback and 1 positive, and one with 1 positive feedback for a penny item (Probably bought just to get pos feedback and bypass ebays security). Will probably end up out of pocket yet again by a scammer.

sheraz2

Thank you, I have told him politely that he can bid on it if he wishes but i want to let the auction run its course.

MrsTinks

Babbler wrote:

I doubt I will list a phone on e-bay again after my current one ends. It gets far too many scammers, even though I do UK only, no neg feedback, no unpaid strikes. I currently have 2 sus bidders, one with 1 negative feedback and 1 positive, and one with 1 positive feedback for a penny item (Probably bought just to get pos feedback and bypass ebays security). Will probably end up out of pocket yet again by a scammer.

You could mail them and check their genuineness or cancel their bid

Babbler

tine wrote:

You could mail them and check their genuineness or cancel their bid

Thanks - but only 45 mins left and the 2nd best looks to be scammer 2. Just can help it on phones

sheraz2

^^Have you tried to limit bids from countries you don't post to and set up one or two other buyer requirements?
I had 2 phones sell to scammers within a 2 days and continued to receive spoof emails from them for a week about how I would face FBI interrogation if I did not post etc. but after I put on buyer requirements I haven't had a problem

Babbler

sheraz2 wrote:

^^Have you tried to limit bids from countries you don't post to and set up one or two other buyer requirements?
I had 2 phones sell to scammers within a 2 days and continued to receive spoof emails from them for a week about how I would face FBI interrogation if I did not post etc. but after I put on buyer requirements I haven't had a problem

Yup - I did UK only and no neg feedback...

Still, worked out ok in the end as the person who won wasnt a scammer. Also, the other person ended up replying to my e-mail saying they werent and understand my concerns