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The same thing almost just happened to me and my boyfriend. THANK GOD we googled about it and saw these posts because the same exact kind of situation was happening to us. Someone wanted to buy my computer and wanted it shipped to Nigeria and only using paypal. They were going to pay the price posted and even more for shipping and handling.They also sent us an email that we thought was from paypal saying that they had the money from their account and all they needed was a tracking number. Your post saved us from being scammed and I thank you so much for posting about what happened to you. I think the News should be letting people know about what is happening to put a stop to this. It is horrible that people would do this. I hope people google about this before it happens to more people. Thank you again for posting about this you saved us !
How many times has a Nigerian scam been reported these past few years? Heck, how many times has it been covered since the OP posted this thread back in March 2009?
It's not just people in Nigeria who try this scam, there are plenty in America saying the same exact thing to their fellow Americans....
In 2005 I listed my house for sale by owner on a FSBO board. Mrs. Rose Brown from Libya, ivory Coast, Nigeria, and some other places wanted information. I said each time I would be glad to show her the house. She is still sending the same letter. I sold the house in 2007.
She also sends the Dear Beloved .. wanting a hand out. It is why I have throw away accounts. A scam is never ending. There is one on every corner and around every bend.
My daughter just had one of these exact scams, except it wasn't from Nigeria it was Oklahoma City OK.
She was selling one of her birds on Craigslist. The scam followed word for word what the OP documented.
I don't know if I feel sorry for these people who fall for it or disgust at their greed....
Hey linicx, why don't you reply to their email and tell them you are anxiously awaiting their certified cashiers check (for the cost of your home) as a deposit and after it clears your bank you will be happy to begin the transaction.....
So i was selling my Sony camera and was contacted by a Julie Williams saying she would pay 10 dollars over asking
Price for my camera plus 80 to ship and wanted my paypal info. I dont have a paypal acct so i got a buddy at work to link an email to his and use that phony email as his paypal acct. sure enoygh she sent an email looking extremely similar to paypals normal emails but upon reading closely the english used in the
Email wasnt correct.
So i googled nigerian scams after she "sent" the money and asked me to ship it to nigeria. I found this article and decided to screw around with her. I told her i sent the camera and she emailed asking for the tracking number. I didnt respond. Then she emailed and asked what the delay was, that she needed the tracking number and i responded that the camera was in the mail and to check her
Mailbox haha. So my buddy and i are going
To ship a toy camera that i already have for cheap and send it with a letter saying nice try scamming me. Then give her that tracking number hahahaha, we are having way too much fun with this.
I am so angry I never knew of this scam earlier. I am not going to the post office first thing in the morning to see if I can stop the shipment of a laptop. I pray I can. I also paid $83 to ship the item. Im so angry!
Quote:
Originally Posted by CameraGirl
Last week we got scammed on Craigslist for nearly $2,400. We are professional photographers and had 2 cameras that we were interested in selling and were contacted by someone saying they wanted to buy the cameras for their son in Nigeria and asked to have it shipped there and they would even pay extra for shipping- they asked to pay us via paypal. They even provided a fake document (it looked official) that showed us Paypal had the money in the account and simply needed the tracking number to release the funds to us. After shipping the camera's via United States Post (at their suggestion) we came home to put the tracking number in and our first clue that things were amiss was there was no place to put a tracking number. So we call Paypal and they say, "Oh no, where did you ship the stuff to because there is a Nigerian scam that is going on that is similar to this". We about fell out of our chairs- our package had shipped to Nigeria! After that we googled Nigerian scam and hundreds of entries pop up. Earmarks of this scam is that the emails read like foreigners are responding to your posting, they offer to pay more then what your asking and they want it shipped out of the country or not necessarily to their own homes. They have even found a way to forge money orders, cashiers check, paypal documents on & on....even when your bank cashes the check and the forgery gets caught eventually- you are out the money and not your bank. So now you have no money- lost your product and paid for crazy high shipping (in our case $110). Please be careful everybody- this extends beyond Craigslist and they can even burn you on houses, services etc. Google "Nigerian scams" for yourself. Only deal with locals and ask for cash only and meet people at a neutral location or be sure and try to have someone with you. After we had already shipped those cameras we continue to receive several offers a day from Cuba, California etc.... It has totally freaked us out and also shows you that it is not just limited to being shipped to just Nigeria. It seems that other dishonest people are on the band wagon too- willing to rip you off. But, Nigeria still remains the largest part of the scam. We tried to contact the local news stations here in S.A. about this story and none of them contacted us back. But, I worry for other people and wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else. It was just so heartbreaking for us.
So beware and be careful and lets try to hang on to all of our hard earned money. With the economy being so bad I have heard that more and more scams of this sort will be creeping up!
Just wondering, don't the people check their Paypal accounts to be sure the money is in there?
Or is there some way they can put the money in and take it back out?
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Same thing happened to me this weekend.
! After that we googled Nigerian scam and hundreds of entries pop up. Earmarks of this scam is that the emails read like foreigners are responding to your posting, they offer to pay more then what your asking and they want it shipped out of the country or not necessarily to their own homes. They have even found a way to forge money orders, cashiers check, paypal documents on & on....even when your bank cashes the check and the forgery gets caught eventually- you are out the money and not your bank. So now you have no money- lost your product and paid for crazy high shipping (in our case $110). Please be careful everybody- this extends beyond Craigslist and they can even burn you on houses, services etc. Google "Nigerian scams" for yourself. Only deal with locals and ask for cash only and meet people at a neutral location or be sure and try to have someone with you. After we had already shipped those cameras we continue to receive several offers a day from Cuba, California etc.... It has totally freaked us out and also shows you that it is not just limited to being shipped to just Nigeria. It seems that other dishonest people are on the band wagon too- willing to rip you off. But, Nigeria still remains the largest part of the scam. We tried to contact the local news stations here in S.A. about this story and none of them contacted us back. But, I worry for other people and wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else. It was just so heartbreaking for us
.
