PAYPAL Scam - DON'T FALL FOR IT!

[rpcrowe]

I was a bit concerned with a offer that I got from a supposed U.S. Marine for the 5D Mark-2 which I had listed on craigslist.com

First clue was when the offer was above the price I had quoted on craigslist. I offered the camera at $450 USD and the offer was $600...

Secondly was the fact that the "Marine" wanted me to send the camera to a friend in the state of Florida.

Then I received an email saying that the funds had been withdrawn from the account of the purchaser and would not be available to me until the item was shipped. I had never seen an email composed like this before in all my dealings with PayPal.

It purportedly was from "trackingPaypal@USA.com" and stated:

"This is to inform you that we have received your payment of $600.00 USD. from (bode_israel2001@yahoo.com) for item (Canon 5D Mark-2 + Battery Grip + Shipping), purchased from you via Craigslist. The money has now been deducted from the buyer's account and it can't be cancelled or refund."

"NOTE -- This PayPal payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED" but will remain PENDING until the shipping tracking number is sent to our customer service for shipment verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller, by Replying to this email with the tracking number. You can as well send the tracking number to us at trackingpaypaI@usa.com "

Another indication of a scam was the sentence, "The money has now been deducted from the buyer's account and it can't be cancelled or refund." Correct English grammar would have stated "it can't be cancelled or refunded"

I went to my PayPal account and there is no indication of this transaction. I did a Google search and this does definitely appear to be a scam

I am reporting the transaction to craigslist.com, to PayPal and to the Fraud Division of the Miami Florida District Attorney...

I also did this post on craigslist:
https://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/...963066695.html

I also reported this to the U.S. Postal Service as mail fraud

Here is some advice from craigslist.com
Deal locally, face-to-face —follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts.

Do not provide payment to anyone you have not met in person.
Beware offers involving shipping - deal with locals you can meet in person.
Never wire funds (e.g. Western Union) - anyone who asks you to is a scammer.
Don't accept cashier/certified checks or money orders - banks cash fakes, then hold you responsible.
Transactions are between users only, no third party provides a "guarantee".
Never give out financial info (bank account, social security, paypal account, etc).
Do not rent or purchase sight-unseen—that amazing "deal" may not exist.
Refuse background/credit checks until you have met landlord/employer in person.
"craigslist voicemails" - Any message asking you to access or check "craigslist voicemails" or "craigslist voice messages" is fraudulent - no such service exists.

[Shadowman]

Thanks for the heads up.

[Tronhard]

I had a similar thing happen about 4 years ago when I was selling a lens in Canada through a site called UsedVictoria.com. The supposed purchaser offered me a bit more than the asking price but asked me to ship the lens to an address in the US as he was gifting it to his cousin, from then on it went pretty much as Richard Related. I looked at the email supposedly from Paypal and immediately recognized it as bogus.

I emailed the "purchaser" and told them I was onto them and I also contacted the site admins at Usedvictoria. I never heard anything more after that.

[lunaticitizen]

I'd love to see the full email metadata (header) so we can track where this email originated from