Is This a Scam? Selling Our 31' Airstream

[Phil and/or Sue]

Howdy. We have our 1983 31' Sovereign listed on AirstreamClassifieds.com and I received an email that set off red flags. I responded and got a response, but am confused and want to be more cautious.

1st inquiry on Tue, 2/5/13,
"1983 31' Sovereign Airstream, Center Bath, Queen

Hello Seller,
I want to buy this 1983 31' Sovereign Airstream,and need to know how much are you asking for it? and please i can only pay using paypal,and after payments has been made i will arrange for pick up of the 1983 31' Sovereign Airstream,Email -robertlouis36@yahoo.com
Have a nice day,
Robert Louis."


My response:
"Howdy. The ad clearly states the asking price. Do you have some other question regarding this ad?
What PayPal account would you use for this purchase?
Phil"

His latest response:
"I appreciate your response,I'm an marine engineer and at this moment am presently working offshore,Sometimes access to regular emails and phone calls is very poor offshore due to inefficiency of the immarsat service,I located in Atlanta GA, and i want you to know that I am ok with the condition of the Sovereign Airstream and the asking price as well,I am buying the Sovereign Airstream as a gift for my father and 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 in paying you through PayPal,kindly get back to me with your PayPal email address and if you don't have PayPal account yet,it is very easy to set up at your bank or online 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,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 Sovereign Airstream after i have made the payments for the Sovereign Airstream .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."

There is an extra space after each occurrance of "Sovereign Airstream" in the long reply, which is probably from a "fill-in-the-blank" program/bot. I also don't think anyone from Atlanta would refer to the trailer that way.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks.

Phil

[Protohyp]

YES!!!!!! Dont fall for the bait..

[Aage]

Yep, the classic scam scheme.

We will ban the "member" so no other sellers can be contacted.

Don't bother carrying on any more email conversations with them, they will soon be gone.

On behalf of
The Site Team

[dkrug]

Definitely a scam. Someone else selling their AS had an almost identical email.

[Zigidachs]

I tried to sell my kayak and received this response ver datum! THIS IS A SCAM. NEVER SELL ANYTHING TO ANYONE UNLESS YOU CAN SEE THEM EYE TO EYE!

[Alphonse]

Scammers - they deserve a big stick applied briskly against the side of their head.

[ventport]

Scam

[Protagonist]

For future reference, there is no such condition as, "I can only pay using PayPal." In real life, people have to put money into a PayPal account somehow before they can pay using PayPal, and so could use the same method put the money directly into your hands instead, without using PayPal as a middleman. Someone who says, "I can only use PayPal," is actually saying, "I don't really have money."

[Aage]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Someone who says, "I can only use PayPal," is actually saying, "I don't really have money."

I don't think it's quite that. The way I've heard it is that the buyer actually does pay the seller with a valid account that he has opened, but once the trailer has changed hands, the "buyer" cancels the PayPal payment, thus getting his money back from the seller.

It's my understanding that PayPal doesn't do any investigation of whatever complaint the so-called "buyer" (the scam artist) makes, and just cancels the transfer. Even if the seller has taken out the money and put it somewhere else, your agreement with PayPal allows them to debit your credit card and/or whatever bank account you supplied them with when you opened your PayPal account.

This is why the only way to really do the deal and feel somewhat safe is in person, with the seller receiving cash. This is best done at a bank where the seller has his account, so the money can be verified by the bank as not being counterfeit.

The vast majority of buyers and sellers are really good, well-intentioned people, but the few that are scammers make doing a transaction like this somewhat hair-raising.

Please let us know when you have been approached on Airforums by clicking the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of most pages on the forum, and in this way we can at least ban the scammer to limit his access to others.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Aage

I don't think it's quite that. The way I've heard it is that the buyer actually does pay the seller with a valid account that he has opened, but once the trailer has changed hands, the "buyer" cancels the PayPal payment, thus getting his money back from the seller.

You're right. What I wrote was grossly simplified. But the point remains valid, that there's no such thing as "I can only pay using PayPal," so that phrase is always a flag that it's either (1) a scammer; (2) a moron; or (3) both.

[Phil and/or Sue]

Originally Posted by Alphonse

Scammers - they deserve a big stick applied briskly against the side of their head.

BOOT TO THE HEAD!

(Frantics, if you know what I mean).

[Max Well]

Scam! Respond back: "Send the money to your agent's PayPal account so he can show up with cash. I will only deal face-to-face with cash." That should about do it!