[polster]

Hi

I'm selling a Playstation 3 on Gumtree and received this e-mail pretty quickly after I put the add up:

My name is tom brown i live in australia and i am
intrested in buying your item BRAND NEW PLAYSTATION 3
SEALED £500 for a freind in westafrica i will be
offering you 30pounds for shipping via royalmail.And i
will make payment via paypal.com/money order....do get
back to me with your paypal id or your address for
payment to be delivered to via money order asap

get back

I've heard about Nigerian scams on e-bay before so I emailed back saying that because of the risks involved I would need to add an extra £100. He got back saying this was ok and could I send him details of my Paypal account so he could make payment.

Scam or not?

My initial thought, once the money is in my account whats the problem?

My thanks in advance

[scarletdevil]

polster,
yes it is a scam, they can scam you through paypal. From other postings I have read about this the money goes into your account but is taken back by them once you have sent the item. Don't let them have any of your personal or account details. If it sounds too good to be true, it is!! If you asked for an extra £200 they would probably agree as they don't actually give you anything.

[Bluey]

If it's too good to be true, it usually is - £630 for a second-hand Playstation certainly qualifies!

Gumtree encourages local face to face trading.

Not sure what the Pay Pal angle could be - perhaps a fake PayPal site or a last minute request to change payment transfer methods (such as using a fake cheque which gives you the appearance of receiving funds because banks are slow to detect fraudulent ones. By the time the bank lets you know, you would have sent the scammer your goodies).

Wikipedia is a very good source of information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union#Popular_money_laundering_tool
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_fraud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_fraud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get-rich-quick_schemes

[remzobaba]

beware!!! GUMTREE WARNING: AVOID THESE SCAMS IF U CANT MEET THE SELLER OR BUYER. Ignore that warning and regret it. be wise. it s a fucking scam. alternatively, u can ask the scammer to post or pay u thru paypal or whatever but you will only post after the authenticity of the money has been verified. also tell him/her that it will take you at least 2 months to verify and watch how he/she will stop bothering you. BE WISE.

[the_tidy_kiwi]

This is definately a scam.

We always advise our users to be careful when dealing with prospective buyers (and sellers) and have scam and fraud warnings on the site including
http://www.gumtree.com/seller_fraud_alert.html. You can also find hints and tips for dealing with buyers and sellers on our FAQ page including http://www.gumtree.com/gumtree_faq.html#45.

I will email you seperately polster and get the details so we can take action!