# A warning to all Gumtree users



## Shuggy22 (Sep 14, 2012)

I recently made an ad on gumtree attempting to 
sell my canoe. A person with the email [email='[email protected]]'[email protected][/email]' 
then proceeded to contact me with a story that the canoe would be for his son 
just graduating Uni
and that he worked in the mines and couldnt view the item himself.
So he was going to plan for a (what he called) 'pickup agent' to transport the item
this was all alright as he supposedly lived in Darwin.

He then turned around and started telling me that he had transferred the cost of the canoe
plus $950 with pay pal to my bank account.
The conditions on the (FAKE YES FAKE!) Paypal reciept were that I had to first send 
$950 to some person in Beijing China (apparently the pick up agents international HQ).
May I note this reciept had PayPal logo on it as well as my bank logo on it and 
looked very legit bar the strange conditions and fact they called it a bank not a building 
society which is what the institution is.

Needless to say he is definitely full of it!
Things that first made me suspiscous were the fact that he kept referring to the 
canoe as my "gumtree listing" never once called it a canoe, and kept asking Q's 
that already were stated in the ad ie. condition of item, listed price.

reported it all to bank and federal police and scam watch though i doubt there is much they can do.
Anyway just want ppl to have a heads up am closing my bank account just to be 
safe but BE AWARE!

Cheers
Hugh


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## wilson191 (Sep 22, 2012)

Someone tried a simmalar thing to me when i was selling my car on there.


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## Bretto (May 23, 2010)

Someone (as in a compliance branch within a relevant jurisdiction) needs to start making examples of these guys.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

This is a pretty old scam and continues to run on all the online sales sites such as car sales, boat sales etc. I received the exact same style of email when trying to sell a car about a year ago but smelt a rat on the second reply and found a guide to selling safely and securely on the carsales.com.au website with examples of scam emails including this one. Sadly, as Gee said, the authorities are hamstrung by current legislation but are pushing for moves in the right direction, maybe one day these guys will get caught but sadly I don't think it will be for a while yet, so it's just a case of seller beware and report to gumtree admin so they can ban this URL only for it reappear as another the next day....

Just remember, if the deal offered sounds too good to be true, it's probably a scam.

Kev


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## geebz (Mar 24, 2009)

Had similar issues selling my car on drive.com.au. We didnt even list it on drive, it turned up after putting an add in the tradingpost or one of those sites. We kept getting numerous emails. All were poorly written with statements likes..

"I very much like your item. I would like to purchase your item. I can pay postage."

I dont think they make post packs for 1.5 ton cars.


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## yakkin (Feb 25, 2013)

yep they are alll over the net, if you look closely at the fake paypal reciept it will be missing one dot out of the web address or something small like that, had someone try and do it with a bike I was selling on gumtree,


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## Salty Dog (Sep 18, 2005)

Similar experience with [email protected] - asked for my Paypal/bank details. Told him cash only after he had inspected the kayak because of the scams on Gumtree. He asked for my Paypal/bank details again. Told him to bugger off.

I wasn't aware of the scams before getting mails from this supposed buyer. They didn't read right, so I Googled Gumtree scams & what do you know, this guy's email address came up.


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## Shuggy22 (Sep 14, 2012)

Too right big kev thought it sounded too good from the beginning, 
so was already a little suss.

Geebz love the attempted postage on the car HAHA!


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## smurf (Mar 6, 2013)

Hey guys,

I've just joined up, but I'd like to pitch in on this topic. 
I currently am working in the IT industry, as a security engineer. 
I deal with all the nasty things on the internet, and methods to detect and block them.

I've had an amount of experience dealing with spams and scams, even before joining the security industry, as I'm an avid online shopper. 
These scams are usually fairly obvious to pick, and have been highlighted well in this thread.

Things to watch for with fake receipts etc, are as previously said, a slightly modified URL, and the attention to detail that is missed, eg Calling a building society a bank. 
These scams will also keep all email conversation very vague about the item, eg won't refer to it as a canoe, or even a car, but will call it a listing etc.

It's probably been said a million times, but with bank deposits/paypal payments, wait until that payment has cleared before posting anything. And not just a balance in your paypal account, if it is a big ticket item like a car or boat, wait until that money has been withdrawn to your bank account before releasing the title of the item.

Cash on pickup is always a good option, but there are also thugs that will try to pressure and intimidate you into reducing your price etc. 
I've also had reports of people sending there address to a potential buyer to view an item, and then being robbed that night.

These are some of the many traps to look out for. 
As I'm reasonably knowledgeable on the subject, if you do suspect you may be getting scammed etc, or are just a little unsure, drop me a PM and I can check it out for you. No warranties obviously, even the best of us can miss some, but I'll do my best to help out.

Cheers,

smurf.


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## yakkin (Feb 25, 2013)

Great info and offer of services, but if you can do a google search on gumtree scams and this guys email address comes up why hasn't something been done about them??
What more info would you need for some action to actually take place, just seems really easy for them to keep doing this even though the host site has already been alerted of them. :?


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## Deefa (Dec 22, 2012)

Gumtree really is for local pickup only, but as mentioned some low lifes will scan your place and inform their criminal mates. 
Always a good idea to have an angry dog pulled away from the front door if someone is coming round to inspect or pick up an item, and have the item on the front porch and don't invite unknowns into your house or round the back.


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## yakkin (Feb 25, 2013)

I call my "dog" winchester, nah his names stumpy, winchesters his backup. :lol:


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## smurf (Mar 6, 2013)

The problem with tracking down and prosecuting these scammers is massive. 
For starters, they can be hard to find. They usually use a gmail account. So the very best you could get from Google would be an IP address that logged in. 
This can be spoofed, or you can route your login via multiple different locations, so the IP is of little use. 
Even if it was their home inter IP, you would need the police to goto that ISP and request details of the culprit. 
This is where it gets really tricky. For eg. The Aus police, would need to contact the Chinese police/govt , and have them request the details of the culprit. 
The Chinese police really don't care, and AFAIK are within their rights to flatly refuse the request.

The scams are here to stay, the only option is to become better educated in how to spot them.


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## Salty Dog (Sep 18, 2005)

One of the things that tipped me off was the language that they used - didn't sound like a real buyer from the start which is why I told them cash on pick up only.


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## DennisT (Jan 2, 2012)

Guy by the name of Larry Davies tried to scam me a few weeks back .

After I figured out what was going on ( quite early in the proceedings ) I strung him along for a while then turned the tables by telling him I don't actually sell kayaks and that I am the son of Nigerian royalty and that I wanted to share my fortune with him because he was so awesome.

Would have loved to have seen his face when he read it .


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

gra said:


> While not isolated to Gumtree, for some reason it seems prolific there. I've been selling used audio gear on Gumtree for a few months and I'm not sure there's been a single item I've advertised that hasn't prompted a text from a scammer. Same on Carsales, Bikesales etc. Never on ebay, dont know why. I love it, I play with them for a while before emailing a photo of my arsehole.


So they can recognise you when they pick up the item?
Oh wait, you're stalking about the scammers ... Got it ...


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## geebz (Mar 24, 2009)

DennisT said:


> After I figured out what was going on ( quite early in the proceedings ) I strung him along for a while then turned the tables by telling him I don't actually sell kayaks and that I am the son of Nigerian royalty and that I wanted to share my fortune with him because he was so awesome.
> 
> Would have loved to have seen his face when he read it .


There have been some truely epic scam baiting sagas floating around the net. Its insane some of the lengths these guys will go to in order to con money out of people.

Here's an article about a few scam baiting operations...

http://listverse.com/2010/09/11/10-great-scam-baiting-operations/


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

gra said:


> Ouch man, did you just give me the Hoppa?


Hoffa, jimmy
Buried underneath


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## spork (Jan 21, 2012)

I had some pricks try the pay-pal / collection agent scam when I sold my bike on gumtree.
I ignored most and played with one.
He soon seemed to loose interest when I told him I was banned from pay-pal due to past indiscretions, but was happy for his collection agent to meet with my sales / debt collection agent at a time and location of my choice. :lol:


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## SharkNett (Feb 20, 2006)

Like everyone else I have had a few scammers when selling as well. To avoid the breakins when doing cash deals I have always arranged to meet somewhere like a public park or outside a pub. If they think that sounds too dodgy they don't have to show up.


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## Ray (Aug 26, 2012)

If your unsure try this site http://www.scamdex.com I have used a number of classified ad sites selling everything from lawn Bowls to realestate and every ad we get some prawn trying one on, the latest was on an old XF ford we were selling and its the same scam as most of you have experienced, the site above I found very useful and even named the person involved who hapens to be a bloke called Daved Edmond who lives in USA and is up on all sorts of scam charges. Try useing this site if your not sure and also try a mobile phone number lookup service, theres a couple of free ones out there, if you get there number and they never answer you can be sure its a scam.......cheers Ray


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## mattbris10 (Mar 3, 2012)

A familiar story, I am trying to sell my kayak that I bought off a fellow akff member (liam8227) but unfortunately do not have the post count to list it here. It's unfortunate the crap you have to deal with using gumtree, but is a fact of life these days.

"Thanks for mailing back,am ok with the price and the condition,am
buying it for my vacation,because i'll be coming soon from our rig as
am a petroleum engineer on a rig offshore,i won't be able to come
for the inspection due to the nature of my work,i would have love to
call in person but our satellite server has been down which restrict
our calls.i will be paying you through PayPal,pls get back to me with
your PayPal details so i can proceed with the payment and contact the
courier agent who will come to pick it up and deliver it in my place.I
would appreciate if you email me with more pictures (if available) too
since i won't be be able to see this in person,what's the PayPal email
to send funds to in order for me to pay you ASAP,And if you don't have
a paypal account, it is very easy to set up, go to www.paypal.com.au
and get it set up or you send me your BSB and account number so i can
pay you from my paypal merchant account"


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## CET (Dec 19, 2012)

If you provide someone with your BSB and Account number, they cannot access any money in that account. It is a common way of paying and these details often appear on the bottom of invoices so clients can make payments.

This could be a genuine buyer.

Pete


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## mattbris10 (Mar 3, 2012)

Hi Pete, unfortunately in this case it matches the standard gumtree scam too closely.

-	Offshore worker
-	Can't inspect
-	Can't call on the phone
-	Using a courier to pick up

Search in google for gumtree paypal scam to see the results.


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## gcfisho (Oct 31, 2009)

Thanks for starting this thread.I often use gumtree and ebay and have been lucky to date but I learnt some good stuff here.


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## CET (Dec 19, 2012)

Thanks for your comments on my post Gra
But, what I wrote is right.
You shouldn't say I'm wrong because of something I didn't write.

Cheers
Pete


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## Guest (Mar 13, 2013)

http://www.419eater.com/html/letters.htm have a walk through here one day when you have too much time on your hands. Some of them are simply awesome.


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## exp2000 (Jul 9, 2011)

I saw a current affairs show once where this elderly lady had given over a million dollars to Nigerian scammers.

The producers arranged a meet and flew her to Nigeria where she watched the police enter the room and arrest the scammer right in front of her.

Her reaction: she turned on the current affairs crew present and just about assaulted them!

Despite the evidence of her own eyes she actually refused to believe it!

People don't like having their dreams destroyed.
~


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## shell225 (Feb 6, 2013)

I sadly have had these tossers try and make fake orders from my business, it used to be about once a month, seems weekly now.

My standard reply is that I don't give a rats about their financial dealings, that I don't care how they intend to collect the goods or pay their agent, its not any of my business. If they want my goods they need to pay a deposit, print my invoice/description, sign it, date it, scan it and email it back. I also tell them that I'll be checking the Drivers Licence of the person collecting the merchandise.

If it was Gumtree, I'd be inclined to tell them to paypal/transfer/deposit/IOU/whatever the $$ into their agents/brother/second cousin's account andthey can pay cash when they collect the goods. I'd have the agent sign for the goods and I'd be checking photo ID.

It's around that time they stop emailing. They are just time wasters, you want genuine buyers not people who take up your time. Selling things should be easy, someone likes them, they buy them.


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## toeknee1969 (Jul 8, 2012)

Great advice. As always, use best judgement and common sense.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I've nearly been sucked in by a fake email made to look like it was from Paypal. It happens for a few days after I've made a purchase in ebay using paypal. They're always telling me I need to update my details on Paypal and have a link to a site which looks like Paypal.

I wondered how my details could be wrong when I'd just successfully purchased something but the penny finally dropped when I realised I was getting these emails via an email address that isn't linked to my Paypal account. Now I just ignore those emails but I can see how it would be very easy for people, the likes of my parents, who aren't experienced with doing things online. My mum is always ringing me and asking me whether she should open the email she got from Telstra, Symantec, Paypal, whoever.


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## exp2000 (Jul 9, 2011)

I am so cautious that sometimes that I sometimes disregard genuine Paypal posts!
~


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## premium (Nov 23, 2011)

Got one Via text the other day...










For some reason I never heard back!


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