Database Develop

[Q] Gumtree Scammers [UK]

So I tend to list my old phones on Gumtree, due to eBay's crazy fees. With eBay and Paypal, you sell a phone for £400 and give them £40 of it! Kinda crazy really.
Anyway, everytime I list an item on Gumtree (even through I state I wont ship internationally) I get e-mails people telling me they will pay me X+£100 via Paypal.
Of course I always either ignore or reply telling them I wont ship outside of the UK at which point they don't reply.
What I'm curious about is, how do they work the scam? Paypal is generally quite safe isn't it? Do they claim after two week's they haven't received the item? Does the money just never get to Paypal and they try and talk you in to sending it before it's there?
I'm half tempted to ask one of them to pay the money, me with no intention of sending the phone anywhere, just to see what happens...

http://reviews.ebay.com/PAYPAL-BUYER-SCAM-EXTREMELY-IMPORTANT-INFORMATION_W0QQugidZ10000000000114286
Basically unless you have proof that you have sent, and that they have signed for an item, PayPal will refund the money.
a specific example

So from the example, even if you have proof that the package was delivered, Paypal are likely to give the money back?
I wonder what happens if I ask the scammers to transfer direct into my bank account?

That's made me a little nervous now. I've just sold my DHD on eBay, the guy has paid with Paypal right away.
What are the safest steps for me next? I simply post it via recorded delivery and submit the tracking number to eBay somewhere?

AndyCr15 said:
That's made me a little nervous now. I've just sold my DHD on eBay, the guy has paid with Paypal right away.
What are the safest steps for me next? I simply post it via recorded delivery and submit the tracking number to eBay somewhere?
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and on paypal too

Thinking about it, I should probably do it special delivery, because that is insured. So if he claims its damaged or something, I can go back to Royal Mail?
Now... the other thing, the guy is only 7 miles away, I'd prefer to drop it over to him. If I get him to sign a 'receipt' do you think Paypal would accept it? I guess I'm actually safer posting it now, he's paid for postage, so he could claim I made it up, where's my postage info...

AndyCr15 said:
I'm half tempted to ask one of them to pay the money, me with no intention of sending the phone anywhere, just to see what happens...
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I replied to a spam scam once, I gave him the crime stoppers number as my mobile number. Idiot didn't notice what is was, just asked for my personal number. At that point I ignored.
AndyCr15 said:
Thinking about it, I should probably do it special delivery, because that is insured. So if he claims its damaged or something, I can go back to Royal Mail?
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So long as you keep the receipt for postage, and make a note of the time and date, where you posted it etc, the Post Office will refund up to £30 (I think that's the amount anyway) for missing items, after they have investigated. Anything more expensive, and I would suggest you send it with insurance anyway.

Are you guys serious??????
just search "gumtree scams paypal moneysavingexpert" on google (sorry can't post links)
That's why I stopped using gumtree overall. It is nothing but a scam den! Now I use other safer sites like movethat.com or bonsoni.com

Not if you're careful. I've not been scammed once using Gumtree and I've made more money from each sale as I'm not giving eBay and Paypal 12% of my sale. You could say that in itself is the biggest scam...
I do still use eBay, cause we don't really have any other auction alternatives do we?

Yes if you are smart then you should be ok (although my smart cousin lost his deposit money for a flat) . But the problem is Internet is available to everyone, even to the granny who never used a comp before.
usually these kind of naive people are becoming a victim. Just search gumtree fraud or gumtree scam on google news search thousands on result come up! Apparently police stopped taking this crime reports as they are too many of them.
You are not giving that 12% to ebay and paypal but do remember that actually you are doing them a favour by using gumtree, which is own by ebay and paypal.
That's what happened when capitalism reach at its pick and consumers don't have much choice.
Once again I prefer to use other smaller and safer sites then any of the above named site.

AndyCr15 said:
I do still use eBay, cause we don't really have any other auction alternatives do we?
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eBid.net is an alternative to Ebay.
The alternative I used for Gumtree.com is OzAdz.com. I love their Personals section lol.

Mercedes325 said:
eBid.net is an alternative to Ebay.
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I don't think it's a viable alternative though. For example, there's 1 Nexus S for sale on eBid. If I'm looking for a phone, why would I go to eBid. If I'm selling, why would I start an auction on eBid, next to no-one see's it and my item sells at a crazy low price

AndyCr15 said:
I don't think it's a viable alternative though. For example, there's 1 Nexus S for sale on eBid. If I'm looking for a phone, why would I go to eBid. If I'm selling, why would I start an auction on eBid, next to no-one see's it and my item sells at a crazy low price
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One reason to use smaller websites like ebid is because less people will bid, so you may pick up a bargain.

Mercedes325 said:
One reason to use smaller websites like ebid is because less people will bid, so you may pick up a bargain.
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That's exactly what I'm saying, thanks. Very bad for sellers, not a viable option.

I just paid £200 for a fake HD2 :-(

The title says it all Maybe the seller wasn't aware that it was a fake, he had all good feedback on eBay. Either way, I have contacted him and if he doesn't give me my money back, I will be starting a dispute with PayPal! Such a huge amount of hassle! Didn't even know fake HD2's existed...

Bummer. My experience with Paypal is that they always take side of the buyer, so good chance you will get your money back

Well thaaaaaaats good to know. I have no doubt in my mind I will get my money back. The screen is resistive and everything :'( I'm so upset hahaha

That is terrible. I'm very sorry to hear this. Do everything within your power to get even, contest the purchase, notify everybody, go the police, call in the national guard, send out smoke signals to your posse...
Man I hope that you get your money back

lol man , but the price didn't match with the hd2 new price

I know, she said she got it for her birthday and didn't like it so I assumed that is why there was no reserve etc. I'm not stupid or anything lol, that is just how much they were selling for. Anyway I've purchased another one now that is used but actually genuine for £70 less! Asked the seller to send via special delivery so will be arriving tomorrow I've contacted the seller and told her if she doesn't reply within 24 hours I will just open a dispute.

I doubt aaaaaanyone cares, but a nice little success story on my behalf. After the seller refusing to refund at first, I just kept on pushing and saying I would open a dispute and she has refunded me all £207.75. Woo!

I once bought an ipod touch 2nd Gen... got a 1st gen... contacted the seller who said, "oops, oh well, resell it yourself" so I contacted paypal. I had a refund within the hour once paypal contacted the seller.

What an arsehole! I've had an email from PayPal saying she sent the refund, just waiting for it now! Hopefully won't take too long So happy she co-operated!

PayPal is really great with eBay stuff. They don't take any crap from sellers and protect the buyer.

You need to get your money back

rg400smarttowel said:
You need to get your money back
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I have lol, just waiting for it to come through now, but apparently it can take up to thirty days to receive a paypal refund!?

Another reason why PayPal SUCKS

So here is my absolute HORROR STORY of dealing with PayPal.
I sold a phone on eBay (an Evo with a clean ESN and rooted w/ICS) and the seller emails me a few days later saying the phone can't be activated and they were on the phone with sprint for 3 hours and the "other Evo they bought was able to be activated (wtf? why would they buy two for the same account??)" so I asked them for the ESN number to double check... they give me the serial number. REALLY? You've been on the phone with Sprint for "3 hours" but don't know the damn ESN number??? The person is obviously a LIAR. I eventually get them to give me the ESN (which sprint says they can activate and say they haven't had anyone trying to activate the ESN... proving they are a liar). I ask why they didn't just go to the store since I looked up their address and they had one close by. They ignore the question and say they are going to file a report against me. I say go ahead, thinking paypal will listen to my evidence.... NOPE!!!!!
PayPal completely IGNORES the evidence and after freaking WEEKS they give her the money back!!! I have NO PHONE, NO TRACKING NUMBER, and NO MONEY!!!
WTF!!!
Oh and get this.. "the phone can't be activated because it has ICS...". I literally screamed in anger when I read this. I've activated phones rooted with ICS a million times, and it was in the damn description that it had ICS.
I'm calling PayPal tomorrow and telling them to give me the money, or give me a tracking number, or I'm filing a damn police report.

I used to take up for Paypal when others would report similar issues; but, when it happened to me, I finally understood just how merciless Paypal can be.
I had an old iTunes account floating out there that I forgot to cancel, and also forgot to pull my info from the account. It was totally my fault for leaving the stuff out there like that, I don't deny it, but what happened next forever changed my view of Paypal.
Somehow, someone got ahold of this account, and purchased two iTunes gift cards in the amount of $50 each. As soon as these hit my bank, I contacted Paypal, and explained that I had no idea what was going on. Their reply was that they were freezing my account, and that I needed to contact Apple and try and find out what was going on.
While I was going 'round and 'round with Apple, three more charges went through on my "frozen" account with Paypal. Meanwhile, Paypal support swore up and down that there was no way that someone could use a frozen account.
Finally, Apple found the old account, closed it, and refunded all of the purchases. Paypal never really lifted a finger to help me.

derekwilkinson said:
So here is my absolute HORROR STORY of dealing with PayPal.
I sold a phone on eBay (an Evo with a clean ESN and rooted w/ICS) and the seller emails me a few days later saying the phone can't be activated and they were on the phone with sprint for 3 hours and the "other Evo they bought was able to be activated (wtf? why would they buy two for the same account??)" so I asked them for the ESN number to double check... they give me the serial number. REALLY? You've been on the phone with Sprint for "3 hours" but don't know the damn ESN number??? The person is obviously a LIAR. I eventually get them to give me the ESN (which sprint says they can activate and say they haven't had anyone trying to activate the ESN... proving they are a liar). I ask why they didn't just go to the store since I looked up their address and they had one close by. They ignore the question and say they are going to file a report against me. I say go ahead, thinking paypal will listen to my evidence.... NOPE!!!!!
PayPal completely IGNORES the evidence and after freaking WEEKS they give her the money back!!! I have NO PHONE, NO TRACKING NUMBER, and NO MONEY!!!
WTF!!!
Oh and get this.. "the phone can't be activated because it has ICS...". I literally screamed in anger when I read this. I've activated phones rooted with ICS a million times, and it was in the damn description that it had ICS.
I'm calling PayPal tomorrow and telling them to give me the money, or give me a tracking number, or I'm filing a damn police report.
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I think you are not the only one. This is the leaking of the rule and the buyers do like to take advantages on it...

still the paypal the safest website for internet commerical

i90 said:
still the paypal the safest website for internet commerical
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yeah!

Paypal is a good example of a company that has become too big to care. I've had dozens of problems with them, from bugs in their website, to bs big company politics. Unfortunately, in the end, where else are you gonna go?

Pay pal was a great site. You could look into Amazon Payments.

That sucks man PayPal should at least guarantee that the item gets returned to seller then refund the money. Best of luck
Sent From Galaxy Bigger Than Yours.

I had a paypal account suspended years ago when my sister in law, with the same name as me, screwed someone over on ebay. Same name, same TOWN, so they told me they considered it the same person.
I literally had to convince her to get a scan of her ID and mine to sort it, and it took weeks after the info was sent in.
Since then, I still use it, but I attach it to an account that I ONLY use for paypal and I never leave money in there for longer than I need to for a purchase.

In my experience paypal is all about supporting customers and just pushing aside sellers, which is proven by your case, they just always assume that the seller is some dodgy no code crook when often its the other way round

Yeah, horrible situation. How they can simply refund the purchaser's money without making sure that the seller gets the original item back is beyond ridiculous. Obviously it would take some capital but this would be a great time for someone else to step in and create a secure site.
Would it be possible to implement a system that acts as escrow, holding the buyer's funds electronically until the transaction is complete and only refunding the cost if the original item is first returned to the seller in case of dissatisfaction?

The escow style idea should be the way that it is. I have had to return an item bought via paypal and I was told in order for the seller to get the money back I needed to show proof of shipping with tracking. I had no problem with this, of course. I do know that the money was not pulled from me until I provided this.
I think paypal plays on a case by case basis for some crazy reason, because the stories that you read/hear about often have no real similarities.

I'm glad my dealings with PayPal have been limited to using them as an intermediary for credit card transactions with sketchy sellers (mostly eBay). I'm not giving anyone direct access to my bank account, especially with stories like these... jeeze.

I had many of good and bad experiences with paypal. They've rolled on me and gave my money back to a buyer. Luckily, I got the sold item back.
I had my identity stolen using paypal and they had my back like no other. It overdrew the associated bank acount by 2000 dollars, and not only was it all reimbursed, but they covered my overdraft fees and gave me 200 dollars for the inconvience. I also got the bank to waive the same overdraft fees and came out another 150 dollars ahead.
The cookie crumbles both ways.
Me and paypal are good.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA

Another reason:
Some weird buseniss took some money from account. So I asked paypal to but it back, they did. And then I had to do security check to see of my account was hacked. I had to sent a letter from my bank with adress etc. But I do everything only, so they say to send bill for electricity, but I dont get no bills, I live with my parents. I used paypal 2 years ago for the last time, I was a happy user, but know there are still 50 freaking euros I cant, get back
Galaxy Gio
CM7.2 by phiexz

wow such horrible stories! seems like sometimes we really feel powerless against these big companies right ?

Yeah ik bro. There were multiple times when paypal would just refund the buyer's money and I would end up getting scammed even though the phones/tablets I was selling were perfectly functional. I soon realized after this happened to me twice that paypal is just a plain scam and I stopped selling stuff on ebay.

derekwilkinson said:
So here is my absolute HORROR STORY of dealing with PayPal.
I sold a phone on eBay (an Evo with a clean ESN and rooted w/ICS) and the seller emails me a few days later saying the phone can't be activated and they were on the phone with sprint for 3 hours and the "other Evo they bought was able to be activated (wtf? why would they buy two for the same account??)" so I asked them for the ESN number to double check... they give me the serial number. REALLY? You've been on the phone with Sprint for "3 hours" but don't know the damn ESN number??? The person is obviously a LIAR. I eventually get them to give me the ESN (which sprint says they can activate and say they haven't had anyone trying to activate the ESN... proving they are a liar). I ask why they didn't just go to the store since I looked up their address and they had one close by. They ignore the question and say they are going to file a report against me. I say go ahead, thinking paypal will listen to my evidence.... NOPE!!!!!
PayPal completely IGNORES the evidence and after freaking WEEKS they give her the money back!!! I have NO PHONE, NO TRACKING NUMBER, and NO MONEY!!!
WTF!!!
Oh and get this.. "the phone can't be activated because it has ICS...". I literally screamed in anger when I read this. I've activated phones rooted with ICS a million times, and it was in the damn description that it had ICS.
I'm calling PayPal tomorrow and telling them to give me the money, or give me a tracking number, or I'm filing a damn police report.
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Another example of corruption....
Very sorry for you sir
Sent from a blaze of amazon using Tapatalk

I want this as Compensation nothing more is needed!!!

I want from Google something that will compensate me for the lack of information. I ordered on Tuesday at 8:43 and I have no email stating it shipped or it was back ordered. I don't want money or some free gift. I want a Company the size of google to state they are sorry and explain how mistakes like this happened. Then I want them to state what they are doing on the next product release to avoid this from happening again.

Lil Jones said:
I want from Google something that will compensate me for the lack of information. I ordered on Tuesday at 8:43 and I have no email stating it shipped or it was back ordered. I don't want money or some free gift. I want a Company the size of google to state they are sorry and explain how mistakes like this happened. Then I want them to state what they are doing on the next product release to avoid this from happening again.
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The sense of entitlement is strong with this one.

Id be happy with google credit or a bumper (then I wouldnt get it for even longer)

roughavoc said:
Id be happy with google credit or a bumper (then I wouldnt get it for even longer)
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The bumper is $28 after tax and shipping.

Lil Jones said:
I want from Google something that will compensate me for the lack of information. I ordered on Tuesday at 8:43 and I have no email stating it shipped or it was back ordered. I don't want money or some free gift. I want a Company the size of google to state they are sorry and explain how mistakes like this happened. Then I want them to state what they are doing on the next product release to avoid this from happening again.
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Or else..?

Good luck with that Mr. Jones.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Agree. The lack of customer service, lack of information, and utter disregard for their customers during the process, is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE.
I didn't even get a confirmation email, no updates, no status changes, nothing. I got my order in at 11:35:06am EST.
If it wasn't for the play store account status I wouldn't even know I had an order in!

DDeveryday said:
The bumper is $28 after tax and shipping.
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Apple did it for $30 bumpers + tax and shipping for something that really wasn't even an issue.
I think Google can do it... that is if they're not backordered :fingers-crossed::fingers-crossed:

I am very disappointed, I just called google play for the first time to ask about my order, the CSR had nothing to say, I placed my order 10:56 am CST and I am in limbo. I asked for a supervisor and he could not even cancel my order or provide any information. I have been an amazon customer for years and I have never had an issue, their amazon prime 2 day shipping works flawlessly and their customer service is amazing. I can't believe that google has such poor customer service.

enviii said:
Apple did it for $30 bumpers + tax and shipping for something that really wasn't even an issue.
I think Google can do it... that is if they're not backordered :fingers-crossed::fingers-crossed:
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Let's all keep in mind that the bumpers probably cost $0.50 to make and about $3 or $4 to ship.
And I disagree, it was a big issue for me and anyone who ever had to use their phones where they only had 1 or 2 bars of service. But this isn't the time or place.

I don't know about a public apology but they did botch this royally. I'm not some kid who just can't wait till it gets here. But the miscommunication is extreme. My bumper, might I add that I ordered fifteen minutes later has already shipped. My phone, well it's still pending.
And the supervisor I spoke with is speaking at sixty words a minute assuming he knows my issue and he assumes its that I'm just ready to get it (didn't listen to me at all). The truth is, I waited to call, read all of the help info but the problem is it's been the 2 business days and still it has not shipped. Yet my four hundred dollars had been in holding since Tuesday.
At this point it's not possible for it to arrive in the time frame they quoted when I placed the order. For that, all entitlement aside they failed. So they can't cancel the order, nor tell me when it will even ship. Lol, all they say is " if you don't get tracking today call us back". The SAME thing they said yesterday when I called to confirm my order.
The goal of telephone customer service is one call resolution, not to tell someone to call back and start over tomorrow.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

bscotth said:
The sense of entitlement is strong with this one.
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Yes I do feel entitled to a little bit of information when I purchase product from one of the largest companies in the world and 72 hours later they have no idea if my order has shipped, sitting in some warehouse or back ordered. I had a 390 dollar hold placed on my account and no info as to what is going on.

Please use one of the existing threads or, better yet, take up your issue with Google not XDA.
Closed

Will Sprint HTC One work in Nigeria?

*NOTE: This can be deleted, because I was being a moron. All I had to do was log into my PayPal account and see the funds weren't there, or even pending, and I knew immediately someone was trying to scam me. Should have known sooner, though.
So, I "sold" my HTC One on Craigslist, and the person who bought it apparently wants me to ship it to Nigeria where her son is sttending school; it's for his birthday. She gave me 60 bucks more than I was asking via PayPal, which she stated was for shipping. Aside from not knowing whether the Sprint variant will even work over there (does anyone know?), I can't help but feel uneasy about this whole thing. I guess as long as the funds clear I'm safe, and am under no obligation to (unlike with eBay), to right any wrongs she might point out later down the line. Should I just take the money send the phone and run, or is there something I'm not seeing that could cause legitimate problems?

Oh man that's a big no no. Doing business with people on craigslist who want to pay you through PayPal and Western Union plus wanting you to send it to another country which always seems to be in Africa is almost always a scam. If you read the craiglist faq you might get more info on what they do.
Edit: Glad you caught it

Mwahaha, I remember having one of these for a listing on my Galaxy Tab 10.1. Businessman in Nigeria for his son's birthday. Were it not for the bad English, they actually had a reasonably convincing-looking PayPal e-mail notification (which failed Google's trusted vendor mail check, sure, but it was good nevertheless).

Lancerz said:
Oh man that's a big no no. Doing business with people on craigslist who want to pay you through PayPal and Western Union plus wanting you to send it to another country which always seems to be in Africa is almost always a scam. If you read the craiglist faq you might get more info on what they do.
Edit: Glad you caught it
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Actually, the PayPal thing was my idea. It was my way to get a higher dollar amount for the phone, kind of like what some gas stations do with credit-based sales. In my case I asked $425 cash or $450 via PayPal. Maybe I should stick with cash and local sales, though.
And this scammer was the same deal, Rirere, except it was a woman sending to her son. I Googled the mailing address faux PayPal sent me and found other people who had also almost been ripped off.

It's a good idea to always deal in cash, locally, and meet at a sprint store. Unless you are selling on ebay, doing it this way will cover both seller and buyer.