The Old Craig's List, PayPal, Western Union Scam

So you listed an item or two on Criag's List and hope to make a quick sale. Within hours you get an email from someone asking "Is your listed item still available for sale?". This should make you wonder. They didn't ask about the specific item, they just asked if an item was still available. Add the senders email address to your to your address book.

You reply to the email and say "Yes it is available" and the hilarity ensures. You should get a response like the one below:

Hello,

Thanks for your quick response, I will pay $700 USD for the XXXXXXXX. I am currently on the ship due to the nature of my work, I'll be paying you with my credit card via my PayPal, If my offer is accepted.. The payment will be made through PayPal, But you will have to get back to me with the following information so that my pick up agent will come and pick up as soon as possible...However, I'm ready to pay now into your account...

Your Name and address:
Cell phone:
PayPal email:

In case you don't have a PayPal account..Its reliable and easy to use PayPal it is the best way to transfer money,all you need to do is visit www.paypal.com and register with them. When you are done with the registration send me the email used for the registration with PayPal so i can pay make your payment....Am online right now on MSN you can add me on soulss1313@hotmail.com or any IM you have so that we talk about the pickup and payment.

Make sure you get back to me so that we can arrange for pick up as i will like the item to be picked,so no shipping...

Await for your swift response.

Lara.

OK, that sounds great because I was only asking for $650.00 for my item but I already know something is up because the senders email address keeps changing. It has the same name but a different email address. Hmmm... I reply with some general information and my PayPal email address then "Laura" writes back:

Hi,
I was just about to make the payment when i had this little problem with the picking up, I got an email from my agent..i taught i included that in my previous
email.

He said he won't come and pick up the item unless i pay him the agent commission fee first in order to be able to schedule a pick up time ,and my pick up agent
head quarters is in the United Kingdom and all commission payments made for pick up, from anywhere in the world is sent to their head quarters in the UK.

And the only form of payments they accept is western union money transfer and i tried to pay online but i will need a credit card which i didn't bring aboard the ship, and there is no post office (there is usually a western union section in most post offices) or any western union agent on sea! so i have to ask you to help me with the pick up fee, i will include the $270 they charged to pick it up and take it my home (1st class treatment), to the payments i will send through PayPal and $30 for the western union charges making $300, after i have made the payments.

I will need you to help me send the $270 to my pick up agent today through western union money transfer, the western union money transfer can be made at the nearest post office around you ,there is always a western union agent in most post offices or online at www.westernunion.com ...

I will be making the payments shortly and will email you as soon as it has been done.

Lara...

Wow Laura, I am in Texas. Seems like a long drive for your agent in the UK to make just to pick up a bicycle. Some of the roads might be flooded(laughing). Then I get this very official PayPal email, of course the senders address is fake:

Dear XXXX,

You have an Auction Payment of $ 1,000.00 USD from Lara Sweat (douftbean@googlemail.com).

View the details of this transaction below

Payment Details

Purchased From: Lee W

Transaction ID: 2BS316424Y2688534

Item No # Item Title Quantity Price Subtotal -----------
Mongoose Down Hill Rig
1

$ 700.00 USD

$ 700.00 USD

Pick up agent fees from

(Eastward Freight Limited, United Kingdom)

$ 300.00 USD
Shipping Insurance (optional): --

Total: $ 1,000.00 USD

This is to inform you that you are required to send a sum of $ 270.00 USD to the address below via Western Union Money Transfer and get back to us with the relevant information which you will be provided with after the money has been sent, you are requested to email us the MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number), sender's name and address used to make the transfer and the secret question and answer. As soon as we have received these information from you, we will credit a sum of $ 1,000.00 USD to your PayPal account.Below is the address where the money is to be sent to using Western Union Money Transfer.

pick up agent Information:

Mark Smith.

17 Lisle Street, Westminster,

London WC2H 7BG.

United Kingdom.

Address Status: Confirmed
Please note:
We wish to inform you that Lara Sweat has made the payment and her intentions known to PayPal that she will like $ 270.00 USDto be sent to his pick up agent headquarter in Westminster London via Western Union Money Transfer so that his shipper can proceed in picking up his purchase, before your account will be credited with the total sum of
$ 1,000.00 USD.

Note: As this transaction was done via our e-mail payments service, any inquiries and necessary information should be sent to us by directly replying to this message, because of the status of this transaction, it has not been passed on to our customer care phone service section,and all inquiries should be directed to this e-mail address as it is the one monitored for your transaction.

This payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED" but will not be credited into your account until the MTCN #(Money Transfer Control Number) is sent to us for verification, so as to secure both the buyer and the seller. Below are the relevant information required before your account will be credited:
All you have to do is to reply directly to this mail with the MTCN # provided at the Western Union Outlet Nearest to you.You can get more information on this online at www.westernunion.com.Once the details has been sent to us and verified, you will receive a "CONFIRMATION E-mail" from Pay Pal® Service informing you that your account has been credited with $ 1,000.00 USD.

Please, understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect both the Buyer and the Seller.We apologize for the inconvenience this might have caused you.

PayPal would be responsible for any loss incurred during the course of this transaction.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Thank you for using PayPal.
PayPal Team.

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

Copyright © 2000-2010 PayPal. All rights reserved. PayPal (United States) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution. PayPal FSA Register Number: 226056.
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Nice, but I am too smart for this set up so I replay with "The funds will be transferred as soon as my PayPal account has been credited and "Laura" says:

Dear XXXX

This email is to inform you about a pending payment of $ 1,000.00 USD from Lara Sweat a verified Premier Account Holder. She has paid for the pick up fee together with the price of your item.You are required to send the $ 270.00 USD meant for the pick up to her pick up agent Headquarter and email us the required information about the money sent to the pick up agent Headquarter, so that we can credit your account immediately.We are working together with Western Union Money Transfer on this transaction.

You are to send the pick up fee $270.00 USD to the following address through Western Union Money Transfer so that this Transaction can be complete,you must click the link below to proceed: https://wumt.westernunion.com/ WUCOMWEB/osMTOptionsAction.do; jsessionid= IIXf6mgAtEhwFlHrjuYlkeK? method=load&countryCode=US& languageCode=en& nextSecurePage=Y if you can't go to the nearest post office to send the pick fee.

Mark Smith.

17 Lisle Street, Westminster,

London WC2H 7BG.

United Kingdom.

Thanks for your understanding

Sincerely,
PayPal
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ----

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Pay without exposing your credit card or bank account number. Plus, you'll speed through checkout all over the web. One account, one password - no retyping your financial information.

Copyright © 2000-2010 PayPal. All rights reserved.

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Now I am wondering who I am actually emailing because none of the email addresses go to PayPal, Western Union or Laura Sweat. The only real link is the one that takes me to Western Union to make the payment of $270.00. Lets see how far we can get. I email "Laura" back and say that the payment has been made and I am waiting for my PayPal account to be creditied. I get a reply:

To:XXXX
The Western union money transfer will give you the Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN) when you send the payment...let me have the numbers so that we can complete this transaction with PayPal as well...

And this:
The Western union money transfer will give you the Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN) when you send the payment...let me have the 10 digit numbers so that we can complete this transaction with PayPal as well...and proceed with the pick up

Await your response.

So I just keep saying that the money has been transferred but her agent must pick it up in person and know the answer to a security question. She replys with:

Nothing confused here mate, Am not new to PayPal and have been into many services so i know how it's all works PayPal will not allow me do any separate payment that is the reason why i added the pick up fee... until this transaction is completed....all you need to do is to get back to PayPal the details which will be given to you at western union online or western union section at the post office....and PayPal will definitely put the money through as per the e-mail they sent to me which i think is also similar to yours....

please advise positively to this so as to ease up the whole transaction...

Await your response as soon as you email PayPal.

Lara.

From: soulss1313@hotmail.com
To: XXXX
Subject: RE: MTCN number needed!!!
Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 12:43:32 -0700

#yiv2092723417 .ExternalClass .ecxhmmessage P{padding:0px;}#yiv2092723417 .ExternalClass body.ecxhmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;} I have made your payment and the money has been deducted from my account..But due to the new security measure and between Buyer and Seller,PayPal as already place the funds on pending until you email them the MTCN Number of the pick up agent fee you sent....

She really wants that transaction number lol and even includes her "agents" response. The spelling is horrible and some lines don't even make sense. So I give the same reply of "Money is waiting, you have to transfer funds to my paypal account before Western Union will release the funds. She says:

You have to make that the money you sent is available for pick up...Because PayPal will verify this before they credit your account...

This goes on all afternoon. During this mess she tries repeatedly to add me to her live chat on Yahoo. I refuse each time and simply keep replying with "Payment must be made to my PayPal account before funds will be released.

Several things were wrong with this transaction from the get-go. Several email addresses were false and PayPal, Western Union have no records of any of these transactions. The PayPal email was faked(badly, I might add)and all of the "problems" she was having didn't add up because she could have easilly sent the PayPal funds and I would have gladly sent the "agent" his fees out of what I received from PayPal.

Watch out for this kind of scam on Craig's List. It doesnt matter what you are selling the scammer will offer you more than what you are asking for and tell you some lame story about how they can't pay for it until you give them $XXX.XX first. It doesn't add up and in the end thay are just trying to get you to send them money for nothing. I reported this to several authorities and sent the emails with the report. I don't know if they will catch the criminals but I think having all of their email, names and info in this article should slow them down in the future. Allways research the people you are doing business with and always look carefully at what they are asking for. If it seems fishy it is probably a scam. Anyone who is going to buy something from you will pay for it when they come to pick it up. Otherwise you are about to lose money that can't be traced back to the criminal. Good luck, good hunting and sell safe!