Western Union Auction Payments - HELP!!!

kedge_2

I am trying to sell a mobile phone on ebay and have been contacted by a buyer in Africa who wants to buy the phone. They want to pay through western union which they tell me means I have to send the phone and then someone will arrive at my house with the money.

I am not new to ebay and have never come across this before and sounds particularly dodgy, does anyone have any experiance with this?

Thanks!!!

Fuzzy_2

Don't touch with a barge pole.

There are numerous threads on this forum re the Nigerian/African scams.

I was contacted about a boat part I was selling for £150, they wanted to send me a cheque for £2500, me to bank, then send them the part and a cheque for the difference. I replied saying only interested if they sent correct money, didn't get a reply surprise, surprise. You loose out big time as the cheque, or Western Union transfer is a fraud, by which time you've parted with the money and your goods.

Report the buyer to ebay, and block him/her as a bidder on your auction.

VH

Agreed, a big scam. Stay well away.

Avoid anything that mentions Western Union, in over 99% of cases it's a scam, especially when it involves foreign buyers.

JPS

I'll just back up what Fuzzy and VH have said - it is a scam. Stay well clear of this 'buyer', report them to eBay and they will be suspended ASAP as eBay are well aware of this old scam.

soolin

Assuming the question came via ebay 'ask seller a question' the email itself carried a warning that payments should not be accepted by Western Union. It is there, near the top of the page in a box.

Soo

adqwerty

definetly a scam stay well away

kedge_2

Thanks guys, very helpful, I'll tell them to !!!!!! off!!!!

UKJubilee_2

Had loads of these :mad: and if you give buy it now option they will take it and then say they want to use Western Union. ITS A SCAM!!

If you want to stop them bidding you can restrict bidders to UK registered users only. As to this person if they have won, check to see if they are no longer a registered user and immediately apply for a final value fee credit and make sure to relist within 30 days.

ROBDOLPHIN66

It is a shame that with all of these scammers that people are having to block bids from zero feedback bidders and foreign bidders because people are losing out on bids from genuine buyers that fall into these categories.
I am sure that eBay could do more.

eiamhere69

How do you set up an additional account. I am aware that you could put false names and an alternative address, but you require a credit/debit card I'm sure. Although, I did read on one of these forums a while ago about some sort of ordered-one use-credit card number (lycos or something) where you can choose any amount, even from £1.

Any help appreciated

sunflower_2

eiamhere69 wrote:

How do you set up an additional account. I am aware that you could put false names and an alternative address, but you require a credit/debit card I'm sure. Although, I did read on one of these forums a while ago about some sort of ordered-one use-credit card number (lycos or something) where you can choose any amount, even from £1.

Any help appreciated

you only need to register a credit/debit card if you are trying to sign up with a hotmail/lycos/yahoo/etc.. email address

if u have a company email address or personal one e.g. @ntlworld.com you dont need any other ID

of course with some ISPs (NTL included) you get 10 or more email accounts, which you can delete or amend at your leisure