My wife and I have recently started this online store for second-hand laptops and collectible items. For the past few days, we have been receiving SMS and email messages inquiring about the items we are selling. Some already made orders and reservations but we are still waiting for actual payments. Most of our prospective customers are relatives, friends, and former co-workers. I have been helping my wife promote our online store through Craigslist, eBay, Multiply, and other auction sites.
Hence, I was not surprised when I received email inquires from two prospective customers outside the Philippines. They have three things in common: (1) they both want the items to be shipped to Nigeria, (2) they both want to pay through PayPal, and (3) they are both willing to pay immediately.
On the other hand, I was a bit puzzled because these two prospective customers were too eager to buy without asking questions about the specifications of the items we are selling online. They seemed to be very trustful. One prospective customer has purportedly sent me payments via PayPal but I was unable to confirm it from my PayPal account.
Here is the screenshot of the said email. As you can see, I supposedly have a pending payment amounting to US$ 710 (seven-hundred and ten US dollars) via PayPal:
I was being asked to send the tracking number of the item I was shipping before they can credit the money to my PayPal account. At first glance, the email seemed to be legitimate but if you look closely at the email address, the sender used a bogus PayPal email. Here is the screenshot:
I did some research on this and I was able to find an online forum that discusses this Nigerian PayPal scam: http://forums.gumtree.com/topic18831.html. If ever you are selling a legitimate item online, please of this type of scam. Do not be fooled in sending your items without confirmation from PayPal. You can easily do this by logging into your account. Legitimate PayPal transactions are also confirmed by emails that use PayPal.com as the domain.
2008-08-19
BEWARE! PayPal-Nigeria Scam!
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9 comments:
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This is a very interesting post, and the comments are also fantastic to read. I’ll have to have a little re-think about my own contact form on our new website, as this poses some interesting questions!
online marketing
I had my canon DSLR camera posted on marketplace at facebook for sale. A lady sends me an e-mail saying she will buy it. She told me if I could end the auction and she would pay me through paypal. So, I closed the auction and gave her my paypal e-mail. She said that she was living in U.S. and the camera is for her grandson’s bithday present in Nigeria. Here is the e-mail :
hi
i am really interested in buying this item for my Grandson in west Africa as a Birthday gift and i will be offering you $3,250 including the shipping cost to west Africa kindly get back to me with your pay pal email address, so that i can send out the payment as soon as possible.
Thanks and Stay Bless
my reply :
my pay pal email address is the same as my gmail address :
xxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
After that, I receive email from paypal :
PayPal Mar 08, 2010 : PDT
Transaction ID:Jan/16/2010 3D228926MW045920S
Hello xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxx,
You have an instant payment of $3,250.00 USD from JENNIFER COLE (jennifercole_0@yahoo.com,)
Thanks for using PayPal. To see all the transaction details, log in to your PayPal account.
It may take a few hours for this transaction to appear in your account.
—————————————————–---------------------------------------------------
Seller
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
Note to seller xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You have to provide to us the shipment tracking number so that your funds can reflect in your account as soon as possible.
.
Shipping address - confirmed
Name;………Abraham Ekpo
Address:…..N0,33 Olayinka Street Ijeshatedo
City:…………Surulere
State:………..Lagos
Country:……..Nigeria
Zipcode:……..23401
Shipping details
USPS Global Express Mail United States Postal Service
Description Unit price Qty Amount
*Canon EOS 500D/Kiss X3 for MYR*
Item# Not Applicable $3,250.00 USD
$3,250.00 USD
Shipping and handling $00.00 USD
Insurance - required $00.00 USD
Total
$3,250.00 USD
Payment
$3,250.00 USD
But something fishy about this is the seller is a white lady buying for her grandson, Abraham Ekpo ? Try to add her as friend in facebook, but no reply and when checking the trx ID, it was on 16 Jan 2010.
On top of that, I only sell the camera for MYR2900, but she paid USD3250. It was nearly RM10,888. I was shocked and excited, but to be safe I checked first at google and find out that it was a Nigerian scammer.Thank God I did’nt proceed shipping after read all the stories.
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Someone using a fake email juste tried to steal me (I was selling a Nikon D60). I found the email suspicious, and the transaction never appeared on my paypal account. Just been on the phone with PayPal security, and I was right, it was a phising attempt! Thanks for your article.
Magalie
Quebec, Canada
Hi,
I've just experienced the same thing. I was selling my old laptop on the internet and some guy very quickly answered, no questions asked, he would pay the whole sum through PayPal. He even added a link to go to this website of PayPal. He said it was for his wife. It wasn't until I received an e-mail from PayPal, supposedly, that I saw that it was to Nigeria.
Now this man had said he would cover all shipping expenses and since shipping to Nigeria costs a whole lot more than shipping to Germany as he said he lived, I asked for more money. Please note: this laptop was on sale for 250 € and in total he would be paying 425€ for the laptop and the shipping costs. In the e-mail from PayPal was written that I needed to enter the shipping reference number before I could actually get the money on my account.
Because I didn't really know how to do this, I searched on the website of PayPal wether they knew anything about it. I didn't find anything, so I called their customer's helpline. I didn't even finish my first phrase or the lady on the telephone already said that this was fraud. She could even exactly tell me what else they asked for and that the laptop would be send to Nigeria.
I am a little upset about this, because it is the first time I am selling something online and I was kind of looking forward to receiving the money.
I will be extra careful for things like this is in the future. But after all, it does seem a little idealistic, no? Someone who buys something expensive without asking for any details, photo's or anything... Not even asking for a lower price?
All Nigerians are not scammers like you guys believe it.
Just like in every country where we have the bad eggs, there are some bad ones in Nigeria.
But that doesn't mean that Nigerians should all be qualified as scammers.
Doing so amounts to some kind of tribalistic approach.
Patrick
Open A PayPal Account In Nigeria
As when i go through your post, it seems to be really excellent. Thanks..
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