Scammers are hilarious!

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Hi guys, I thought you'd be amuse to know that I have a suspected scammer on my hands. Why do I suspect this guy is a scammer?

1) I'm selling my watches at $40 for both, this guy is offering me $120.
2) He insists on paying either paypal, or some form of money order. Highly suspicious
3) With a name like Mark Smith, you HAVE to be a scammer.
4) He called me "Kevin."

There you have it. So if you are still unconvinced. Here's my email dealings with this guy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
>From: "Mark Smith" <xxxxxxxx@hotmail.com>
>To: xxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com
>Subject: Guess microsteel watch and Timex Indiglo - $120
>Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 03:02:29 +0000
> >I will like to offer $120 for this item and i will like to make the
> >payment via Paypal as soon as i have your Paypal D. I will also
> >like to know the item's present condition.
> >Thanks
> >Your reply willbe apprecaited

>From: "kelvin" <xxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: xxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
>To: marksm_002@hotmail.com
>Subject: RE: Guess microsteel watch and Timex Indiglo - $120
>Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 11:51:34 -0600
>
>
>Hi Mark, the watches condition is excellent. The straps are a little worn,
>but other than that the watch itself looks good. Are you in Calgary? I
>can show them to you if you are.
>
>I'm not sure why you are willing to offer way more than my asking price.
>However, I do not have paypal. So it'll have to be in person, or have me
>take pictures of the watches and send it to you via email.Thanks,
>Kelvin


Dear Kevin
Thanks for the mail but i can only make the payment via paypal or emoney
transfer www.moneygram.com so please reply me as i am having a very tight
schedule for now.
Thanks

-----------------------------------------

So what do you think I should do? I have a few ideas...namely some hilarious ones. So stay tuned...

[ken0042]

Why would using Paypal make you suspicious?

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Why would using Paypal make you suspicious?

Good question! My understanding is this is how the scam works.

1) ask to pay via paypal or money order
2) selling gives the details
3) buyer will ask seller to ship the stuff cause payment will be made once tracking number is received.
4) seller ships
5) buyer sends fake statement to you.

http://www.joewein.de/sw/fraud-weste...idpay-ebay.htm

[ken0042]

In that case, if you ship prior to receiving payment then yes, you are in trouble.

With Paypal the buyer should always pay first. The reason is the buyer can always file for a chargeback if he doesn't receive the item. As a seller you have to ship using some method that includes insurance. (That is your protection against a chargeback.)

The other thing I always do is go into my Paypal account to verify the money is there; and not go by what the email says. And always go into your Paypal account by typing in the www.paypal.com- never click on any link or use a shortcut.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

I traced the email's origin. let's see if this guy asks me to ship to Amsterdam.

-----------------------------------------------

OrgName: RIPE Network Coordination Centre
OrgID: RIPE
Address: P.O. Box 10096
City: Amsterdam
StateProv:
PostalCode: 1001EB
Country: NL

ReferralServer: whois://whois.ripe.net:43

NetRange: 80.0.0.0 - 80.255.255.255
CIDR: 80.0.0.0/8
NetName: 80-RIPE
NetHandle: NET-80-0-0-0-1
Parent:
NetType: Allocated to RIPE NCC
NameServer: NS-PRI.RIPE.NET
NameServer: NS3.NIC.FR
NameServer: SUNIC.SUNET.SE
NameServer: NS-EXT.ISC.ORG
NameServer: SEC1.APNIC.NET
NameServer: SEC3.APNIC.NET
NameServer: TINNIE.ARIN.NET
Comment: These addresses have been further assigned to users in
Comment: the RIPE NCC region. Contact information can be found in
Comment: the RIPE database at http://www.ripe.net/whois
RegDate:
Updated: 2005-07-27

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-04-03 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.

[Lanny_MacDonald]

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

I traced the email's origin. let's see if this guy asks me to ship to Amsterdam.

RIPE is the European counter to Internic or such. Whois is not going to tell you where the address originated from in Europe. All whois queries will end up at this deadend. RIPE is based in Amsterdam. Its like doing a query against an AOL account. They're all going to be based in Troy, NY.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

RIPE is the European counter to Internic or such. Whois is not going to tell you where the address originated from in Europe. All whois queries will end up at this deadend. RIPE is based in Amsterdam. Its like doing a query against an AOL account. They're all going to be based in Troy, NY.

Cool, thanks for the info.