Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: wipass on July 29, 2004, 04:56:48 AM
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I listed a Laptop for sale on ebay here in the UK,
It was sold to
Miss Somebody (don't want to give the name in case it's genuine)
Ruta Drive
Northford, CT 06472
United States
who asked that I post it to her Nephew who lives in London UK. (E10)
I have received an email from paypal saying the payment has been made, I have checked my paypal account (not from a link but http://www.paypal.com) and the money is there in my account.
But something still seems weird, does it to anyone else. I have to ship the Laptop today.
wipass
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Take the money out of your Paypal account first and close the account. I have heard of a scam where they use stolen credit cards and then paypal takes the money back.
Ask for a phone number for both them and the place you are shipping to. Not a cell. Do a reverse lookup and see if the address matches.
Check the local phone directory for their names (online).
If there is anything not right post back here later. I will try to dig up the scam articles later at work.
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Send the laptop to me, just to be safe. :)
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It is a valid address, the town is located near Northhaven CT.
Its about 45 minutes from my house and looks like a legit address to me.
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if its 45 mins away then just take out the money and drive there with it.
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Thanks for the replies,
Is the zip code 06472 valid with Ruta Drive, it doesn't seem to be on multimap.
06472 shows a different location to Ruta Drive ?
I have a bad feeling about this, tried calling ebay here in the UK but they don't have a menu option allowing you to question a transaction. I have a feeling that the credit card is stolen.
Unfortunately I have a large balance in paypal that I can't take out in one go.
wipass
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The USPS shows it as a valid address, and reports back with the same zip. Go to: http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.htm/ and just type in the the address, city, & state without the zip code, and it will return the same zip code you have listed in your post.
If you think the CC may be stolen, contact Paypal since they processed the transaction. Or better yet, see if the person is listed in the phone book. http://www.att.com/directory/ If she is, just call her at the # listed in the directory and see if she is indeed the person who just purchased your laptop.
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You have a good reason to be careful. Do you have so much money on ebay that you cant take it out? (sorry never used it so i dont know how paypal works)
I would call ebay at any number they have listed and tell them your problem and im sure they will be able to forward your call to the correct department.
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I looked for the scam article and could not find it yet.
Basically I would refuse to ship to the UK. You should ship it to a valid US address and make sure the phone number matches the address. If it does not ask them why. Make sure you get proof of delivery. If the address is right near another Aces High player why not ask him to deliver it for you and get a signed receipt and make the receiver show valid ID.
One scam is the Item never arrived story. They claim they did not get the item and demand a refund.
Another is the stolen credit card scam.
If you get valid proof of delivery (with some ID info like a drivers licence) then you should be ok against either.
He has paid in full though so that is a good thing.
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I've never used E-Bay for this reason.
First of all, with my limited knowledge of these transactions, on the face of it I don't understand the suspicion. Is it because the buyer is requesting shipping to a UK address instead of a US one?
If so, it again appears to make sense...assuming the buyer has a nephew in the UK who is genuine of course. Maybe the US buyer specifically wanted a UK seller to save on shipping costs. The way it stands the laptop would need to be shipped to her in the US and then she would have to ship it herself back across the Atlantic to the UK.
E-Bay scares me...it is just too risky IMHO to be used for high priced merchandise such as computers.
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I have just dispatched the Laptop for delivery tomorrow.
Will let you know what happens,
I could be up £200 or down £500
wipass
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Originally posted by Habu
Take the money out of your Paypal account first and close the account. I have heard of a scam where they use stolen credit cards and then paypal takes the money back.
Ask for a phone number for both them and the place you are shipping to. Not a cell. Do a reverse lookup and see if the address matches.
Check the local phone directory for their names (online).
If there is anything not right post back here later. I will try to dig up the scam articles later at work.
Habu, you're not in jail?!:D
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Keeping a low profile and keeping my nose clean.
I think I beat the rap on the big lilac branch job.
:aok
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Ship it, so that they must sign for it, and pay for the shipping..
-shrug- My 2 cent
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DON'T DO IT!!!!
I was caught in a scam just like this. I almost lost $800. Some guy will steal a legit paypal acct/password, pay from that account, and have it shipped to somewhere out of the country. In a few days, the real account owner sees the charge and reverses it. Now you are out the money and the goods. I was able very luckily to reverse the shipment, but it was a close thing (the package was on the Russian delivery truck when it was called back).
Now I ask for confirmed paypal addresses only.
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People always say go with your first impression, well I cancelled the delivery and emailed the purchaser telling them why and asking that they call me. They didn't !
wipass
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Easiest way to do that is to NEVER ship outside the USA. Anyone that asks me to sell my items outside the USA just gets told pretty much no.
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I've bought and sold some stuff in local Auction site and guess I'm a bit schitsophrenic but I want to see the stuff before I buy it and I also want to have cash on my hand before I give anything away.
If the buyer/seller doesn't like it it's his/her problem; not mine :)
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I'm not sure if any of you guys remember my post about motorcycles and CA emissions regs.....
But my buddy got screwed on that. The guy asked for half the money up front...the seller was in romania and the bike was "at his parents house" in florida. He even talked to him over the phone a few times. The seller even sent him a shipping statement as well.....ups said that's not one of their forms.
The worst part about it is this guy is still popping up pretty regular in cycle trader mags selling the same phoney bike. My buddy got taken for 1500$. Consider yourself fortunate when selling a laptop.
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first, trust your gut. if it doesn't seem right, it probably isn't.
finding out those addresses are genuine means nothing. all it proves is that there is a house at that address, which would seem obvious since they would have to have a legit address in order to receive the CC in the mail. the card still could be stolen or the account opened using stolen identity info.
even if you take the money out of your paypal before shipping you could still lose. since it's linked to your CC, if the payment is canceled they will just charge it to your card.
what is the buyers history like? if either the buyer or the paypal account are very new, or have a lot of new activity be worried.
in the future, when listing an item put in the details "shipping address must match billing address", it's not a 100% safety net, but at least your shipment and the bogus accounts can be traced to the same spot.