Thetownend.com

Selling my old car and it's also on eBay, have just receive the following email. It sounds a bit dodgy to me - but if I give him my PayPal, presumably once funds appear in there it's safe? Or isn't it? Advice appreciated....

Thanks for your swift response,I'd like to know the rock bottom price you willing to take and i will be paying by PayPal as it is attached to my bank account more so its safe and secure way to make payment on eBay. I hope you accept my payment method? If you do,can you just send me the email you associated with your paypal account (Paypal ID) in order to make the payment now, about the collection; have got a private courier that will come for the collection as soon as you confirm the payment via paypal so no shipping included and if you dont have a paypal account, you can easily go to www.paypal.com and sign up. its very easy. I await your reply asap

yes

Out of curiosity, what's the risk of sending him my PayPal ID? Obviously if he didn't pay I wouldn't disclose the vehicle location etc.

If he genuinely wants to buy it, he can just go via ebay surely? I don't know the specific risk but I'd imagine it's something along the lines of:
a) he transfers via PayPal
b) You give him the car
c) He raises a dispute/somehow magically withdraws the funds
d) You have no protection as you sold outside ebay

Surely he would want to come and inspect the car? When he arrives,  if he likes it he can pay cash, or he can do an online transfer.

A quick flick through Google would imply they basically dispute receiving the car and you get shafted through PayPal.

Told him to do one.

I got the exact same when I was selling my car DMR.

I replied and had a mini email exchange. The fella lived in China but would collect the car once he had transferred the money. My guess is that he wires the money via pay-pal and somehow cancels it once he has the car.

Or they just send you a fake but official looking email that appears to be from PayPal saying that you've received a payment. Some people are, unfortunately, dumb as fuck.

If you're interested I have a Nigerian friend who has oodles of cash just waiting for you to put into your account.

Just a small matter of sending him a few quid first

For reference : Nobody whose official job is 'Wallet inspector' could possibly be dodgy. So hand over that wallet.

I trust him. Take a risk

It's a scam, a quick look on Google shows that others have had identical messages. They want your email address so they can send fake emails which appear to have originated from PayPal.

plus the key thing is that they are using a bank account rather than card - when they use a bank account they have up to 24 hours to cancel the transaction and shows in your paypal account as 'pending' -  the value shows up but you can't move it out of the account so they send round a guy to collect it and once he has everything they then cancel the transaction and the next imd you check the money is gone - its similar to the Western Union scam

Is the  buyer named J.Mcrory by any chance?

Fuck me, that's the fella who wants to Tarmac my drive

Definitely a scam, I had the same sort of thing when I sold a car on Auto Trader - I wonder how many they do catch out??

If anyone is stupid enough to believe someone from China - or wherever - is interested in buying their car they deserve to be scammed

Surely once the Pending state changes to completed you will be ok

ah racist