Caution: SCAM

[TuonoTom]

Hello fellow KBers, thought I should let you all know about a scam that I have been a target of. After putting my CBR up on trademe and KB I got a text message from an international number (started with 12 so I think it originated from North Korea), saying "I want to know if your Honda on KB is still available for sale. email me on lath.cath@yahoo.com". So I sent this person an email saying that it was still for sale. After a few more emails she decided that she wanted to pay via paypal, which was fine, and I made it very clear that the bike wasn't going anywhere until the money had made its way into my bank account.

After a few more emails about details of the bike and more photos I get some emails from "Paypal" saying that "$7,000.00 NZD has just been transferred to your account by Mrs Catherine Latham who is a verified PayPal user." This seemed double weird because the bike was (well still is now) for sale for $4500, and the email from what looked like paypal came from the domain mail2consultant.com. At this stage it was pretty obvious it was a scam. I checked my paypal account and there were no incoming payments. The next email said that I had to send $2500 to some international shipping company to secure the payment to my paypal account.... yeah right.

Here's the last email I got from "her":

"the total $7,000.00 NZD has left my account and cannot be reversed back into my account,it is now in paypal database system but cannot be released into your account until you pay for the shipper's fee which i have added to the Holden money,paypal is doing this for security measures to safegaurd the buyer and the seller at the same time,you have to pay the $2,500.00 NZD because the shipper receive their money from the seller of the item and since you are the seller,so you have to send the $2,500.00 NZD to the shipper information via Western Union Money Transfer(their office located at any nearest post office) and get back to paypal via email with the mtcn(money transfer control number) that will be given to you after you have transfer the $2,500.00 NZD to the shipper at western union office,then paypal will verify the number and release the $7,000.00 NZD into your account immediately after,kindly do this now so that we can conclude the transaction.

....Cathy"

I like the fact it went from being a Honda to being a Holden. Do people really get fooled by this kind of thing?

[grusomhat]

Apprently. People get scammed by more obvious scams. It's quite sad reading some of the stories. There's a few sites where people scam the scammers, gotta love it.

See if you can get some money out of them. A couple of hundred to prove they are actually able to give you some money ;P

[Rayray401]

Lol. Ignore it. Carry on..

[EJK]

You know those pop up windows saying "CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE THE 1,000,000,000,000,000th VISITOR TO THIS WEBSITE"
Well.....




....damn, I could have scored a free PS3 :(

[GOONR]

Apprently. People get scammed by more obvious scams. It's quite sad reading some of the stories. There's a few sites where people scam the scammers, gotta love it.

See if you can get some money out of them. A couple of hundred to prove they are actually able to give you some money ;P

Like this one (http://www.419eater.com/). The Hall of Shame is always good for a laugh.

[Ronin]

I like the fact it went from being a Honda to being a Holden. Do people really get fooled by this kind of thing?

Unfortunately yeah they do. I had the job not long ago of telling a client that the $8000 she had sent to some cock smoker overseas would never be seen again.

[Flip]

Well god on you for not being suckered in.

Can I suggest you let paypal know what is going on here, it effects their business and they should know about it.

[TuonoTom]

I have forwarded all the messages on to paypal so they can deal to it. I did try to scam them back but they aren't replying ha ha. I've never been the target of such a personally targeted scam, but I'm not stoopid.

[TuonoTom]

Thought I'd add this email, its hilarious:

"I can only conclude this transaction only via paypal,i have been duped via cheque and bank transfer before,that is why i selected paypal(www.paypal.com ) as a mode of payment because paypal is the best online payment,so both of us could be on the safer side,i am a woman of integrity.i am honest and dont cheat people out of their money,i own my company that have a 25 number of people working for me,awaiting your decision because i really need to pursue this buy sincerely.

Thanks

....Cathy"

Epic lulz

[kevie]

I have forwarded all the messages on to paypal so they can deal to it. I did try to scam them back but they aren't replying ha ha. I've never been the target of such a personally targeted scam, but I'm not stoopid.

If the scam came in response to your advert on Trademe from another trademe member tell them too, they may have information of the scammer they can forward to the police.

[Blackbird]

Yep, I had a Paypal scam message when I put the Blackbird on Trademe. Simply passed it on to TM. Got an acknowledgment but don't know what happened after that, if anything.

[crazyhorse]

These people are getting more and more clever. Or is it, more and more stupid. :lol:

Unfortunately some people do actually fall for them :spanking:

[CookMySock]

It's a tragedy, because basically you can't safely sell stuff using paypal.

Steve

[Tank]

It's a tragedy, because basically you can't safely sell stuff using paypal.

Steve

Sure you can - and millions of people do it every day. It is and remains one of the the safist online payment options out there.

But I'm sure Steve from edgecome knows better than eBay.

[SPORK]

It's a tragedy, because basically you can't safely sell stuff using paypal.

Steve
Use signed, tracked shipping and keep your receipts. Easy way to avoid trouble.

But yes, I'm sure you know something everybody else doesn't.

[sefer]

Sure you can - and millions of people do it every day. It is and remains one of the the safist online payment options out there.

But I'm sure Steve from edgecome knows better than eBay.

Hardly, it is far too easy for a buyer to claim the didn't recieve the goods, evidence of postage or not(plus since all Paypal's and Ebay's systems are set-up for US sellers, they barely recognise international shipping methods, not at all in the case of Ebay). I have had two sellers this year rip me off via paypal, with paypal refunding them "their" money, which left me out on both product and shipping costs. Paypal couldn't care less, and I sure as hell will never use them again.

[CookMySock]

Hardly, it is far too easy for a buyer to claim the didn't recieve the goods, evidence of postage or not(plus since all Paypal's and Ebay's systems are set-up for US sellers, they barely recognise international shipping methods, not at all in the case of Ebay). I have had two sellers this year rip me off via paypal, with paypal refunding them "their" money, which left me out on both product and shipping costs. Paypal couldn't care less, and I sure as hell will never use them again.Yeah, like that, and its WAYYY too easy for someone to "pay" you with a stolen credit card, which will be reversed within 48 hours.

DON'T sell shit using paypal.

Steve

[MarkH]

Hardly, it is far too easy for a buyer to claim the didn't recieve the goods, evidence of postage or not(plus since all Paypal's and Ebay's systems are set-up for US sellers, they barely recognise international shipping methods, not at all in the case of Ebay). I have had two sellers this year rip me off via paypal, with paypal refunding them "their" money, which left me out on both product and shipping costs. Paypal couldn't care less, and I sure as hell will never use them again.

Do you mean 'buyers'? I don't think I would agree to sell to an overseas buyer with the payment coming by Paypal. I have purchased goods from overseas with Paypal though, plenty of times in fact. I have had no problems at all using Paypal to buy stuff, over a dozen transactions without issues.

[p.dath]

Yeah, like that, and its WAYYY too easy for someone to "pay" you with a stolen credit card, which will be reversed within 48 hours.

DON'T sell shit using paypal.

Steve

I know a company that took a credit card for a foreign transaction and it was reversed six months later. 48 hours is no guarantee of anything.

[TommyPee]

i also recently got this email from her and i went to post office about to send the 950$ but then needed her id which i didnt have then saw ur add..
i am lucky to see ur add i am also furious this has happened to me

[sub_low]

Do people really get fooled by this kind of thing?

yes every day!

...hence why these people make the effort to do it. just one $2500 globally a month makes it worth while for them to take the time.

cheers for the post

[sub_low]

i also recently got this email from her and i went to post office about to send the 950$ but then needed her id which i didnt have then saw ur add..
i am lucky to see ur add i am also furious this has happened to me

please tell me you are kidding??????????

[crazyhorse]

Sad isn't it?

They always target the innocent people.

I've had lots of emails at work over the years, so am very aware of these, but bloody sad to hear it is happening over a trusted site like Trademe :argh:

[Dadpole]

They may target the innocent people, but the stupid/gullible are the ones wearing the bulls eye tee shirts.

[Muppet]

This happened to me too, I wrote an email telling them to just fuck off.

[Scotty595]

:rockon::rockon:

[ukusa]

LMAO......that's a classic Scotty595.
Any bank/post office etc with any regard for their (gullible) clients should be able to inform them it's a scam. I'm sure they must get briefed on scams so that little old ladies don't send there entire savings off shore.

[kevfromcoro]

I got one a few days ago.. from some women in fucknoeswhere..

My huasband is dying,, and has left you a gazzilion dollars.
Please reply to me...

So i did....
I said . how about a root 1st...

Cheeky bitch got back to me saying..

Thank you for your reply.. please send me you bank acc. details.....

[Conquiztador]

Sad isn't it?

They always target the innocent people.



That explains why I never get them!

[FruitLooPs]

My paypal got pwned and $25 knicked from it, paypal recovered it and locked my account down. This is after a payment I'd made was stopped due to the recipient having a frozen account took several months getting reversed back to me!

Now I need to go and send them proof of who I am via snailmail if I want my account re-opened, judging by their security i'd rather it locked tbh. :crazy:

Paypal can shove it. And no I didn't have an email with bogus paypal links suggesting I 'unlock' my account etc like many scammers have tried.

[Scotty595]

LMAO......that's a classic Scotty595.
Any bank/post office etc with any regard for their (gullible) clients should be able to inform them it's a scam. I'm sure they must get briefed on scams so that little old ladies don't send there entire savings off shore.

I love it, I laugh everytime i read it. Working at an internet company I get a few similar things happening with Spammers. Its always funny how people seem to go out of there way to do something silly like that.

I read an email from an incrediably frustrated customer who had not been able to enter ther username and password to "stop there account being blocked." Like this guy had tried different browsers, friends computers, copying the link directly, all sorts of things and then got angry. Luckily for him the link was broken :s:bash::bash:

[wbks]

I remember something on KB.co.nz about a "marine biologist" speaking broken English trying to get someone to ship their bike for sale out of NZ, and it was obviously a scam. On my bike someone from China is asking me to ship my bike out and asking for my paypal... I had to correct him, he thought it was a "car" but it's all good... Surely this guy is legit!?

Seriously though, obviously I'm not interested, but can someone tell me how the scam is supposed to work?

[Flip]

They send a bogus paypall payment including the shipping which you are asked to pay into an account somwhere.

Its just a scam.

[steve_t]

If you ask for $8000 they say they'll buy the car for $9000. If you agree they'll pay you via paypal. You get an email from "Paypal" saying you've had $11,000 deposited into your paypal account. You'll then get an email from the buyer asking you to send the "extra" $2000 back to them or to the shipping company via western union. Can't believe it works but then again a lot of people paid $10,000 to get a share of that $24m that someone in Nigeria inherited :laugh:

[wbks]

If you ask for $8000 they say they'll buy the car for $9000. If you agree they'll pay you via paypal. You get an email from "Paypal" saying you've had $11,000 deposited into your paypal account. You'll then get an email from the buyer asking you to send the "extra" $2000 back to them or to the shipping company via western union. Can't believe it works but then again a lot of people paid $10,000 to get a share of that $24m that someone in Nigeria inherited :laugh:So they fake paypal emails... Ok, I see now.

[CookMySock]

So they fake paypal emails... Ok, I see now.No, they genuinely pay your paypal account, usually with money from someone elses' hijacked bank account, then they get you to pay the 'shipping company' or somesuch other person with western union. Usually they will contact paypal and claim the goods were never delivered and get the paypal transaction reversed - not that they care too much - that wasn't their money anyway and they got paid through your western union payment. Basically, they do the money-go-round until it's untraceable with lots of stolen accounts and credit cards.

This is what viruses are for - to sit on your computer and handle their transactions for you.

Steve

[pzkpfw]

It can also be done with international bank cheques.

You stick it in your account.

Your bank gives you money in your account.

You send the excess to the buyer. (By Western Union means they get cash, that can't be claimed back).

Later, the "system" catches up, and the bank wants the full amount back off you - including the part you sent overseas...

[grusomhat]

It can also be done with international bank cheques.

You stick it in your account.

Your bank gives you money in your account.

You send the excess to the buyer. (By Western Union means they get cash, that can't be claimed back).

Later, the "system" catches up, and the bank wants the full amount back off you - including the part you sent overseas...

Basically if you are a scammer yourself those fake cheques they send you are an easy way to make some money. Ie, damn good counterfiets.

[ukusa]

my son got the same scam via text for his car on tardme a couple of weeks ago. He asked me straight away & I told him it was a scam. I then googled it for him, the sample we found even had the same last name (different first), supposedly a women, ship to China blah blah blah. I told him to play it along for a while to waste their time.

[sagirl]

Got my bike on TM for sale and received a text from +1361265880 - " I want to know if your bike on TRADEME is still for sale as i am intending to buy it right away. email me on lathamrose@yahoo.com plz email only."

This 'woman' claims to be a biker and is buying the bike for her son. Buggered if I know why she couldn't get one in China.... :-)
I assume that she has someone in NZ working with her that has TM access to get the contact details.
I think I will scam bait this one for a couple of weeks then pass her over to my hubby to play with. He can then use her phone number for his Nigerian 419 scam artists that he baits. Must be a helluva thing being so stupid.

[Insanity_rules]

Oh man, these asshats must think Kiwis are gullible!

Mind you, about a hundred years ago I was selling my Jensen Healy in the Trade and Exchange. I got a phone call from a dude who said he was in Brisbane. I thought he was pulling my leg! Bugger me if as he arranged over the phone, he bloody showed up with cash and didn't even haggle. After a short drive he forked over his dinero and we completed the transaction.

Last I heard he had it shipped across the ditch.

Not like these days with all the 419ers and the like.

[cowpoos]

Got my bike on TM for sale and received a text from +1361265880 - " I want to know if your bike on TRADEME is still for sale as i am intending to buy it right away. email me on lathamrose@yahoo.com plz email only."

This 'woman' claims to be a biker and is buying the bike for her son. Buggered if I know why she couldn't get one in China.... :-)
I assume that she has someone in NZ working with her that has TM access to get the contact details.
I think I will scam bait this one for a couple of weeks then pass her over to my hubby to play with. He can then use her phone number for his Nigerian 419 scam artists that he baits. Must be a helluva thing being so stupid.

Ring the number?

[Smiff-ta]

Had the same txt. I rang the number and it doesn't work.

Scams are such an annoyance.

Oh well at least when I get my money from Sgt J Jones in Iraq I won't have to worry about anything anymore.

[steve_t]

I'd be interested to see how they're gonna work this. The eBay scams have all been using paypal or a fake paypal email to run the scam. If they want to send money via Western Union, go for it ;)

[dynamite9585]

friend of mine played the silly game right to the bitter end.

we were sceptical from the outset. but they ended up sending us a cheque.
took it to the bank and explained the entire situation to them, they said because we had declared the info there would be no come back on us if there is a problem.

whatta ya know? the cheque was a very good fake. we recived a phone call to let us know that the 8000 euro's we were send for our $3000 car wasn't to be coming thru, and that the bank in question was investigating.

[vifferman]

A friend of mine in Mrka did the same thing. He was selling a bike, and someone offered to buy it. He picked staright away it was a scammer, but decided to see how far he could push it. Along the way, he stopped having bike details in his communications, and changed it to a pickup truck, without any apparent sign from the 'buyer' that they noticed. He got the cheque from them, forwarded it to the Western Union Fraud section, who stamped it "Fraudulent" (nice souvenir for him). He found the whole thing a great source of cheap entertainment (for him and us), even arranged to meet the buyer at the airport or somewhere, and only pulled out when it looked like the bank was going to charge him for transactions and he'd have a bad record.

[Oakie]

Blatant it may be, but remember, it only has to work 1 time in 1000 for them to make a profit.

[crazyhorse]

I would imagine it has been successful on more than one occassion.

When I was looking after some boutique apartments, we had the same kind of thing - wanting to organise accommodation and paying for more than that - and could we deposit the extra funds into another account to pay a bill ................. yeah right! I forwarded the information as (stolen) credit card details were forwarded to me, but I had a bit of fun making them think I was going ahead with it

[imac]

I had them contact me last weekend so clearly they are still working. Dorks

[Grasshopperus]

There's a website dedicated (surprise, surprise) to baiting these scammers. Take a look at this stort of how some guy scammed the scammers into entering a warzone to collect his money and ended up getting their couriers killed.

http://www.419eater.com/html/RoadToChadDarfur/background.html

Anyway, never trust PayPal. Never part with your goods until you have cash-in-hand (or have cashed the western union money order). Assume everyone is out to scam you.

[Old Steve]

I think I will scam bait this one for a couple of weeks then pass her over to my hubby to play with. He can then use her phone number for his Nigerian 419 scam artists that he baits. Must be a helluva thing being so stupid.

Used to be a member of 419eater.com - done a bit of scambaiting myself.

I once got a scammer to ride his motorbike from Cotonou, Benin, to Lagos, Nigeria to meet me - I was returning from South Africa to London and could stop off at Lagos and give him some money. He had to bribe border officials and arrived in Lagos with no money, and I (unfortunately) had been mugged in Johannesburg on the way to the airport and missed the flight to Lagos because I was in hospital with a broken arm and concussion.

Mind, the fake cheque the scammer sends (which will be for far more than the bike is worth) would make a great souvenir, get it framed and hang it on the wall.

"Nelsons Battle"

[Old Steve]

I'd be interested to see how they're gonna work this. The eBay scams have all been using paypal or a fake paypal email to run the scam. If they want to send money via Western Union, go for it ;)

This is the old "excess cheque scam". They send you a fake cheque made out for a much greater amount than the agreed price of the bike and what it costs to freight it. They ask you to send the excess back to them via Western Union. So they get the bike freighted to them and receive cash from Western Union - kind of a double whammy. And you can get into a discussion with the Police as to why you have deposited a fake cheque, the bank reverses the cheque and you're out by the amount you sent them by Western Union, you've now got no bike, and you've paid to freight the bike to them.

[rabidnz]

so whats the scam?
they get youre address then come uplift the bike at nite?

[Blossom]

just got a txt about my vl250 but 'she' is calling herself lathamlisa now.. silly idiot didn't even have the brains to include her whole email address.

[Dodo]

Theres a scammer targeting people selling bikes on trademe. Just thought i would give you guys a heads up of the timewaster and let you know how my interaction with them went.


I'm selling a bike one trademe at the moment and got a txt within 3 hours of listing it saying "I want to know if your bike on TRADEME is still for sale as i am intending to buy it right away. email me on jnbleeker@aol.com plz email only". The number was +1361265880 which in itself was a bit wierd. Anyhow after i sent the e-mail i googled the email address t find out it was a scam as suspected. I decided to play along for interests sake and here is how it panned out if anyone else is interested.


Hey,
i'm responding it regard to a txt i got about the 2008 Yamaha Scorpio Z i have for sale on trademe. It is still for sale, it was only listed today, would you like to come and view it?
Cheers,
Joseph

it was at this point that i found this article http://www.3news.co.nz/New-scam-targets-car-sellers-online/tabid/423/articleID/156984/Default.aspx

Hello,
Thanks for the swift reply, What is your asking price and i want you
to get back to me with more pictures because i am not available at the
moment, i am in Malaysia and i will be using the bike here in Malaysia
I will be handling the pick up of this merchandise through a
legitimate shipping agent that has their headquarter situated in
Malaysia. Please note that i will not be needing the bike
registration because it will be invalid over here so please remove the
registration. The bike will be picked up after you receive the full
payment, so i really need to know the mode of payment because i need
this bike urgently. Hope to read from you asap.

Thanks for the reply Jenny, i hope for this to be a quick sale. The bike
is $3000 and I have de-registered it for you. I am more than happy to get
those additional photos. However first i need you to go and eat a donkeys
penis fried in poop-sauce. If you could e-mail me photos of this that
would be great thanks, if you can do this i will send you more photos as
well as my bank account details.
Kind regards,
Joseph

Thanks a lot. I have read everything about the bike on the website and everything is okay by me.
I have actually tried to get this bike here earlier from here but most of the ones I got either have one huge mechanical fault or the other
and some have even had accidents in the past while some are extremely exorbitant. As to the price, Price is Ok. So if you deem
the offer good enough, I will be very glad to make the payment asap but i can only conclude this transaction only via
paypal(www.paypal.com/nz)
as I am currently offshore and I won't
definitely be able to make it to my bank to make bank wires across to you. As to shipping, you need not worry yourself about how the bike will get to me here in the Malaysia as I will contact a shipping company here who will handle that.
Do get back to me asap with your PayPal Email address and Full name so that I can remit the payment asap.

Hello Jenny,
lovely to hear from you and thanks for the reply. Please re-read my last
e-mail as i still need to get those pictures from you. Please let me know
if you are unable to supply them, unfortunately it is a make or break part
of this transaction. No pictures no deal sorry.
Look forward to hearing back from you,
Joseph.

I haven’t heard back from “Jenny“ since and i imagine that it was just an automated reply i was getting.

[willytheekid]

Great Job Dodo :)
and bloody good emails lol ...fried in poop sauce:sick:...bet that made them think twice :laugh:

[Gibbo89]

mate, fuckin awesome reply reagrding the donkey schlong dipped in poop sauce :sick:

[fergie]

I think Jenny is straight up . last week i got an email from a lawyer in malawi telling me of the death of my grandfather and how he left me $100000! funny thing is grandad is still pushing the zimmerframe around and pissing his pants.:shifty:

[YellowDog]

This could just be a simple missunderstanding!

I'm sure I've seen requested picture of your buyer eating a donkeys
penis fried in poop-sauce' floating around the internet.

Well if that's how you treat genuine interested parties for your bike, no wonder you haven't sold it :rofl:

[one fast tl1ooo]

:rofl: :niceone:

[fliplid]

What? There are scammers on Trade Me? :shit:

[SMOKEU]

That's a right laugh!

[dogsnbikes]

I got text 11 hours after posting trade asking if the bike is for sale...bloody should should be its a honda I thought :rofl:

but I did go on a google search and found this site http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Calls.aspx/1/m

Along with the TV3 news Article back in may

[White trash]

You know there's probably an Asian bike forum with a hundred threads about "the smartarses from New Zealand that wont sell me a fuckin bike!"

"I've texted and emailed these fuckers 3 times but I just get back 'Go eat a donkey penis dipped in poop sauce', how rude!"

[SILVER SUZI]

Why a fried donkeys dick, why not a "still attached" one?? She probably has that photo aready!!!
Love that reply, love to see the reaction when they read it, I'm sure that have had something like that before!!

[cowboyz]

I like the fact it went from being a Honda to being a Holden. Do people really get fooled by this kind of thing?

oh.. I read that as 'holding money'


hahahhahahhahahahahhah

[release_the_bees]

I received the following email from Trademe today. I could teach them a thing or two about paragraph formatting. But, at least they are doing something to make people aware of the issue:


We have been alerted to a member who recently viewed your Trade Me Motors listing(s). They were an overseas scammer and we have removed their membership. If you had a cell phone number on your listing the scammer may send you a text message from an overseas phone number asking you to email them. Do not communicate with them. The scammer may tell you that you’ve received this notice in error and they’ve been verified by Trade Me. This is a hoax and is one of the ways they encourage you to trade with them. Remember: - Do not send money overseas - Trade Me does not allow traders from overseas - If you are contacted by an overseas trader do not respond to them We have staff available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week who work hard to keep you safe. If you are concerned about a trader's authenticity, please contact our customer support team immediately on 0800 334 332. Alternatively you can forward the email to abuse@trademe.co.nz. For more information on keeping yourself safe on the site please click the following link to visit our 'Safe Computing Centre': http://www.trademe.co.nz/Help/SafeComputingCentre.aspx I’m sorry that you have had this experience and hope you continue to enjoy using the site. If you have further questions regarding this issue please reply and we will answer your email as soon as possible. Regards, Robyn Trade Me Support http://www.trademe.co.nz

I'm not sure I have much chance of selling my GS500. Even the scammer didn't contact me!

[MSTRS]

Aren't IRD such lovely people...

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you
are eligible to receive a tax refund of 988.50 NZ Dollars. Please submit the tax refund
request and allow us 2-3 days in order to process it.


Click Here to submit your tax refund request

Note : A refund can be delayed a variety of reasons, for example submitting invalid
records or applying after deadline.

Best Regards
Inland Revenue - Te Tari Taake

[R-Soul]

Another one that is more difficult to spot is when the scamster makes a good relationship with a seller, and then orders, say $30k worth of goods. They deposit $40k into your account by stolen cheque, and then say they made a mistake. You refund them (and maybe even deliver goods) then 7 days later the banks tells you the cheque was bad....

Bloody Nigerians - they will exploit any loophole!