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How does this scam work?

kiwisimon

Maximum Pace
Dec 14, 2006
4,248
2,454
From Yahoo auctions
Dear Seller Of this Item in yahoo auction in Japan, My Name is Mrs Mario Silver am from Spain,I will like to buy your item for my Son schooling in Nigeria and I will offer you sum of £2,700.00Euro for the item including the shipping cost through EMS,and Kindly reply me through Email for further conversation ([email protected]). Thanks

If they send the money, where do they make their own money?

regards
noobie
 
Usually they try to scam you by using fake PayPal emails indicating that the funds have been transferred and you should be sending them the goods in advance. ALWAYS vett the emails you receive form Payment / CC companies!! It's not too hard to spoof the email in both terms of content and alleged origin.

As you can see - they attempted to contact you DIRECTLY and gave you a personal email. This way they can bypass the Yahoo system and try to get you in the loop directly. They do this by playing your greed -- 'Why pay Yahoo commission, when I'll pay you directly?" Things like that.
 
Thanks Tim, it wasn't on my auction, someone is selling a Ridley Noah frame and got this in the questions section.
 
It's also a gating question. People who respond self select themselves as potential targets when they respond to obviously bad offers.
 
Another common variant of the scam is that they pay by stolen credit card and tell you they have arranged a shipping company to pick up the purchased goods. They ask you to charge the shipping to "their" card and then forward it in cash by Western Union to their shipping agent. The credit card payment bounces and you're out of pocket for the irrevocable, untraceable WU transfer.
 
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