Ebay Sellers, beware overpayment/Western Union/Moneygram scam

I appreciate your post because it contains great advice. I have been fortunate enough not to have been scammed when I have been dealing with EBay and the reason for this is that I almost always transact with PayPal. I’ve heard about Western Union scams. There was an elderly a lady on T.V. here that was promised a large sum of money from Nigeria and was constantly asked to send money over for fees in order for her to receive the cash. Her family had been trying to convince her for months that she was been scammed but she refused to believe them so the current affairs show followed the contacts and took her to Nigeria so she could see first hand that she was been taken for a ride. The whole incident involved her son helping out the Police with secret cameras etc and arrests were made but the poor woman was still not convinced and asked for her money!

You would be amazed at the number of these scams on eBay, they seem to be a regular occurence. The best thing is to report these as soon as you receive them, that way action can be taken

Someone tried that scam on me a few years ago when I was selling on eBay. Luckily, I was aware of how it worked and reported it to eBay. You'd be surprised how many people fall for that!

Another scam is someone new to Ebay buys your product and then sends you a note that it needs to be sent to another location or country to a relative or friend - normally one which is difficult or impossible to get a receipt confirmation - and it needs to be sent "right now". You then get a Paypal email stating funds having been sent to your account but when you look at either Ebay or your Paypal account, the funds are not there. Just another way of scamming.

Yes, I have recently come across this scam myself. I currently have a vehicle for sale on eBay. I received a text message from a buyer living in New Zealand who wanted to purchase the vehicle as a surprise for his father. We emailed back and forth throughout that day about the mechanical condition of the vehicle, payment options (paypal), pick up and a few more details. All of these emails were well written and easy to follow. I then received the following: 'I was about to pay when I had this problem; my pick up agent said I must pay for the freight before they can schedule a pick up time. I've been charged $1950 for pick up and delivery. The payment must be sent to their co-operate head quarter in Johannesburg and the payment is made through western union transfer. I will add the $1950 to money am sending you through paypal. Immediately I make the payment, I will contact you and please I'll need you to help me send the money to my pick up agent's Hq in Johannesburg through western money transfer after I have sent you the full payment. I would have done it myself but I can't send through that means due to my present location. I'm a little incapacitated but I'll appreciated your help here. Please respond a.s.a.p so I proceed in making the payment.' Before I was even close to having read the whole thing the alarm bells were going off.. hell I'd have to be stone deaf and even then I would have heard them! I responded by telling him I was not comfortable in doing that and would only sell him the vehicle. Everything else can be organised by him and him alone. I have also asked for his user id on ebay. This occurred today so I am awaiting a response, if one is not received within 24 hours I will report it irrespective.