Am I getting scammed?

[Coho]

So I saw an ad on craigslist in ......regarding a watch that I like and I emailed the seller asking him to ship it as I don't live local to him. He then replied to me under the name You and Me with the following reply to my original inquiry: Hi, The price I'm selling it for is ...... which is including all the shipping charges. I work for Save The Children, if you would like to checkout our website to give you some peace . The website is www.savethechildren.org. I left the country with a humanitarian mission to raise funds to buy food , clothes and medicament's so we can help the children's from poor countries. Anyway, there shouldn't be any problem, because I am using MoneyBookers services so I can sell it without difficulty. I left it at their warehouse before leaving. They will take care of the delivery. There's a 14 days return policy so you will have the chance to inspect it before final decision. So if you want to purchase it, let me know and I will explain you how MoneyBookers works and how we can move forward. I am waiting your email. Thanks

 

[Dewey]

Looks very scammy to me. I believe in angel's. You can checkout this website to give you some peace.

 

[aragon765]

send the money... you're good....

I bet the next email will outline his plight in Nigeria, and then one about an amazing investment opportunity in the Azores....

 

[Coho]

What part sounds the most incredulous to you? I have no idea how moneybookers works and I really didn't know that such a service (another version of Paypal?) would provide storage for items "about" to be sold. I did ask for extra pictures with his full name watermarked but this seems like a convenient excuse to avoid that. However, I've done business with sellers on Timezone, who initially appeared very douchy, but delivered the promised product in the end. The price is quite spectacular for the watch.

Originally Posted by Dewey

Looks very scammy to me.

 

[josh2k]

He gives too much unnecessary detail. That's usually a dead giveaway of a scam.

 

[Brad]

"I am waiting for your email" concerns me. Could be completely innocuous, but I wouldn't send him $.50.

 

[meauounji]

If it was me, I would just feel queasy about spending that kind of money at craigslist without ever meeting the person. At least go meet the guy for that kind of dough... unless you have plenty of it to go around and just don't care.

 

[trajan]

Originally Posted by Coho

What part sounds the most incredulous to you? I have no idea how moneybookers works and I really didn't know that such a service (another version of Paypal?) would provide storage for items "about" to be sold. I did ask for extra pictures with his full name watermarked but this seems like a convenient excuse to avoid that. However, I've done business with sellers on Timezone, who initially appeared very douchy, but delivered the promised product in the end. The price is quite spectacular for the watch.

I like the part about buying "food , clothes and medicament's" for the children.

Now, the question is: do you think there's a person who pasted and copied this email to you, or a computer program that replies to all the inqueries?

--trajan

 

[Coho]

Originally Posted by Brad

"I am waiting for your email" concerns me. Coule be completely innocuous, but I wouldn't send him $.50.
I just emailed back stating that I'll will only use paypal for this transaction . However, he would have to first send me 1 dollar and I will pay back the asking price + 2 dollars (so he makes 1 dollar in the end) to verify his account. If he denies, then the guy doesn't have paypal and is a jackass somewhere in Nigeria and I'll walk away. If he decides to move on with it, then I can verify his full name and and whether the email he used to contact me match. This also gives me the opportunity to contact paypal to verify his account and country of origin. What do you guys think?

 

[Brad]

Like I said, I wouldn't send the guy $.50, let alone $1. It sounds suspect. Is it an exceedingly rare watch? Is the deal so good that you can't believe it? If yes, walk away.

 

[trajan]

Originally Posted by Coho

I just emailed back stating that I'll will only use paypal for this transaction . However, he would have to first send me 1 dollar and I will pay back the asking price + 2 dollars (so he makes 1 dollar in the end) to verify his account. If he denies, then the guy doesn't have paypal and is a jackass somewhere in Nigeria and I'll walk away. If he decides to move on with it, then I can verify his full name and and whether the email he used to contact me match. This also gives me the opportunity to contact paypal to verify his account and country of origin. What do you guys think?

You'll get not reply or one that says he doesn't have paypal. Want to make a bet?

 

[yfyf]

Geezus, you want this watch pretty bad. I would star far away.

Incidentally, even Paypal offers very limited buyer's protection. I've gone through the buyer's assurance process once, it was not pretty. So what if he has a verified PP account? Let's say you send him the money, he could very well not send you the watch. Sure you would know where he supposedly lives, but there's still twenty odd steps before you MAY be able to force the money back to yourself.

 

[alliswell]

The dollar doesn't prove anything, except that you're thinking about doing business with him - which will make a conman more interested. You still won't be able to tell whether the guy has stolen an identity, for instance.

If you're serious about this, think about escrow:

http://www.escrow.com/solutions/escrow/process.asp

I haven't used this service, but maybe someone else on here has, and we'll both learn something.

 

[EdenResident]

Ask the guy for his address. Tell him you would fly in and pay him cash on the spot for the watch. See what he says.

 

[Coho]

Originally Posted by letmebefell

The dollar doesn't prove anything, except that you're thinking about doing business with him - which will make a conman more interested.
No, if I walk, I'll gain a dollar. So I con the conman so to speak. But, yeah, I should forget about it and just walk.