mother selling camper. scam buyer?

boatman37

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hello all. here is the deal. my mother and step-father bought a brand new 2012 5th wheel camper a few years ago. they hardly ever use it so decided to sell it. she received an email today from a guy that says he is in the military and can't make phone calls but wants to buy it for his cousin at full asking price ($26000) and wants to pay via paypal and send a driver to pick it up. he asked for the address to give to the driver. everything about this says scam except paypal. i'm not real experienced with paypal but isn't it like guaranteed funds? he even told her he would send the driver after the funds clear. i still say something is fishy here. thoughts?
 

jbcurt00

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Not 100% guaranteed funds

I supect every member of our armed services has someone that could call if they wanted to buy a 26K camper.

Whose to say they dont get the address and just go get the trailer, possibly while the owner is home, w no intention of paying.

Google the email address, what domain (the dot com part)? Google that too.

Give the guy the address of your local police station, preferably adjacent to a bank or business w a notary.

99.9999999% likely to be a scam, IMO
 

Scott Danforth

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Definitely a scam.

Accept cash or a postal money order ( even bank cashiers checks are easily forged). The 800 number on the USPS website can verify the postal money order
 

MTboatguy

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I would not do it, I have had many emails over the years of this nature and it is a scam, I have been on Ebay since 1996 and on Paypal since the day they started, this one is one you need to walk away from. Always, talk at least over the phone before you meet anybody and if your town is one of the forward thinking ones, they will have craigslist safe zones where the police are always monitoring, ever our police dept allows us to meet in their lot, so their is no chance of having a problem.

Unfortunately over the last few years, I ever carry my .45 when I go to meet somebody on something that I am selling or buying.
 

boatman37

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thanks guys. i got to read the actual email and based on the grammar and spelling i'd say it is definitely a scam. too many errors to be english speaking in my opinion. oh, the email was a gmail account so not much to go on there. i already told her not to respond but will tell her again to stay away from this person and not to give them any info
 

mbhoag

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I post things on Craigslist every so often, and I can guarantee it is a scam....it may sound good up front, but they will hit you with some sort of twist, (I have seen fake paypal confirmation emails that look pretty good), and you will loose everything....
My suggestion, do not even respond, just ignore it completely.

Can you even imagine the fees for a $26000 Paypal? (If they would even allow the transaction)
 
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thumpar

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Scam. When I get those I play along for fun. I just ask crazy questions and string them along until they give up.
 

bruceb58

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I actually had one of these guys FedEx me their fake cashiers check(to my work address). I wanted to at least have them waste $15 on a FedEx. It was one of those scams where they pay you more that you are asking and you refund the rest through a money wire.
 

bajaunderground

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Scam. When I get those I play along for fun. I just ask crazy questions and string them along until they give up.

either fools or geniuses think alike...that's what I do as well. Last one I played stupid (okay, maybe it wasn't a stretch?) and wasted $.99 on sending $1.00 to their western union account, strung him along for like 3 days...kept playing dumb and telling him that I deposited the money, I didn't understand why they could see it!!
 

mxcobra

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Pay Pal holds funds over $300 for like 60 days. (their going to be real tight with 26000, unless your youre a highly rated verified merchant, Cal Pay Pal directly. They have a fraud controle dept., and can tell you right away if its scam or not. Another note is pay pal gives the address after funds clear. they protect the buyer before seller. But yes its a scam,
 

bruceb58

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Pay Pal holds funds over $300 for like 60 days.
I have to respond to this. I have a vacation rental and accept sums of up to $3000 through PayPal. I can transfer it immediately to my bank account.

They also give the address of the buyer immediately!

Of course all this doesn't really matter since the OP would be a fool to continue with this "buyer".
 
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boatman37

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i haven't talked to her since i posted this but i did tell her it was a scam. i also told her to call paypal directly to see what they had to say about it
 

MTboatguy

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Pay Pal holds funds over $300 for like 60 days. (their going to be real tight with 26000, unless your youre a highly rated verified merchant, Cal Pay Pal directly. They have a fraud controle dept., and can tell you right away if its scam or not. Another note is pay pal gives the address after funds clear. they protect the buyer before seller. But yes its a scam,

I ran over 50K through paypal last year and they did not hold any of my funds at all, I was able to deposit the moment it showed up in my paypal account.
 

mxcobra

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I ran over 50K through paypal last year and they did not hold any of my funds at all, I was able to deposit the moment it showed up in my paypal account.

If you're new to PayPal they will do it I sold somthing on ebay once it was a dj controller, pay pal did hold the 300 sumthin for seem like forever
 

bruceb58

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If you're new to PayPal they will do it I sold somthing on ebay once it was a dj controller, pay pal did hold the 300 sumthin for seem like forever
Their new policy is 21 days for new accounts. It is not 60 days!

In any case, would be kinda dumb accepting $26K even if you could transfer it immediately like I can.
 
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MTboatguy

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If you're new to PayPal they will do it I sold somthing on ebay once it was a dj controller, pay pal did hold the 300 sumthin for seem like forever

Well I am not new to paypal, I have been with them since the day they started and we have three very well established accounts with them. My wife runs all of her business through them, I used to run one of my business's through them and I have a donation account with them and all three have paypal master cards associated with them as well as paypal Bill me later accounts. We do a lot of business with paypal!

That said, I would not accept a payment of 26K through paypal, it is going to have to be a verified cashiers check and I hold the product until the check clears or it is going to have to be cash on the barrel.
 
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dlngr

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A friend of mine had a son in the Army,he was in Kuwait. I was at her house when he called her. Paypal can also take the money back out of your acct if the buyer has a complaint. Cash money or no deal.
 

Boomyal

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.....even if you could transfer it immediately like I can.,,,,,

I can do that with a BofA account but they charge $20 for a one day transfer, otherwise if you want to transfer for free, it will take 3 days.
 

thumpar

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I have been on PayPal for close to 20 years. They have never been able to pull funds unless authorized and if the did I would sue them. Just because someone doesn't like something or whatever doesn't give PayPal authority to debit your account.
 

roscoe

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PayPal has instituted a disgruntled buyer refund policy. Basically they give the buyer their money back, and they can keep the merchandise.
A woman at my church recently sold a $4,000 dining room table/chairs/hutch. 2 weeks later, her money was gone.

I used to buy and sell using PayPal. But no longer will sell larger items using paypal.
 
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