Spam Alert!!!

[chaimemet]

I had posted just a few days ago on the Airforums classsified section for sale my 2 Honda IS2000s with Trifuel conversions and gas connectors etc. I got a reply and my wife googled the email and the guy is a scammer fraud. So I want to alert everybody here about this. i am a little shocked that this could occur in an obscure place like Airforums in the classieds which I never really checked out. here is the info; Jeff McDolls; jeffymcdolls@yahoo.com, Piano Sale - Scam TipOff Report. Please be careful!!


I really appreciate your response. I am a marine engineer and at this moment i am presently working offshore. Sometimes access to regular emails and phone calls is very poor offshore due to inefficiency of the immarsat service, I am located in pacific WA, and i want you to know that I am ok with the condition of the Honda IS200 generators Trifuel and the asking price as well.I am buying the Honda IS200 generators Trifuel as a gift for my father, I want to surprise him. I don't have access to my bank account on-line as i don't have internet banking,but i have my bank account attached to my PayPal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through PayPal, kindly get back to me with your PayPal details if you don't have PayPal account yet,it is very easy to set up at your bank and get it set up,after you have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with PayPal so as to put the money through so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done, i have a pick up agent that will come around for verifications and to pick the Honda IS200 generators Trifuel after i have made the payments for the Honda IS200 generators Trifuel.So I will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the making of the payment.

1.Your PayPal full name.
2.Your PayPal Email Address.
3..Your phone number.

Once again ,I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping. I will have my pick-up agent come over as soon as you have receive the payment confirmation.

Regards.



--- On Sat, 8/18/12, hswaldman@comcast.net <hswaldman@comcast.net> wrote:

From: hswaldman@comcast.net <hswaldman@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: A message about your ad on AirstreamClassifieds.com
To: jeffymcdolls@yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, August 18, 2012, 6:21 PM

They are $1000 each one. I would prefer to sell them together.They have hour meters installed and there is a connection cord to run them in series that will allow you to run a Dometic large AC. There is also a battery cable hookup to charge your 12V batteries.There is also a connection quick release gas cables that will allow both of them to be hooked up to a gas canister simultaneously. There is are covers for them also.I had them outfitted at the WVa company that does these conversions. They did it for me as I watched them, being there personally. There are really no hours on them. I had bought them thinking I would boon dock but the reality became different. I just traded in the AS 31' 08 Classic Limited for a fifth wheeler and it has an Onan 5.5 installed.

I also have a large IS7500 Honda gen for sale. It is gas not trifuel like the smaller ones. There is is an aluminum folding ramp that I used to get it up into the truck for sale too. The generator may have 50 hours at most. Was bought for bvackup if a hurricane, G_d forbid, would come through here.

I will take pictures tomorrow morning and email them to

Howard Waldman
hswaldman@comcast.net




On Aug 18, 2012, at 10:17 AM, jeffymcdolls@yahoo.com wrote:

> Honda IS200 generators Trifuel converted
>
> Hi,
>
> I want to purchase your Honda IS200 generators with no delay,what is the price?I will like to pay using PayPal,After payments has been made,I will arrange for the pick-up and will you let my pick-up agent to come to you house for the pick up? Because i don't want you to worry yourself about the shipment and i still have some other pending Monitor Audio to pick-up in another state.
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Honda IS200 generators Trifuel converted - Airstream Trailer Classifieds - Airstreams Trailers For Sale

[Ag&Au]

I am not doubting this is a scam, but I am trying to figure out what it is.
He can't do anything with the info he asked for. None of it is data you should have to protect. You can't send money to anyone via PayPal without their PayPal ID which is their email address. He can't access your PayPal account without your password. Asking for someone's name and phone number seems sensible if you are going to pay them a couple thousand dollars. So say you give him this information, what does he do to rip you off?

Ken

[AWCHIEF]

OP: Interesting, thanks for the heads up.

[CaddyGrn]

We also have an ad on the classifieds here.... received the exact same message you quoted above from this person other than he changed the item he wanted to "purchase". I wonder if he is collecting email addresses for spam??? Or collecting email addresses for a future scam telling you your PayPal account has been compromised or some scary thing like that....

[DKB_SATX]

The scammer may have one or more compromised Paypal accounts to use to send you money for long enough to get the item shipped... then when money comes out of the real account owner's bank they'll notice, get the payment reversed, but you'll already have shipped the item (to some other address, he was setting it up for shipment to his "dad's" address probably, the surprise gift is a pretext to get you to ship somewhere besides the address of the paypal account that sends you money.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

The scammer may have one or more compromised Paypal accounts to use to send you money for long enough to get the item shipped... then when money comes out of the real account owner's bank they'll notice, get the payment reversed, but you'll already have shipped the item (to some other address, he was setting it up for shipment to his "dad's" address probably, the surprise gift is a pretext to get you to ship somewhere besides the address of the paypal account that sends you money.

Thanks,

I guess that would work. Although I'd be curious to see how he was going to handle the piano in the OP's link. The world would sure be a better place if all these jerks put their ingenuity to good use.

Ken

[Aage]

That is the fatal weakness of PayPal. I believe that when enough people become aware of this, it may well be their death knell. They must have known this when they made the decision to adopt the policy.

The problem is that it flies in the face of one of the basic tenets of our society: anyone, for any reason, can get their money back on any transaction without recourse of any kind. Even obviously fake transactions like what these people are attempting to perpetrate can be reversed, to the criminal's benefit.

It's unthinkable.

It can't go on long, IMHO.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by Aage

That is the fatal weakness of PayPal. I believe that when enough people become aware of this, it may well be their death knell. They must have known this when they made the decision to adopt the policy.

The problem is that it flies in the face of one of the basic tenets of our society: anyone, for any reason, can get their money back on any transaction without recourse of any kind. Even obviously fake transactions like what these people are attempting to perpetrate can be reversed, to the criminal's benefit.

It's unthinkable.

It can't go on long, IMHO.

I don't think it's unthinkable. You just thought it.

Ken

[Dan and Liz]

Why not just have the PD aboard when the "agent" shows up?

[webspinner]

The "agent" will have done nothing wrong at that point. The transaction will look perfectly clean...until the item is well secured and the Paypal payment is reversed some time later.

I don't think the police would send a person out for "this guy is planning to void my Paypal payment, I just know it." Most law enforcement entities are too strapped for cash to have the manpower to head off a relatively small time scammer.

[Friday]

I investigate these types of frauds all the time, and there is certainly the temptation to 'play along' because it seems like you aren't giving away anything...

Take a look at these messages, and you'll see they have common warning flags... someone is away, overseas, on a boat... they want to use an 'agent'... the item they are interested in is quoted verbatim from your ad... It's because they are using a 'bot', or an automated response system. If you think you are 'playing' with anyone, you are just filtering through an automated scam system, and once they get enough info you MIGHT email a real person.

The next step of these, is a message saying they will send you MORE money than asking, but for you to send some money (Western Union) to their 'agent' so they can arrange shipping.

They don't usually advance to the point of completing a transaction in PayPal...

[AWCHIEF]

Cash is king. Hard to recall or cancel a transaction using it. Next best is a certified bank check.