I turned to Craigslist, which is the best answer for those who are tired of being nickel and dimed by Ebay. Have you seen their charges recently combined with PayPal's charges? It can make serious cut to your bottom line.
Within a couple hours I had responses back of people who were interested in my PS3. By the end of the day, I had a deal. Then the deal started getting complicated, which you can see from the e-mails I received from one Becky Jones hoping I would ship the PS3 to her son.
She was willing to give me her Fed Ex account number to accommodate shipping, which at first I was excited about. Here's her e-mail:
Sony PS3 120 GB With Beatles Rockband - $200 (Chillicothe, OH)
From:
Becky Jones
Add to Contacts
To: sale-fmtcw-2316215016@craigslist.org
** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html
--
--
--
Still available for sale?$
I responded yes.
So I get the following response letting me know she wanted to purchase it:
Re: Sony PS3 120 GB With Beatles Rockband - $200 (Chillicothe, OH)
From:
Becky Jones
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To:
Thanks for your reply,i am located in Chastworth city
in GEORGIA ,i really need to buy this and send to my
son schooling outside the state as a Birthday gift .I have
been trying to buy this on eBay but its so very stressful
buying on eBay.I will offer you $230 so as to close the
deal as soon as possible.I will be paying through PAYPAL
because i have a verified account with PayPal.So kindly get back with
your PayPal email address so i can make payment into your PayPal
account.Once payment clears,shipment will be handled by me through my
personal FedEx account,so you don't have to pay for
shipment.Get back to me if my approval is granted.I would like to see
the pictures please.
Thanks.
Now I was only asking $200 for it, so the deal just got better because she was going to pay $230. Of course, the hassle of shipping it was solved because all I had to do was fill out a Fed Ex form with the account number on it, and it was done. I sent her an invoice on PayPal, thinking PayPal is safe, which it isn't. Then some red flags started waving after she makes the payment on PayPal.
Re: Sony PS3 120 GB With Beatles Rockband - $200 (Chillicothe, OH)
From:
Becky Jones
Add to Contacts
To:
I have made out the payment online now.Go and check the mail you
used in opening your paypal account the confirmation mail have been
sent there check the inbox or the spam message you should see it
there........ I will also like you
to know that i am having some little problems with my fedex account as
i checked it online now and i was asked to reactivate it so i cant do
that now as i have to sort one or two thing out with them.So i am
sorry as i wont be handling shipment through my fedex
account again.So, pls get the postage cost to the following address
via post office(USPS EXPRESS MAIL) and ship out the item via post
office(USPS)
asap cos i have told
my son to be expecting it.I have also included $100 extra for the
shipping.i think that should be enough for you to ship
NAME: Timothy Precious
Address: NO 50, Ita Eko Street Ibara.
CITY: Abeokuta
STATE: Ogun state
COUNTRY: Nigeria
CODE:23439
Let me know how much it costs you to ship.After you ship get back to me
with the amount you used to ship. .I am really sorry for the inconveniences.
So now her Fed Ex account is having some problems. OK, but she included $100 to ship it. Then there is the Nigerian address. Internet scams occur all the time from Nigeria. I began to approach it with caution, but I thought I was protected because she went through PayPal. The scammers are always using Western Union or something they say isn't as safe. As long as I get the money, right?
$100 isn't going to be enough to ship both the PS3 and Beatles Rock Band. I instruct her I need more money. She responds:
Re: Sony PS3 120 GB With Beatles Rockband - $200 (Chillicothe, OH)
From:
Becky Jones
Add to Contacts
To:
Okay, that is why i included $100 extra for the shipping and dont
worry about the rock band he did not need that one just ship the ps3
So the deal just got sweeter. I can sell Beatles Rockband separately and make more money. At the same time, I was thinking is she really trying to cut shipping costs giving up part of the deal so easily.
I got to the UPS Store, not sure if was actually going to ship even though there was money appearing in my PayPal account. There was a look of concern on the face of the cashier. Nigeria? That will be $360 to ship there, but...
Here's where it gets interesting. The woman asked me if it was a PS3 or Xbox 360. I said yes. She then tells me about customers they have had come in asking to stop shipment.
I told her I was worried about it, as I type an e-mail into my Android phone to Becky Jones alerting her the shipping price was way over the $100. I told her I thought I was safe because they used PayPal and not Western Union. She shared with me so did the other people and then suddenly the charges were reversed and they were left without money and their gaming system.
At that same time an e-mail came back to me from G-Mail:
Hi. This is the qmail-send program at yahoo.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.
72.14.213.27 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 550 5.2.1 The email account that you tried to reach is disabled. vt18si19917690icb.33
Giving up on 72.14.213.27.
At PayPal was a message for me letting me know Becky Jones was having e-mail problems and there she had another e-mail address for me to correspond with her. The new e-mail address is usavolleyball@gmail.com. My critical thinking side which was born through classic literature came out. Cricket and volleyball are games, and this scam is a game Beck Jones plays in the USA. USA*game*@gmail.
I let Becky Jones no I wasn't going to be shipping the product because of the costs to ship it. Then she started ordering me around and her American English which had been carefully controlled soon was exposed as a fraud.
From: Becky Jones [mailto:usavollyball@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 3:50 PM
To:
Subject: Re: PS3
No, you will ship through USPS post office not UPS it cannot cost to that level.
What American says something like that? I knew this was a fraud, and contacted PayPal and canceled the transaction. I decided to play a little game with these people to further expose them. I posted an Xbox 360 and a PS3 for sale on Craigslist. Within just a few hours, I got a response, but it wasn't from Becky Jones. It was from a Mrs. Christina Brown wanting an Xbox360. I tell her she has a deal, and then she starts setting her terms to purchase:
Hi Dear
Thanks for getting back to me,The price you said for the item is okay by me.I resides in Utah but needs to purchase the item as a gift for my son' who left to west Africa for his field work with Agricultural Engineering dept in Our savior university in west Africa.Honestly i would have drive to your house and pick it up but due to the Distance and the Hectic nature of my job as an accountant in State Bank of Southern Utah, so my day's are always busy,I will be paying you through PayPal, these secures and protects two parties in a transaction... I will like you to send me your PayPal invoice or your PayPal identification email for payment or you can send me your full name and full contact address for a money order payment..I will be paying ($300 USD) for the cost price of the Item and the shipping cost through USPS Express mail,i want you to delete this ad from craigslist and consider this item sold to me..[Please i need the information very fast so that i can send the payment to enable you ship the Packages fast. I will be waiting to hear from you soonest......
Best Regards
Mrs Christina
Well the English is so bad in this e-mail, I knew what was coming next.
Okay My Dear.
Here is my son's address of where you will be sending the package.
Name:Steven Onyegbule,
Address:#26 Peter Okoye Street Uwani,
City:Enugu,
State:Enugu,
Zipcode:400001,
Country:Nigeria,
I will be waiting to recieve the ivoice for the payment.Thanks
Mrs Christina...
While that was satisfying enough to lure another scammer to verify my suspicion, I did place two gaming systems I didn't own on Craigslist. While Christina Brown responded to the Xbox 360 ad, a familiar name showed up in my inbox about 12 hours after posting the fake PS3 ad with the Playstation Move add on.
Becky Jones to sale-kj9bn-232.
show details 7:57 AM (3 hours ago)
is this item still available for sale?
 |
| Is this our Nigerian scam artist Becky Jones? |
It appears Becky Jones isn't having any problems with her Fed Ex account anymore. The letter looks quite familiar:
Thanks for your reply,i am located in Chastworth city
in GEORGIA ,i really need to buy this and send to my
son schooling outside the state as a Birthday gift .I have
been trying to buy this on eBay but its so very stressful
buying on eBay.I will offer you $230 so as to close the
deal as soon as possible.I will be paying through PAYPAL
because i have a verified account with PayPal.So kindly get back with
your PayPal email address so i can make payment into your PayPal
account.Once payment clears,shipment will be handled by me through my
personal FedEx account,so you don't have to pay for
shipment.Get back to me if my approval is granted.I would like to see
the pictures please.
Thanks.
The bottom line here is there is a network of people from Nigeria looking to part you from your gaming system. They are scanning Craigslist and they all have a similar tale to tell. While I thought PayPal protects buyer and seller, the UPS Store warned me this simply isn't the case. So add PayPal to the Western Union list of bad Internet deals.
