Dodgy dealings online?

**Hornsup** · 17th April 2010, 19:45

so i list a bike for sale on trade me and get a txt message from Susan with her email adress,says she whants to buy the bike strait away,so i email her she requests more photos and what mode of payment i want.I do this she says she is on buiseness in china and willl not be abel to veiw the urgently need bike in person but will pay the asking price and organise shipping agent from china and directs me to paypal the only way she is prepared to do the deal, says she has been burnt with money transfers and cheques before. This is all starting to sound intriguingly suspicious to this old kiwi and Susan hasnt responded to polite prompting on her location ,reasons or made any mention as to the details of the bike she so keenly wants to buy ,she is however happy to direct me a number of times to this paypal web site for her payment option.So i go to this paypal site ,an ecomerce buiseness that handels money transfers all over the world I sign up and observe that to be verified you need a credit card which i have no intention of getting but i also have no e banking so i load my details onto the site to become a nonverified customer..then i notice that as a nonverified customer i am only abel to withdraw 770$per month ..thats as far as i went to damn dodgey for me so closed the site and my acount droped the deal with susan,who once again said that the only way she would deal is thru paypal...Resurched paypal and there have been alot of cases of frozen funds and dodgey deals and the like to do with paypal but on the whole seem to be a legite bisness altho not one i would whant to deal with after what i read.....SO THE QUESTION IS...wheres the scam? I followed thru out of interest sake until i got a good reason from paypal (re the withdrawl limits for nonverified customers) to stop and i did.BUT .i stlll cant see the scam I think it is unlikely that susan was after the bike be damn near imposible to get it past me,my weapons and pitbulls if i havent got the money eh?I think it is more likely that she was after some crazy charge back deal and money runaround to do with credit cards and the like with paypal and me and my bank but she whould have to deposit her own money into paypal to start the runaround cause i dont have any ...Or was she for real and realy did whant to spend 17 grand on some bike she only seen photos of and hadnt asked any questions about> so what do you think? has this hapened to others? wheres the scam in this? can it be that theere is a bogus phantom out there trying to steal our bikes over the web?

**PirateJafa** · 17th April 2010, 19:51

Generic Nigerian scam.

Ignore.

**bogan** · 17th April 2010, 19:54

good god man, learnt to write! I tried but could barely read any of it.

If you think you are getting scammed, don't put up a cent of your own money, and piss them round and waste their time as much as possible.

**Rockbuddy** · 17th April 2010, 19:59

pay-pal is a legit thing i've used it several times but you should type in the pay-pal web address yourself not click a link in an email, but what you've said does sound dodgy though

**CookMySock** · 17th April 2010, 20:00

Originally Posted by bogan

good god man, learnt to write!

LOL !

But yeah, paragraphs, punctuation, etc just makes the world go around.

edit: oh yeah, don't do it. It's a scam. Think about what they said - it's complete bullshit.

Steve

**george formby** · 17th April 2010, 20:01

Lots of scams using stolen credit card details. They pay then ask for a refund leaving you with a healthy percentage to keep you sweet & not worry about the poor bugger who is getting ripped off. I have seen it for accommodation bookings & large reservations for restaurants, perpetrated by alleged tour guides. They have even gone so far to email a scanned image from a passport to verify their identity but when you look closely it has been doctored.
Walk away.
Dunno about your pitbulls but if anybody breaks into my property, the greatest risk they face is tripping over mine.

**Coldrider** · 17th April 2010, 20:01

you are selling the bike, yes, why would you need to be giving YOUR credit card number to an e-commerce site?

**spacemonkey** · 17th April 2010, 20:02

Paypal is legit, but you can still get stung thru it.... it is a common scam overseas.
I wouldn't touch this deal fella, tell her to take a hike.

**Virago** · 17th April 2010, 20:03

This has been covered at length - just a few of the threads on the topic:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...g-bike-sellers

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...e-and-scammers.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...arning-warning

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...-Trademe-scams

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...0-Caution-SCAM

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...e-and-Exchange

**nallac** · 17th April 2010, 20:05

Yip a dodgy scam, met a guy a couple of weeks ago who fell for one like ths one, paid out 2.5k to keep his own bike.....

**quickbuck** · 17th April 2010, 20:06

Originally Posted by Rockbuddy

pay-pal is a legit thing i've used it several times but you should type in the pay-pal web address yourself not click a link in an email, but what you've said does sound dodgy though

There is the SCAM!

She was hoping you had a credit card, and set up a Pay Pal account using her link... and what do you know.....
Credit card gets maxed, and the bank will wash their hands of you, because you gave out your card details.....

The real pay pal is fine though.
Used it heaps.