Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I am a huge advocate of reusing! I love finding new ways to use things I already have, instead of buying new items! One of the ways I like to reuse, is shopping and selling on craigslist and ebay! My favorite is craigslists "free" section! There is always tons of stuff on there that I can do creative projects with! They almost always have furniture, baby stuff, clothes and firewood! We would hope that everyone on these sites are honest hardworking people, but we know this is just not the case! Here are some tips on how to use these sites and protect yourself! Ill include one example of how these spammers work!
How to spot a scam:

This happens all the time, but I want to give people some advice on spotting scams on craisglist and ebay. I recently had someone try to buy a large item from us. He wanted his "agent" to pick up the merchandise and the agent needed 500$ to send it to his son. I received notification that the money was transferred via paypal to my account, so I thought. When I went to check my paypal, guess what... no money. So I decided to check with paypal and see if the emails were valid. If you are EVER in doubt, there is no harm in checking! All you have to do is forward the email to spoof@paypal.com.

These scams are becoming more and more common. It is easy to spot them if you follow these few simple rules: (1) Don't send money to a buyer, EVER, there is no reason for it. (2) Check people’s ratings on ebay before buying, and read some of the comments people leave. (3) When buying or selling on craigslist, meet at a public place. (4) Trust your instinct. If something doesn’t sound right, it’s probably not. Again no harm in checking.

Other clues to look for:

1. Improper grammer: a lot of these people are from overseas, and don’t use proper grammer.

2. Change in email address: if the persons email address changes as seen below, it may be a fake.

3. Overzealous buyers: if someone feels the need to tell you their entire back life story, they may be fake. There is no reason to tell the seller who the item is for, what their job is... etc. All that needs to happen with you and the buyer or seller is the purchase. Any "surprises" or "favors" are on them!

4. The name on their email is different from the name they give you... duh.

5. If they insist on giving you more money than you asked for or than the item is worth. People dont raise what they are paying for an item, they are trying to talk you down...

6. Duplicate emails from automated systems: paypal doesn’t send 2 emails. Their system is run very well, and you just don’t receive duplicates.

7. Repetitive questions: as you can see below, “chris” asked me to create a paypal account twice, after I told him I had one, and he could pay via my email address. This may be a sign of a phishing attempt.

8. If you are buying something on craisglist, there is no reason to send money. You have to pick up the item, so any money exchange can happen when you get the item.

For those interested, here is the conversation that ensued. I bolded the person talking:

From "christypecky30@gmail.com" <christypecky30@gmail.com>
Hello is it available for sale.

Me: 
yes!! Im available next wed morning for you to come look to see if its what youre looking for!

From: "Christopher Peck" <cristyroben000@gmail.com
Thanks for the prompt response.. I am ready to buy it now as a gift
for my Son,I am at sea at the moment as i am a marine engineer and due
to the nature of my Job.....phone calls making and visiting of website
are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send
you an email regarding it. I really want it to be a surprise for my
son i wont let him know anything about it until it gets delivered to
him, i am sure he will be more than happy with it. I insisted on
paypal because i don't have access to my bank account online as i
don't have internet banking, but i can pay from my paypal account, as
i have my bank a/c attached to it,Get back to me with your paypal
email and the price so i can proceed with the payment quickly or you
sign-up for a paypal personal account www.paypal.com it is very fast
and easy to set up. I have a pick up agent that will come and pick it
up after i have made the payments.

Thanks

Me: 
Yes it is! Im available next wednesday for you to come look!

“Chris” or “Christy” who knows anymore... 
Thanks for getting back to me with the payment details, I want you to consider the item sold and keep off other interested buyers that would make inquiry as am ready for it's purchase. I am just about to send the payment...I will be sending you $2100 for the Drum Set and $500 for my agent who will be coming for the pickup... So i want you to be aware that $2600 will be send to your account and you will have to transfer $500 to my shipper via western union for the pick up fee..............So i will email you shortly as soon as the payment is made.

Me: 
you don't even want to look at it? As long as the payments go through, that should be fine. This email is linked to my paypal. Let me know if you have problems

From “paypal”: (I recieved 2 of these from paypal)

Hello zanna11623@sbcglobal.net,


You received a payment of $2,600.00 USD from Chris Peck (cristyroben000@gmail.com)
Thanks for using PayPal,You can now make the money transfer.


This transaction will appear in your PayPal account as soon as you get back to us with the Western Union Information [MTCN]
Seller Protection - Eligible Payment Status- Pending
Hello zanna11623@sbcglobal.net,


You received a payment of $2,600.00 USD from Chris Peck (cristyroben000@gmail.com)
Thanks for using PayPal,You can now make the money transfer.


This transaction will appear in your PayPal account as soon as you get back to us with the Western Union Information [MTCN]
Seller Protection - Eligible Payment Status- Pending

16Feb 

Buyer
Christopher Peck
cristyroben000@gmail.com
Agent's Info: - confirmed
Name : Victor Jackson
Address: #1409 halsted Str
City : Riverdale
State: IL
Zipcode : 60827
Country: United State.<
Note from merchant
Payment for the (Bike). So make sure you send the money to the agent today. 
Shipping Handling
Impediment Shipping Company

Description 
Unit price
Qty 
Amount
Drum Set
$2,100.00 USD
1
$2,100.00 USD 


PayPal Security & Privacy
Issues with this transaction?
This is to inform you that you are required to send a sum of $500.00 USD to the address below via Western Union Money Transfer and get back to us with the relevant information which you will be provided with after the money has been sent, you are requested to email us the Western Union Control Number, sender's name and address used to make the transfer and the secret question and answer.As soon as we have received these information from you, we will credit a sum of $2,600.00 USD to your PayPal account.



Note: As this transaction was done via our e-mail payments service, any inquiries and necessary information should be sent to us by directly replying to this message, because of the status of this transaction, it has not been passed on to our customer care phone service section,and all inquiries should be directed to this e-mail address as it is the one monitored for your transaction.
This PayPal® payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED" but will not be credited to your account until the pick up shipment Arrangement has been finalized and messages are sent to us for verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller. Below are the necessary information requested before your account will be credited. Send all your inquiries to us through this mail online.verify@consultant.com and our customer service care will attend to you. As soon as we hear from you about the pickup arrangement, This is due to the security purposes and the safety of the buyer and the seller,the money will be credited to your account.

All you have to do is to reply directly to this mail with the Western Union Money Transfer Control Number,Secret questions and answers,sender's name and address used when sending the money and mobile number. Once it has been verified and the details above sent to us, you will receive a "CONFIRMATION E-mail" from Pay Pal® Service informing you that your account has been credited with $2,600.00 USD

Please, understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect both the Buyer and the Seller.We apologize for the inconvenience that has caused you.
Because of the inconvenience this causes we are giving you the next two incoming transfers for free! You will pay no fees for your next two incoming transfers*.

To send the money via western Union just visit www.westernunion.com.

online.verify@consultant.com.
Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, Contact us at this link online.verify@consultant.com.

To receive email notifications in plain text instead of HTML, Contact us at online.verify@consultant. com.

PayPal Email ID PP405

“Chris”
Thanks for the prompt response.. I am ready to buy it now as a gift
for my Son,I am at sea at the moment as i am a marine engineer and due
to the nature of my Job.....phone calls making and visiting of website
are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send
you an email regarding it. I really want it to be a surprise for my
son i wont let him know anything about it until it gets delivered to
him, i am sure he will be more than happy with it. I insisted on
paypal because i don't have access to my bank account online as i
don't have internet banking, but i can pay from my paypal account, as
i have my bank a/c attached to it,Get back to me with your paypal
email and the price so i can proceed with the payment quickly or you
sign-up for a paypal personal account www.paypal.com it is very fast
and easy to set up. I have a pick up agent that will come and pick it
up after i have made the payments.
Thanks


Me:

the email im using IS my paypal email.



(I was suspicious before this, but this confirms it!!)



Dear zanna11623@sbcglobal.net,

This message is originated from PayPal Company. The payment we received from ''Chris Peck'' has been made successfully and the money has been credited in to your PayPal account but it will not show in your PayPal account. However, since this money is meant for a purchase or a service that involve a Shipping Company.We have to receive a confirmation that you have sent the pick up cost to impediment shipping company before the money will be available in your PayPal account for spending. This is due to the large increase in the rate of the online scams recorded last year (2010). We have changed some of our rules and regulation to make sure our clients, are safe from scam, PayPal in conjunction with The FBI and The IFCC has invented certain preventive measure to ensure the safety of our customers. As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the our system and discovered that the transaction ID 0TR19308DU070732T is legitimate and confirmed. So we will require you to send us the Money Transfer Control Number [MTCN] as measure i requested and as soon as we have confirmed it,your money will be automatically transfer into your account immediately.Please understand that this is a security intended to help protect you and the buyer. We apologize for any inconvenience.



We also want you to understand that we have choose this customer care email address as to monitor the transaction between you and "Chris Peck" and we want you to know that we have to receive the western union details so that we can have your account credited with the fund pending. We want you to know that we have many people on our desk that we attend to and many may not understand the new safety policy that is why we have choose to use email to monitor some transaction...So we will greatly appreciate if you could get back to us here so that we can process and credit your account fully.

Be informed that this transaction is only available and can only be tracked and traced via email,so do reply back to us if you have any question about the transaction and not via phone call.


Questions? email us at: online.verify@consultant.com
Please do reply to this email. This mailbox is monitored and you will receive a response. For assistance, always reply to this email as is use to monitor this transaction between you and James Jack .

The Transfer Approved.Scott Thompson

President

PayPal, Inc.
PayPal Account Review Department
Thank you for using PayPal online services.

“Chris”.. or victor
I just want to inform you that I just send the $2600 for the Drum Set via
paypal now and i am very sure you would have been notify for the
instant payment made check ur mail inbox or junk for
the payment confirmation..... So i want you to get the $500 send via
western union to the agent headquarter address for the pickup fee..Also i need you
to get back to me with ur address for the pickup...So i hope to hear
from you with the info soon.get the money send to this address below.
Happy Business

Name : Victor Jackson
Address: #1409 halsted Str
City : Riverdale
State: IL
Zipcode : 60827
Country: United State

(It is here, I sent the emails to paypal and confirmed they were fraudulent. I was just going to ignore him, thinking he would go away, but then he threatened me with legal action)

**ATTN - LEGAL ACTION ALERT**
Dear Valued Customer,
It is important we know the status of the money been ask to send otherwise, legal action may be taken against you since you have not replied to the confirmation of payment made to your account by ( Christopher Peck ) over time.
We believed you entered into bidding agreement by requesting money through PayPal,and by non response to the payment confirmation made to your account you have violate the Craigslist and PayPal agreement. However the buyer has already contacted us in other to make report about your non response.We are ensuring to make PayPal a safer place, therefore we need to set confidence on our users. We believe you should be able to abide with our rules and regulation .

We request for the Western Union Money Transfer Control Number to prove Transfer of the money in less than few hours and we will fund the money into your account or face the consequences of LEGAL ACTION and your account will be canceled
This is done in other to protect both the seller and buyer.
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

From Victor/Chris/Christy
Morning how are you? What is the status of the money you were been ask to send,The payment has been made and deducted from my account so i'm sure you would have been notify by paypal concerning the payment made so kindly go and have the agent pick up fee transfer via Western union today .ASAP
My response to the “Legal Action Alert”
You’re not getting the 500$ for shipping. I checked with paypal to see if your emails were fraudulent and they confirmed it. You don’t even speak proper english! Your grammer is horrible! In the time you spent trying to scam me, you could have made 500$, if you had a job. Leave me alone and GET A REAL JOB!!!!


Yay! No more emails from Victor! This scam was pretty obvious, but sometimes they arent as obvious! Buying on these sites can be a great thing, Just trust your intuition!!