WARNING possible scam

[mr_evo]

Hi there, as you all know my car is for sale on carsales.com

I got someone asking if my car is still for sale, i replied yes.
5mins later i got this email back;

"Thanks for the prompt response.. I am ready to buying it now for birthday gift for brother in-law and i am at sea at the moment as i am a marine engineer and due to the nature of my work, phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it. I really want the car to be a surprise for brother in-law so i wont let him know anything about the car until it gets delivered to him, i am sure he will be more than happy with the car. I insisted on paypal because i don't have access to my bank account online as i don't have internet banking, but i can pay from my paypal account, as i have my bank a/c attached to it, i will need you to give me your paypal email address and the price so i can make the payments asap for the car and pls if you don't have paypal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to www.paypal.com.au Web site registration will take only 5 minutes just get back to me as soon as you get back to me registered and get it set up, after you have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with paypal so as to put the money through. I have a pick up agent that will come and pick the car up after i have made the payments...

Thanks"

[Sickbunny]

Yep it's a fairly well known scam.. Steer well clear of it

[Blakey]

dammit i was meant to say no. but it can be


its pretty hard to scam someone on Paypal, as no bank details are reviled to either party. and money cannot be taken out of your bank, with out them knowing your password. but having your email they could possibly log in as you as take your money.

paypal, is a weird way to sell things caues you have to make a paypal invoice, then send it to him, he has to then accept the invoice (via email or account login) then he clicks pay, paypal withdraws the money from his paypal/ bank account, then pays it to your paypal account. then you get the money. you dont know his bankaccount, he doesn't know yours.

but still possibly be a scam.

[Blakey]

you could always make a new paypal account, but dont link your bank in anyway to it.

[mr_evo]

I'm not even gonna bother with it, I'm in no particular hurry to sell the car... I'd even go as far to say that I don't want it to sell. I'm hoping that no one comes up with the 60k for it I love my car way to much

[LZY_EYE]

The thing with Paypal is that they can scam people to put money into a paypal account, they use this to buy something and then the guy gets caught and whether you like it or not you are part of the scam and Paypal takes the money off you.

There are ways around it...

[ozblogger]

You are right, but paypal gives buyers' option to open a dispute, and that could be the scam he wants to exploit ... who knows

Once you go ahead , I'm sure his next email will be more direct of the scam.
But yeah just ignore away

[spunkybob]

all he can really do is send spam to your email address..... worst case you don't get the money.. so he doesn't get the car.

[milobob]

There are ways to exploit paypal.. something about chargeback? If you look on whirlpool.net.au forums it is well covered there.

[billyboy]

Mate it does sound fishy, not very well written for a 'marine engineer'

Is his brother in law even in Australia?? You'll need someones details to sign over rego when selling the car.

Tell him that will only take a money transfer into your account only.

He could send a fake Paypal email to you saying that he's paid & you could be left dry.

Check out this link (long reading) of one scam that hat didn't go to plan http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/index.html

[draevon]

Scam for sure. I had similar when I was selling my old car. Paypal for a car is a definate no-go.

[ofey]

Simple question: Who buys a car blind?

[mick_a]

I got exactly the same paragraph when I sold my Outlander.
When I wrote back and said I take cash only, he said he would send his agent but could only pay with paypal.
I told him to paypal his agent, and his agent could give me the cash.
Funnily enough, I never heard back from him.
And yes, there are ways to scam on Paypal.

[SirLancerLots]

Blind people?

[bd-850]

can i be his Brother in-law, damn how much does he love him to buy an EVO for him, sounds like a scam