Is this a scam I don’t know about?

[hannajohnso51]

Hello 

I’m selling an iPhone xs and I’ve had two messages about the item now of similar lines. 

First message was asking if the item is still available and how much I want for it, when I replied and told them a price, they then replied again saying what’s the buy now price, which I repeated, they then replied saying the following - 

‘Thank you so much for writing back. Consider it sold to me by ending the aution,i can pay £380.00 GBP now including postage to Miami, FL. if you send paypal invoice or money request to my mail ...... i will have it done today.You can message me at my  gmail for better correspondence.’ 

obviously this is very dodgy, so I replied saying that I am not taking the sale outside of eBay and if they are genuinely interested they need to click the buy it now button on the sale. Of course I didn’t get a response. 

I received a second message from a different account about two hours later which sounded kind of similar, asking how much I’d want for overnight shipping to Florida. 

What is this? Is it some sort of well known scam? Why Florida?

thank you 

[candd205]

Yes, well known scam. No particular reason for Florida, other than it's probably the same person as the first scammer, just with a name change. And he is probably sitting in an internet cafe in Africa, and Florida is the only USA place he knows.

Stick with the plan of if someone wants to buy it, they can buy it now with your eBay listing.

[alcoforever]

Old scam.   The way it works is they get your email address and then you get a fake paypal email saying you have been paid.   The scammer is hoping you will ship it before you realize you haven't really been paid.  The icing on the cake for the scammer is they will ask you to include $300 worth of gift cards with the item, offering to pay you for the gift cards plus about $50 for your trouble.

SCAM, all the way.

[pburn]

@hannajohnso51 

I do want you to be aware that, through the magic that is eBay, you've been misdirected to the ebay.com discussion boards instead of the ebay.co.uk discussion boards. While scams are scams the world 'round, you might want to post your concerns on your home board so your fellow UK eBayers are aware, as well.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Discussion-Boards/ct-p/13

Cheers!

[corvettestainless]

Anytime a message asks if an 'item is still available', when it clearly is still listed on ebay (either as an auction or bin- is still 'available' or they wouldn't have been able to even message you about it) is a scam.

No need to read any further. Ignore and add that 'buyer' to your 'blocked' list. 

[nkmipgolf]

Most likely using a reship company in Florida.  They ask for the off eBay invoice so they can send a fake payment with the words  "SHIP ASAP" and "overnight shipping" is to avoid detection.  Other words scammers use "kindly"   "Dear seller"