The Story of the eBay Scammer

This might interest some of you and I definitely like telling the story so here we go.  As some of you know I purchased the new iPhone 3GS when it came out in June.  This left me with an original iPhone sitting on my shelf doing nothing.  I thought for a while that I would give it to my wife but she didn’t seem to interested in it so it still sat.  Finally, after a few months of iPhone sittage, I finally put it up on eBay to sell it.  I put a Buy It Now price of $200 on it and free shipping.  I figured that if I could get 200 bucks for a phone that was just sitting around I would be in good shape  to ship it for free.

It was up there for a full few hours when I got an email from eBay saying that someone had used the Buy It Now feature to end the auction.  Ok.  That sold much faster than I thought.  A few minutes later I get an email from the “buyer” with the following message, and I quote:

“Dear mate,i hope the item is on good condition?”

So the person doesn’t have the best grammar in the world.  That is ok, they bought my doing-nothing iPhone.  I respond by telling the “buyer” that the phone was in great shape and I would ship it as soon as I received payment.  All good so far (minus some bad English), right? Right!

Roughly 45 minutes later I get a very valid looking email from Paypal stating that I had received a $290 payment.  $200 for the phone and $90 for shipping.  Hmmmmmm.  That seems a bit odd.  I didn’t ask for shipping.  And 90 bucks?  That is quite a bit.  I also notice that the address that I am to ship my iPhone to is in, of all places, Nigeria.

A little background.  I used to work in a bank so I am familiar with the banking scams that originated from a certain country that begins with the letter “N”, ends with an “a”, and has “igeri” in the middle.  Back to the story.

Some minor red flags go up in my head.  Then I get an email from the “buyer” about a minute later.  It says the following:

Hello,
How are you doing today and how is everything going on with you,i am interested in purchasing your item for my Husband who is currently working with the UNICEF and she is on special duty in Nigeria at this moment, this is a gift for his Birthday anniversary coming up next week, i want to notify you that payment for your item has already been made and the necessary funds have been deducted from my PAY PAL account.

I have provided 90.00 USD available for the shipping USPS international sign for EH So endeavor to get the item in post ASAP,so that it can get to my husband on time for her Birthday Anniversary.

Get back to me with the shipping tracking number once the item gets sent recorded delivery.

Hope to hear from you soon. Bye and take good care of yourself.

Many thanks,
Stella Moore,

Keep in mind, these are exact quotes.

So more bad grammar and an explanation of why there is an extra $90 for shipping when I didn’t ask for any.  Seems reasonably plausible.  They want it quickly so they pay to expedite the shipping.  Based on the council of my co-worker I Google the name “Stella Moore” and what comes up in the top results?  The name is associated with bank scams from where?  That N country they want me to ship my precious iPhone to.  More red flags.  I also notice that the email from “Paypal” is actually from an email address not associated with Paypal.  Red flag city!

I log into my Paypal account, and as I suspected, no payment.  I call Paypal.  No payment.  Paypal gives me an email address to forward the email I received to so they can make sure it is fraud.  (spoof@paypal.com if you want to know) It is and Paypal says they are investigating.

I then email eBay telling them what happened hoping I can relist the item for free since it was a fraudulent purchase.  Still waiting to hear back on that one.

I couldn’t believe it.  These people were trying to get me to ship my phone off without receiving payment!  Jerks!  I am very thankful I caught this, but honestly, are there people who wouldn’t check their Paypal account or think this whole situation was a little off?  I wonder how many people they get with this.

I decided not to respond to these scammers.  But I did think it would be awesome, if I had all kinds of money and didn’t have to work, to hire a few mercenaries, jump on a plane to Nigeria and knock on their door.  Or ship them something stupid.  Like a kazoo or a whoopee cushion.  That would be fun.

To top it off I received another email from them:

Dear mate,i have made the payment to your paypal account,and your money have been remove from my account according to the message recive from paypal they told me that your money will be credited as soon as you ship the item and get back to them with the tracking number…

Thanks
hope to here from you soon
Stella.

Wow.

So there you go.  My eBay scam story.  This is a good reminder of the world we live in.  And it is a sad one when they will go after your iPhone.  Gotta be on your toes.

Brian