TheAstonMartian
Banned
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2011
- Messages
- 77
Rep Bank
$195
$195
User Power: 6%
Hi!
I was selling a used, refurbished laptop in craigslist, and some guy wanted to buy it and ship it for a partner overseas. I agreed. He wanted to pay me higher than what I was asking, and wanted to pay me by paypal. I thought this guy must be rich to take that risk and pay me by paypal without getting the product shipped. I told him to wait since I genuinely wanted to deliver the product, and then take his money.
He sends me the shipping address to Nigeria. No lights went off. I mean, maybe the colleague is a missionary there. I told him that the voltage are different. He said its okay as his friend will buy an adapter there. I told him shipping costs $200 through FedEx. He was still okay and wanted me to send him a money request though paypal. This guy is nice as hell trusting me like that.
Anyways, I looked up laptop shipment rates from Canada to Nigeria and bingo!!! Yahoo Answers pops up with a guy asking the same question. Everyone said its a scam. That's when it hit me. Apparently, what they do is they get you to do a money request on paypal, and then tell you that the money is held by Paypal until product is delivered. They send a fake paypal page and then steal laptops. Not only that, the scams are run from the same street, and city in Nigeria and hence that's the location they put. I was about to give a laptop to this guy because I "didn't know any better" as MJ would have said. I thought PayPal was risk free and they give money immediately. Today, I got an education.
I blocked the guy in my email but before that I wrote him my last message saying that next time he should think about it before conning anyone else. I saved $180 worth of money on not shipping my laptop. Moral of the story, when you are selling goods, sell it locally. No need to go that extra step to ship it outside the city. Also, when you see Nigeria, be alert. Not being racist, just careful. There are bad people in Nigeria and good ones like Alexander Amosu who make money through honest and creative means. For inspiration, Mr. Amosu started out composing ringtones of famous and top chart songs so that people could use ringtones of their favorite songs. He makes luxurious suits now and accessorize cell phones with diamonds and gold.
I was selling a used, refurbished laptop in craigslist, and some guy wanted to buy it and ship it for a partner overseas. I agreed. He wanted to pay me higher than what I was asking, and wanted to pay me by paypal. I thought this guy must be rich to take that risk and pay me by paypal without getting the product shipped. I told him to wait since I genuinely wanted to deliver the product, and then take his money.
He sends me the shipping address to Nigeria. No lights went off. I mean, maybe the colleague is a missionary there. I told him that the voltage are different. He said its okay as his friend will buy an adapter there. I told him shipping costs $200 through FedEx. He was still okay and wanted me to send him a money request though paypal. This guy is nice as hell trusting me like that.
Anyways, I looked up laptop shipment rates from Canada to Nigeria and bingo!!! Yahoo Answers pops up with a guy asking the same question. Everyone said its a scam. That's when it hit me. Apparently, what they do is they get you to do a money request on paypal, and then tell you that the money is held by Paypal until product is delivered. They send a fake paypal page and then steal laptops. Not only that, the scams are run from the same street, and city in Nigeria and hence that's the location they put. I was about to give a laptop to this guy because I "didn't know any better" as MJ would have said. I thought PayPal was risk free and they give money immediately. Today, I got an education.
I blocked the guy in my email but before that I wrote him my last message saying that next time he should think about it before conning anyone else. I saved $180 worth of money on not shipping my laptop. Moral of the story, when you are selling goods, sell it locally. No need to go that extra step to ship it outside the city. Also, when you see Nigeria, be alert. Not being racist, just careful. There are bad people in Nigeria and good ones like Alexander Amosu who make money through honest and creative means. For inspiration, Mr. Amosu started out composing ringtones of famous and top chart songs so that people could use ringtones of their favorite songs. He makes luxurious suits now and accessorize cell phones with diamonds and gold.
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