Possible scam?

[urclem53]

So I am a new seller, 

I listed an item for 25 dollars.

A buyer contacted me, he is interested but want more photographs. 

He send me this message:

"Awesome thanks, .. I want it shipped to my cousin as a Christmas gift.. I would like you to also get an eBay gift card of $400 and include it in the package before shipment. I am a US navy officer so I wont able to do that, so i will ad $500 to the payment $400 for the card and $50 for shipping and $50 for gas and stress. Are you cool with that?"

I mean, it sounds like I can get a little bit of extra cash, but whenever anything is too good to be true it is always better to be cautious

What do you think? 

[heckofagame · Accepted solution]

Just say no. This is a very common scam. Don't respond to the buyer and I recommend blocking them. 

Seach this forum for many, many postings regarding this.

[klhmdg]

Scam... Stop all messaging and add to your BBL

[ittybitnot]

@urclem53 

The closest you are going to get to any "money" is a FAKE payment notice.   Never respond to the "text me" scammers. 

[7606dennis]

I believe that it is a fairly common scam this time of year.

[jayjaspersgarage]

They are impersonating a U.S. Navy officer which is a federal offense.  Report them to the FBI.

[soh.maryl]

Awhile back, there was a similar post where a buyer had stated he was a Navy officer.  What part of being an officer in the Navy would make anyone unable to buy their own gift cards? Someone asked that at the time, but apparently never got an answer.  New twist on an old scam? 

[heckofagame]

Stuck in a submarine? LOL

[soh.maryl]

Hadn't thought of that! 

[cakon_79]

I gave him my phone number and email address. What should I do?!

[femmefan1946]

Don't worry about it.

You may get a surge of scam emails and phone calls from time to time as those are sold on.

Just Delete as  Junk and Block the emails. And hang up on the phone calls.

Personally I play with the phone guys. I have "silly old woman whose doesn't want her Windows washed but does need gutters cleaned" and "insane person who thinks all calls are from the Illuminati" as well as "annoyed Canadian who demands to be spoken to in French, calisse de vierge de tabernak!".

[fab_finds4u]

He is not interested in more photographs.  He's only interested in stealing a $400 gift card.

A buyer is unable to add additional funds when they pay for the item.

They are able to send money to your PayPal account but they would be insane to do that because you could keep that money and not send them a gift card and they could not get their money back from you. NO buyer is going to send you money where there's no recourse if you decided not to follow through.

This buyer has no intention of buying your item. He's just looking to scam you. Since he has your email address don't be surprised if you get a FAKE PayPal payment receipt telling you to ship and enter the tracking # to get payment.  If you do forward it with the headers to spoof@ebay.com and spoof@paypal.com.

[southernfriedbelle]

Sorry, responded to wrong person, so deleted what I originally wrote.

[casuallyattractive]

@femmefan1946 

"Insane person who think calls are from the illuminati" OMG LOL

I have one:

"Old grandma who wants to pay with cash over the phone" That is my favorite.

They get so frustrated they just hang up LOL

[southernfriedbelle]

Change your email password IMMEDIATELY. Block this person on your phone. Screenshot all your prior communication (texts and emails) with this person and save the images in a protected  or encrypted file on your computer, not in a cloud somewhere. Mark any of his emails to you as Spam, and then delete them. Block him on your email if your platform allows that option.  

If you haven't already done so, report this person's account to eBay, even if it no longer exists. It may aid them in identifying the user and  preventing his setting up new accounts.

In the future, never go outside eBay messaging to communicate with "buyers." It's not only a violation of eBay policies and rules, it's a HUGE red flag the "buyer" is going to try to scam you. Scammers don't want a record of your communication with them on eBay, which is why they immediately try to get you to communicate privately via text and/or email.