Possible PayPal fraud?

[Buzzard]

Hey guys, my wife's trying to sell a piece of furniture on Kijiji. She received an email stating they were interested and what our best price was. She told them her best price, and the response back was "that sounds fair, please send me your paypal email and I will make payment". Does this sound a little fishy?

I'm not familiar with receiving paypal payment, at least from an untrusted source. I've only ever paid with paypal. Can we get screwed over here somehow? The more I think about it, the more skeptical I am. Why would you just not bring some cash when you were going to see it and pick it up? They haven't even seen it yet. Any advice appreciated.

[Canehdianman]

Might be legit, but if they are picking it up I'd want cash. Paypal has an unhealthy reputation as always siding with the buyer in disputes. I wouldn't want them to lock up my money in some frivolous claim.

[Finger Cookin]

A quick check on PayPal's site indicates that its purchase and seller protection does not cover items bought in person, or items picked up locally or delivered in person. Neither party is protected for those transactions.

I would ask for cash. It's not an unreasonable request.

[btimbit]

The biggest pain in the ass about selling with paypal is paypal themselves. They won't let you release the funds from your account for a few weeks while they 'verify' it, will likely require you to send them a copy of a photo id, a bank statement, SIN, etc etc to prove your identity. They also hold the money to give the buyer time to report a problem before the money is gone. If the buyer reports a problem, ANY problem, paypal will side with them with next to no investigation, taking the funds from your account. A buyer can essentially get the item for free that way.

Even if the buyer is 100% legit and honest with no intention of ripping you off, it's not worth it to jump though paypals hoops. IF cash isn't an option, interac e-transfer should be the only option for long distance purchasing

[Buzzard]

Yeah, thanks guys. If they want it bad enough, cash is king.

[oilyfan]

This is a well known PayPal scam. They will send a "PayPal" payment email, some times in excess of the asking price. This email is a fake email which states that payment is held by PayPal in "escrow" for buyer protection and money will released once shipment has made.

Of course the email is fake (it looks legit but has spelling and grammar errors), and once shipment is made you have no recourse.

Do not use anything but cash for kijiji transactions

[Looch City]

I was almost scammed by them too before a quick google search made me aware. You can always tell when it's a scammer by the about of please/thank you/graciously's in the email haha

[sa226]

If its an online transaction OK look into it or work something out.

But furniture on kijiji? Yeah cash only. Anything else is just plain fishy.

[cupraisedn89]

Absolutely fraud! Tell them you'll sell it for 10 grand and they will say the same thing. "That sounds fair" guaranteed fraud

I was selling tools for $100 bucks, got the same message (I knew it was fraud) I said best price for you is 10, 000. Response from them - that seems fair please send your paypal


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[trackercowe]

Absolutely fraud! Tell them you'll sell it for 10 grand and they will say the same thing. "That sounds fair" guaranteed fraud

Haha, I do this all the time as well. Lately I've been given some tips on how to write better scam messages, since they always look the same. It doesn't look like they're taking my advice though

[Red John]

Another way you know is that they don't refer to your item specifically. If you're selling a car, they'll just say "tell me all about the auto, what is your price for the automobile, etc."

Did the email refer specifically to your item or does it just call it "furniture"

[Calgary14]

I have come across this a few times when selling on kijiji. I will typically get a response from someone who is interested but they don't live in the city (red flag #1). Then they say they will pay more than I am asking to compensate for shipping costs since they either want it shipped to them or a friend as a gift and will pay via PayPal (red flag #2).

The thing is......all they ask for is my PayPal email address. I wondered how someone could scam someone else just by getting their email address.

I called PayPal directly and spoke to them about this. They said the person who replied isn't out to scam you....directly. What they are doing is compiling a list of verified PayPal email addresses. They will then take that list and sell it to a scammer who will send out a mass email asking for PayPal account info. They usually say something like 'your account has been comprised, click here to verify your account'. The e-mail is fake and the link is either a virus or directs you to a non-PayPal site that looks exactly like the real one that has been designed to gather/steal your login info, which can then be used to access the account.

A dead giveaway in the emails is the address it came from, weird graphics and horrible grammar. That and the fact PayPal always says it will never email asking for your info.

[Buzzard]

Originally Posted by Red John

Another way you know is that they don't refer to your item specifically. If you're selling a car, they'll just say "tell me all about the auto, what is your price for the automobile, etc."

Did the email refer specifically to your item or does it just call it "furniture"

This was the original reply.

hope your listing is still avail for sale, your best price thanks

And then...

I think the price of $575 is fair enough so just send me your paypal email to make the payment

I emailed "her" and asked if maybe she'd like to look at it first. No reply back.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Is the buyer from Nigeria?

[Buzzard]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Is the buyer from Nigeria?

Gmail email...who knows?

Could be from SIBeria for all I know.

[keratosis]

Sounds totally legit. You should provide your bank account #'s as well.
Seriously though, it has scam, fishing attempt written all over it.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by Buzzard

Hey guys, my wife's trying to sell a piece of furniture on Kijiji. She received an email stating they were interested and what our best price was. She told them her best price, and the response back was "that sounds fair, please send me your paypal email and I will make payment". Does this sound a little fishy?

I'm not familiar with receiving paypal payment, at least from an untrusted source. I've only ever paid with paypal. Can we get screwed over here somehow? The more I think about it, the more skeptical I am. Why would you just not bring some cash when you were going to see it and pick it up? They haven't even seen it yet. Any advice appreciated.

Don't do it and don't provide anything to them. This is a well-known kijiji-based fraud scheme that obtains people's legit PayPal addresses and then files a claim to PayPal right away complaining that they didn't receive merchandise. PayPal requests proof of shipping, which you can't provide, of course, then refunds the amount to the fraudster in accordacne with PayPal protection program and then makes you liable for the whole amount of purchase against your credit card on file. Because this would be an international transaction, there will be no enforcement.

If in doubt, just ask them for a contact phone number and address. You will receive a series of idiotic texts or emails explaining that it might be for someone as a surprise or traveling.

As a rule, never write your cell phone in the field provided by kijiji. In the body of an ad it's fine, but not in the field.

[oilyfan]

I am confused about his scam. They file a claim with PayPal without a transaction?

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

Don't do it and don't provide anything to them. This is a well-known kijiji-based fraud scheme that obtains people's legit PayPal addresses and then files a claim to PayPal right away complaining that they didn't receive merchandise. PayPal requests proof of shipping, which you can't provide, of course, then refunds the amount to the fraudster in accordacne with PayPal protection program and then makes you liable for the whole amount of purchase against your credit card on file. Because this would be an international transaction, there will be no enforcement.

If in doubt, just ask them for a contact phone number and address. You will receive a series of idiotic texts or emails explaining that it might be for someone as a surprise or traveling.

As a rule, never write your cell phone in the field provided by kijiji. In the body of an ad it's fine, but not in the field.

[Chingas]

IM me your paypal address and password. I can inspect it for you and make sure that it can't be compromised.

[Ducay]

There is a reason Kijiji says in bold to only deal in cash, in person.

I thought people had wised up by now.