ebay scam?

p5x

I sold a 7600 phone on ebay. I didn't recieve any sort of payment info until I bothered to contact the other user 2 days later, I immediately got a reply (below) in which she offered to pay via bidpay despite me only offering 2 methods of payment, cheque or bank transfer.

There's a few things that make me wary of going ahead with the transaction, firstly, the user has a zero feedback rating, secondly, she refers to her husband living in nigeria (screams fraud to me :shrug:) and there's no way i'm gonna send something over there. Finally, i've never used bidpay so i don't know what the situation is regarding chargebacks.

Advice needed, should I ditch the sale or take the risk?

I'm delighted winning your auction.I live in UK.., Flushing to be precise.I'm relatively new to Ebay as you can see,I have never bought anything on this site.I heard its very convinient and easy thats why i'm trying it now.This item is a gift for my Husband......... who is currenttly in Ibadan nigeria,and i would real love to buy this NOKIA 7600 VIDEO CAMERA MOBILE PHONE for him because that is the type of phone he is using before ..and the phones is faulty now..and he now want the NOKIA 7600 VIDEO CAMERA MOBILE PHONE exactly.that is why i want to purchase the phone from you.if you will wish to sell it for me.. I will be paying you....... for this deal to be conclude very fast from my[money order] Bidpay account and payment will be deliver at your home within 2 to 4 business day.and have been hearing of fraudulent activities going on here and there ,that is why i choose [money order]bidpay as my method of payment,and i would have pay you by paypal which two i found more reliable and convinient like bidpay but my friend paypal account is low ,because my friend had a paypal account..that is why i want to use [money order] bidpay to pay you, please let me have the total cost of the item... SHIPPMENT INCLUDED VIA REGIASTERED Royal mail postage,Dhl or UPS which I found to be more secured and efficient.
please get back to me with your names in full and contact address with a secure email address....as required for the payment.
Do get back to me as soon as possible.so i can contact bidpay and make the payment asap..so you can received your money earlier.and i have seen your name and address..so it remains a secure mail address and the total cost of the item including the shipping charghes to my husband in nigera and to tell you..i mean i want to pay you by money order[bidpay]and you can go to bidpay.com for more information about how they work ..if you have'nt use bidpay before ..but some people have use it and testify that is great.

JonSimmonds

looks like a scam to me. look at how the 7600 camera phone is in bold through out the email, defo a scam template which has teh current title copied and pasted into it

chrisw

It's got scam written all over it but difficult to pinpoint why. Did you specify uk only?

soolin

I didn't even bother reading the email, you had a couple of trigger words in your explanation 'Nigeria' and 'bidpay'.

Report the user to ebay, send them the full email and headers as well. After 7 days assuming ebay don't do anything quicker (and don't hold your breath) just start the NPB process.

If you want you can try replying to the buyer that you will only accept payment via your accepted methods, but you'd be wasting your time.

One tip for when you relist the phone sell only in the uK and set your preferences to refuse bids from countries to which you do not ship.

Soo

soolin

Sorry, I should have said it's a very obvious scam. A brief glance at the email shows it is a very poorly presented 'standard' scam letter where your items details are just cut and pasted.

Soo

p5x

soolin wrote:

If you want you can try replying to the buyer that you will only accept payment via your accepted methods, but you'd be wasting your time.

One tip for when you relist the phone sell only in the uK and set your preferences to refuse bids from countries to which you do not ship.

Soo

I've done both obviously, the 2nd suggestion doesn't detract hardened scammers as they only have to create a new user id on the ebay.co.uk website

NPB's do my head in

chinagirl

DONT DO IT!!!

Avoid any further contact like the plague. It reads like a classic scam to slice money off you .

bindiboo

i had a simular experience when i put when motorola on ebay last week. within hours i was sent a question from a buyer basically wanting me to gift wrap and send this phone to africa for hie son that he kept calling"her", oh and also he was a bank manager!!!! yeah right!!!

I smelt con all over it. POsted it on here straight away. After i also received a email from ebay warning me of this con artist.

I think they prey on any individual selling phones as when i've looked at other auctions, the sellers have added notes saying that basically con artists and scamsters from africa/nigeria need not bother bidding.:j

Gadget-guy

I had an auction for a samsung mobile starting last night and had a question similar to the others today only thing was they are now not mentioning Nigeria or other areas of africa, this said it was to be posted to London and they would pay all postage costs as it was for her sister, even before the warning email from ebay came I knew because of a few things this just looked all wrong, the bidpay for a start but the way the email was written was all wrong it was just to mixed up like I had agreed a buy it now price with them, which I had not, I feel sorry for the people who fall for this but this scam was sloppy !

Jonny_Skyman

Some details for those that are not fully aware of the Badpay Scam.

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/shady/messages/175.html

The other big scam involves the use of Western Union....You are warned!