[Elektrix]

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help me figure something out here. I listed my laptop for sale on eBay, and unfortunately didn't put any restrictions on it (i.e. ship worldwide, no buyer restrictions). Someone used "Buy It Now", and their address said they were in Florida (although their listed phone number was in Plano, TX and caused a "fast busy" signal when I called it). Their eBay account seemed to be brand new (registered 7/27/06) and had 0 feedback.

Immediately after this they sent me the following e-mail:

Hello,
Compliment of the season to you. I am Mark Smith from FL USA,but Presently in London,England for a church seminal. I saw your product item below on ebay and i am really intrested in buying it for my Daugther as a surprise gift for her in school(university of lagos)at nigeria and i will handle the shipment expenses.i will send you my fedex account so you will not pay no money for shipping.
i will be sending you payment via PayPal,so kindly send me your PAYPAL EMAIL ADDRESS so as to immedaitely make out your payment.make sure you get the package ready for shipment,you can ship the item as soon as you recieve the paypal confirmation.Expecting your reply so as to immedaitely make out the payment.
Thanks,
Mark Smith
N.B....... If terms are acceptable.send me your PAYPAL EMAIL ADDRESS and i will make out your payment immedaitely and you will receive the payment comfirmation from paypal.

I told him I was suspicious of this (particular about having it sent to Nigeria), and he replied with:

Hello,
I am out of State for a Business Trip and there is Nobody in my House to receice the Item for me That is why i want the Item to be ship to her Direct to Nigeria,I will be Handling the Shipping myself to my Daughter there in nigeria With my Fedex Account Number so there is no Need of you Paying for the Shipping ok i will made out the Payment of the items via Paypal,So i will Need your PAYPAL ACCOUNT for me to send you Payment and i will like to Know if you want fedex to come Pick the item or you will drop it off at a Fedex outlet nearer to you there Pls let me Know so i can Send you the Fedex information and Address to Send the Packages Ok...Thanks.
Regards

Now, this sounds really fishy to me, but I'm not sure what to do at this point. I went ahead and relisted the auction (this time with some buyer restrictions, and only shipping to the US), but eBay apparently won't let me report it as an unpaid item for 7 days.

I am generally curious about what the scam here might be. Don't these kinds of Nigerian scams normally involve funky stuff like fake cashiers check, or things where they are supposed to wire you a large sum of money and then you are supposed to send a certain amount back?

If this guy were to actually do what he claims (that is, pay me via PayPal, and provide me with a FedEx account number to use for shipping), could that actually be legit? It sounds incredibly fishy to me, but I'm not sure how this scam might work. I'm inclined to not deal with it at all, but I'm wondering what would happen if I did. Is it possible for a scammer to pay you via PayPal and then somehow retrieve the money after the item has been shipped?

I'm also not totally sure how or if I can report this guy to eBay (I'm kind of nervous about him leaving me negative feedback or something).

If anyone has any information or ideas about this, I'd definitely be curious to hear them. Thanks!

-Elektrix

[Landos Mustache]

If the word Nigeria is in it just forget it and be done with it.

[Dakar]

The good kind?

[Robert A.M. Stephens]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

If the word Nigeria is in it just forget it and be done with it.

Correct to a 'T'. I have had run ins with soliciting regarding my art through my agent from 'Nigeria', of every type of scam known to man. If the word 'Nigeria' is within 100 parsecs of anything, just forget it and move on.

Robert

[Person Man]

It's a scam.

RUN, don't walk from it.

A guy from Florida wouldn't say he's from "FL, USA," nor would he use "N.B." in place of "P.S."

Oh, and "compliment of the season to you????" Who the fcuk talks like that????

Originally Posted by Elektrix

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help me figure something out here. I listed my laptop for sale on eBay, and unfortunately didn't put any restrictions on it (i.e. ship worldwide, no buyer restrictions). Someone used "Buy It Now", and their address said they were in Florida (although their listed phone number was in Plano, TX and caused a "fast busy" signal when I called it). Their eBay account seemed to be brand new (registered 7/27/06) and had 0 feedback.

Immediately after this they sent me the following e-mail:



I told him I was suspicious of this (particular about having it sent to Nigeria), and he replied with:



Now, this sounds really fishy to me, but I'm not sure what to do at this point. I went ahead and relisted the auction (this time with some buyer restrictions, and only shipping to the US), but eBay apparently won't let me report it as an unpaid item for 7 days.

I am generally curious about what the scam here might be. Don't these kinds of Nigerian scams normally involve funky stuff like fake cashiers check, or things where they are supposed to wire you a large sum of money and then you are supposed to send a certain amount back?

If this guy were to actually do what he claims (that is, pay me via PayPal, and provide me with a FedEx account number to use for shipping), could that actually be legit? It sounds incredibly fishy to me, but I'm not sure how this scam might work. I'm inclined to not deal with it at all, but I'm wondering what would happen if I did. Is it possible for a scammer to pay you via PayPal and then somehow retrieve the money after the item has been shipped?

I'm also not totally sure how or if I can report this guy to eBay (I'm kind of nervous about him leaving me negative feedback or something).

If anyone has any information or ideas about this, I'd definitely be curious to hear them. Thanks!

-Elektrix

[Rumor]

Report it to eBay as a scam, not an unpaid item. Did you list the item as payable by paypal? If so, when he used the Buy It Now option, he could have paid for it right then.

This is completely a scam.

[Elektrix]

Originally Posted by Rumor

Report it to eBay as a scam, not an unpaid item. Did you list the item as payable by paypal? If so, when he used the Buy It Now option, he could have paid for it right then.

This is completely a scam.

Yeah, I couldn't actually find a place on eBay to report it as a scam though.

I did list the item as payable with paypal, but I didn't check the "Require Immediate Payment" item. But yeah, it doesn't seem like there was any reason for him to not pay via PayPal right away (kind of fishy that he kept asking me for my paypal account too when it should let him pay me right through the auction).

-Zadillo

[Eug Wanker]

Some I've received:

hello ,
thanks for ur message... i ll be interented in both.am from san-francesco but currently am in alabama , so cash ll not be ok for me cos im a registered user of western union and im pleased with them. so send me your name and address in other to make the payment asap. Dont worry about shipping, i have account with one courier service,which i ll send to you for the pick up.till i hear from you soonest.

Hi
am craig matins, an interested in your PowerBook + Samsung LCD i
want to buy it for my son studying in abroad, i will pay you $1900 for it
and i am going to make your payment through BIDPAY western money order,
so let me know if you are interested so that i can know next step to
take

hello,
i will like to order for the item and i will ship to my son and tell me the condition of the item and am paying throught moneygram.so get ack to me with your full information,
thanks

[Rumor]

Wow, what horrible english.

[memento]

scam. University of Lagos? I don't know if that's a school, but Lagos is in Nigeria = SCAM.

So it looks like he's trying to get you to send it before getting payment. probably as simple as that. He'll say all kinds of things to get you to trust the process (whatever it might be) and send the laptop before having received payment.

[Rumor]

Helo Sirs,

i's am intrestted in yur item of macbook pros. plese sends me yur PAYPAL account so i's can sends you a sum of eleventy-billion dollars which you can send thru yur bank and keep 10%.

Thank yous,
Ashakari Bobanob

P.S. All you base are belong to us.

[evfish84]

Originally Posted by Rumor

Helo Sirs,

i's am intrestted in yur item of macbook pros. plese sends me yur PAYPAL account so i's can sends you a sum of eleventy-billion dollars which you can send thru yur bank and keep 10%.

Thank yous,
Ashakari Bobanob

P.S. All you base are belong to us.

[ghporter]

If Nigeria ever pulls its collective head out and consolidates its feces, nobody will EVER be able to use the Internet from there. Fortunately, I don't see this as an immediate problem for anyone...

I concur with everyone above; ANYTHING relating to Nigeria in an electronic form should be approached with EXTREME caution, or simply fled from at top speed.

[Eug Wanker]

I feel sorry these guys... They're all gonna be called scammers.

Nigeria buys one million $100 laptops

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative for the developing world is gaining ground in Africa, with Nigeria announcing the acquisition of one million laptops.

The brainchild of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte, the OLPC, however, has a competitor: a consortium led by Microsoft and Intel.

The OLPC laptops were initially touted as being priced at $100, but OLPC participants now say the price may fluctuate. In any case, they will be the cheapest ever sold in Africa, and several African countries are going for the idea.

Nigeria Communication Commission Executive Vice Chairman Ernest Ndukwe said Nigeria has already committed to ordering one million machines. Egypt has said it is almost ready to commit itself to buying the laptops but has not said how many it is prepared to order. Zambian officials say negotiations to buy the machines are progressing well and that the country may soon announce the number of machines the country intends to order.

"This is the only opportunity for us in Zambia and all the African countries to equip schools with computers because the laptops are reasonably priced," said Zambia's communication and transport minister, Abel Chambeshi.

The laptops will have a 500MHz processor and 128M bytes of DRAM, with 500M bytes of flash memory. The laptops will also have wireless broadband that, among other things, allows them to work as a mesh network with each laptop being able to talk to its nearest neighbors, creating an ad hoc local area network.

The laptops will only be sold to governments and issued to schools, according to Negroponte. Because many schools in Africa don't have electricity, the laptops will use built-in hand cranks for energy.

The laptops are expected to be ready for shipment between the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year.

Chambeshi said he was not aware that recently OLPC participants have said that the machines may end up costing $135. But even at $135, he said, "the machines [are] still reasonably cheap, for any African government to buy."

The companies that are participating in the OLPC project include Google Inc., Nortel Networks Corp., eBay Inc., Advanced Micro Device Inc. and News Corp. with Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan having been chosen as the original design manufacturer for the laptops.

[ghporter]

I'll put money on those laptops winding up in some black market channel to somewhere other than Nigeria.

[grankin]

I had a similar ebay experience like Elektrik. I didn't try calling the number, but I checked on the US address and it did not exist.

Today I received the following email from "the buyer":

hello there,
i just want to let you know that the payment have been made and the money have been
deducted from my account so pls kindly get the item shipped to the address
below..............

AKINBOLA AKINWALE OLU
SW9/608,UPPER RAILWAY LINE,OFF LEBANON CLUB ROAD
OJU-IRIN,ODO-ONA,
IBADAN
OYO-STATE
NIGERIA
23402

i will want you to send me the tracking number for the item shipped so that i can truly know whelther the item is truly sent.......pls get back to me asap....thanks
kevin rowland


Immediately after this I received an email from paypal:

Dear "my name",
This message is originated from paypal company.We have received an order from our clients [email protected] regarding the payment made to your paypal account
The payment has been successfully made but due to security reason we have to receive the shipment tracking number before the next 24 hours for the processing of your order.
This a new measure we are taking to protect both our sellers and buyers against fraudulent customers.
Once you have shipped the item send us the shipment tracking number for verification after the number has verify your account will be credited instantly.
This PayPal® payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED" but will not be credited to your account untill the shipment reference/tracking number is sent to us for shipment verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller. Below are the necessary information requested before your account will be credited. Send tracking number to us or email us through this mail ::[email protected]


**PLEASE NOTE**
Once shipment has been verified and the tracking number sent to us, You will receive a "CONFIRMATION Email" from PayPal® informing you that the Money has been credited.
Note: eBay and Paypal will be responsilbe for the item loss or damage once we recieve the tracking number
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

I forwarded this all on to paypal for them to deal with and made an offer to the second highest bidder.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

Nigeria buys one million $100 laptops

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative for the developing world is gaining ground in Africa, with Nigeria announcing the acquisition of one million laptops.

The brainchild of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte, the OLPC, however, has a competitor: a consortium led by Microsoft and Intel.

The OLPC laptops were initially touted as being priced at $100, but OLPC participants now say the price may fluctuate. In any case, they will be the cheapest ever sold in Africa, and several African countries are going for the idea.

Nigeria Communication Commission Executive Vice Chairman Ernest Ndukwe said Nigeria has already committed to ordering one million machines. Egypt has said it is almost ready to commit itself to buying the laptops but has not said how many it is prepared to order. Zambian officials say negotiations to buy the machines are progressing well and that the country may soon announce the number of machines the country intends to order.

"This is the only opportunity for us in Zambia and all the African countries to equip schools with computers because the laptops are reasonably priced," said Zambia's communication and transport minister, Abel Chambeshi.

The laptops will have a 500MHz processor and 128M bytes of DRAM, with 500M bytes of flash memory. The laptops will also have wireless broadband that, among other things, allows them to work as a mesh network with each laptop being able to talk to its nearest neighbors, creating an ad hoc local area network.

The laptops will only be sold to governments and issued to schools, according to Negroponte. Because many schools in Africa don't have electricity, the laptops will use built-in hand cranks for energy.

The laptops are expected to be ready for shipment between the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year.

Chambeshi said he was not aware that recently OLPC participants have said that the machines may end up costing $135. But even at $135, he said, "the machines [are] still reasonably cheap, for any African government to buy."

The companies that are participating in the OLPC project include Google Inc., Nortel Networks Corp., eBay Inc., Advanced Micro Device Inc. and News Corp. with Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan having been chosen as the original design manufacturer for the laptops.

Chambesi promised to let the PayPal payment go through as soon as their account info were verified by their trusted sources.

.

[moonmonkey]

Someone called Mark Smith would not say "Compliment of the season to you"

[philm]

Originally Posted by grankin

i will want you to send me the tracking number for the item shipped so that i can truly know whelther the item is truly sent.......pls get back to me asap....thanks
kevin rowland

I think we have your man...former front man of 80s dungareed pseudo-Romany pop groovers, Dexy's Midnight Runners....

[analogika]

Originally Posted by grankin

[I]Dear "my name",
This message is originated from paypal company.

Off to a brilliant start right there.

[olePigeon]

Dear Nigerians,

If you pay me $50,000, I'll write you a grammatically correct SPAM. It's a great investment.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Dear Nigerians,

If you pay me $50,000, I'll write you a grammatically correct SPAM. It's a great investment.

But then they wouldn't be fun to read any longer.

[seanc]

I got a similar scam e-mail from someone wanting to buy my iBook that I have just sold. It was almost word for word the same, wanting to buy it as a gift, on travel somewhere. Tempting to accept it but the word Nigeria put me off straight away, and then that persons account became "No Longer a Registered User".

w00t 700 posts

[turtle777]

WTF do they still put Nigeria and/or Lagos in all their scam emails ? Idiots.
Don't they know any other countries ? How about Kazakhstan ?

"Jagshemash -

I is Borat from Kazakhstan. Me needs MACbooksPrO. Please sendd raight awai."

-t

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

WTF do they still put Nigeria and/or Lagos in all their scam emails. Idiots.

-t

They must still get suckers willing accomplices, or they'd change their tactics.

[Elektrix]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Dear Nigerians,

If you pay me $50,000, I'll write you a grammatically correct SPAM. It's a great investment.

You know, I've always wondered about that. Doesn't seem like it would help them a lot if they actually got someone to help them with the grammar in these e-mails? You wouldn't think it would be that difficult, and they'd probably increase the number of suckers they got if it was less obvious what was going on.

-Elektrix

[Elektrix]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

WTF do they still put Nigeria and/or Lagos in all their scam emails ? Idiots.
Don't they know any other countries ? How about Kazakhstan ?

"Jagshemash -

I is Borat from Kazakhstan. Me needs MACbooksPrO. Please sendd raight awai."

-t

Well, I think ultimately the point of all these scams is still to get you to send the merchandise to them, and as long as they are in Nigeria or Lagos, that is where they need you to send the items to.

-Elektrix

[Monique]

Of course it is a scam. There are so many from that country, I just wonder if there are any honest people over there.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Monique

Of course it is a scam. There are so many from that country, I just wonder if there are any honest people over there.

Yeah, those w/o intarweb

-t

[Elektrix]

Originally Posted by Monique

Of course it is a scam. There are so many from that country, I just wonder if there are any honest people over there.

Thanks...

Just to clarify, I wasn't really ever asking whether or not it was actually a scam. I was pretty sure from the beginning it wasn't legit. My question was more about what kind of scam it was, or how it would work.

My mistake was assuming that he was actually going to do what he claimed he was doing (that is, send the funds via PayPal). As it turned out, it wasn't nearly as complicated as I thought it would be; he just sent a fake PayPal confirmation e-mail (along with some bogus explanation that the funds would only be "released" into my account after I sent PayPal confirmation and proof that the item had been shipped.

-Elektrix

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Yeah, those w/o intarweb

-t

Nope, those without intarweb pay children to deliver their scams from Internet cafes.