Just wondering if someone is trying to scam me.

[cyberdan]

I have 5 pounds of SIM cards listed on ebay for $300. He messaged me what can I do and put his coded email in the message. I figuered it out and sent him as email with an offer of $262.50 he agreed and i told him I would like a postal money order. He said he doesn't feel comfortable sending that since he does not know me.

So far i understand. I point out I have almost 600 in ebay feedback with 100% and that he has zero and joined ebay last week. (3-25-14)

He either wants me to go the full ebay/paypal route or send him a paypal invoice "to save ebay fees"

His use of ebay messaging and avoidance of going through ebay (along with zero f/b and 1 with week ebay experience) is throwing up several red flags.

I am wondering if going through paypal only (via an invoice, then shipping after payment) can come back and bite my a$$. I will get a sig confirmation.

Any body heard of any scams fitting this description or is this guy just leary sending a MO to someone he does not know.

 

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[cheese]

I think I'd tell the guy that you want to go through ebay and invoice him the $262.50 plus 12% or so for ebay/paypal fees. It's against ebay policy to do this outside of them and it might end up in a suspension of your account, depending on how serious they take it. They wouldn't have found you if it weren't for ebay, so let them get their fees for the transaction and in return you will get the protection of doing the transaction through ebay.

 

[jerseyben]

Avoid!

 

[cyberdan]

Avoid!

Yes, I think I will avoid the non-ebay route.

I did some research on the guy which makes me feel a bit better.
So easy to track down

male
late 20's
vincentown, NJ
recycles electronics for gold
sells used phones on craigslist
TV, computer repairman
worked for Verizon at one time
I have complete name, address and phone number.

claims he bought an item on ebay 2 weeks ago (his account is 1 week old)

 

[diggummup]

Probably okay but I would avoid an off ebay sale since it is currently listed on there. However, it is safe to sell things though through paypal only, as long as you follow their guidelines for seller protection. Here they are- https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/seller-protection-learn-more

I made several deals via paypal last year, including one for more than $2000, no problems.

 

[jerseyben]

Yes, I think I will avoid the non-ebay route.

I did some research on the guy which makes me feel a bit better.
So easy to track down

male
late 20's
vincentown, NJ
recycles electronics for gold
sells used phones on craigslist
TV, computer repairman
worked for Verizon at one time
I have complete name, address and phone number.

claims he bought an item on ebay 2 weeks ago (his account is 1 week old)

Funny... Not too far from me. A lot of escrap people in my neck of the woods though.

 

[Joe777Cool]

I have heard stories, from a very reliable source - with over 8,000 feedback - that if eBay catches someone doing this type of stuff, account suspension/termination can be the tip of the iceberg.

eBay owns paypal - they arent stupid - dont do it!

 

[cyberdan]

eBay owns paypal - they arent stupid - dont do it!

I have already sent a message to him to make an offer and it will be accepted and I set the auction that he has to pay right away.

 

[Peyton Manning]

Yes, I think I will avoid the non-ebay route.

I did some research on the guy which makes me feel a bit better.
So easy to track down

male
late 20's
vincentown, NJ
recycles electronics for gold
sells used phones on craigslist
TV, computer repairman
worked for Verizon at one time
I have complete name, address and phone number.

claims he bought an item on ebay 2 weeks ago (his account is 1 week old)

good gracious, are you NSA? hope you don't post details about me

 

[cyberdan]

good gracious, are you NSA? hope you don't post details about me

No just an ex-cop that likes to sniff things out.

I would never post anything personal about anyone, just remember EVERYTHING ever posted stays up forever.

OH, I take it back. Several years ago on the Coin Roll Hunting forum there was some kid posing as a gangster rapper annoying everyone. I outed him as some white teen kid. His name was Pat. You old timers may remember him.

 

[GibH]

No just an ex-cop that likes to sniff things out.

I would never post anything personal about anyone, just remember EVERYTHING ever posted stays up forever.

OH, I take it back. Several years ago on the Coin Roll Hunting forum there was some kid posing as a gangster rapper annoying everyone. I outed him as some white teen kid. His name was Pat. You old timers may remember him.

Reminds me of the early days on IRC chat. The wannabe hacker script kiddies would use bots to flood chat rooms and use net splits to try and take over channels. We started tracking them down and calling their parents. Not a lot of people knew how to trace an IP address back then. It was funny as hell, one of the kids father was Indian and a professor at one of the state universities. I spoke to him one night and the kid was on the next night apologizing profusely. His father thought we must be Mafia to be able to trace him.

 

[cyberdan]

No just an ex-cop that likes to sniff things out.

I would never post anything personal about anyone, just remember EVERYTHING ever posted stays up forever.

OH, I take it back. Several years ago on the Coin Roll Hunting forum there was some kid posing as a gangster rapper annoying everyone. I outed him as some white teen kid. His name was Pat. You old timers may remember him.

My post brought back some memories of the hunt. But i got my facts wrong. I looked up my post info it was Jan 2008, so it had been a few years. If any of you old timers were on CHR forum back then here is a repost of my post. photos are long gone.

The secret life of Patrick Earl Houston

First let me say Patrick Earl Houston is a real CRHer and I can prove it. I have read that some of you do not think he is one of our own, but he is.

Here is a shot of one of Patrick Earl Houston's most recent sales on ebay. "5000 ($50) 1959-1982 Lincoln Copper Cents $125 melt" was the title. It took a lot of CRHing to get that many. He is a good eBayer Power seller with a feed back score of over 1400 and 99.6% positive.

pat-1

He has other hobbies also. Here is some of Patrick Earl Houston's stamp and basketball card collection. (photos taken by Pat)

pat-2
pat-3

I think we all remember Patrick Earl Houston's redneck comment about how he marks his halves. Most of those JFKs do seen to have red permanent marker on them. (another photo by Pat)

pat-4

Here is another shot of a cat we all remember from a post made last week by Patrick Earl Houston. He sure does know how to get those halves and he doesn't even have to re-roll them. Looks like I see at least $1000 waiting to be returned to one of his favorite dump banks.

pat-5
He is also a great photographer he used to have a PhotoSmart camera but now uses a Canon Powershot camera. Here is a photo Patrick Earl Houston took while holding a crayfish.

pat-6

Whoa there, back up the BRINKS TRUCK!!!
That doesn't look like the hand of an ex-con rapper. That looks more like the chalkie hand of it's owner who had the old Treasure Net screen name of benlee66 before he did a reverse michael jackson.
That looks like the hand of Ben G_ _ _ _ _ _ _ who is in his late 20's and lives in a suburb of Atlanta, GA I even bet his phone number might be 678-401-_ _ _ _

Enough fooling around, I didn't finish Ben's name or phone number for his privacy. I am sure most, if not all, of this info is accurate. I thought about not posting this, some of you will not like it. Others (most I hope) will get a chuckle. Some of us have enjoyed sparring with Patrick, I mean Ben for the last few months.
If Patrick/Ben had not brought that old string (started by that obnoxious DON'T TRIP) back from the dead I would not have seen that one tip in there that led to my search. Thank you Patrick/Ben.

P.S. DON'T TRIP you just may be next to come out of the closet.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

As long as it is a safe method of payment, I accept it.. You want that money right ?

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[cyberdan]

OK, I adjusted my ebay auction so he could buy it at the price we agreed on and pay through paypal.
I have now messaged him and emailed him and he never bought.

Somehow this was going to be a scam. Probably claiming he never got the item. He must have figuered if he sent me a money order it could never be traced as him even ordering.

Oh well, I still have 5 pounds of SIMs to sell. Actually I have a lot more than that.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Honestly, people can use their creative methods all they want. I will most likely accept if they sincere and honest about it . If not I really prefer not to deal with them at all, people who do things by the book work out smoother. They will likely have alternative ways of doing other things down the road too. So its likely best this transaction fell through anyway. What would someone do with the SIM cards ? They got gold in them ? I'm sure you'll flip them.

Keep @ It and HH !!

 

[Omega]

Yes, I think I will avoid the non-ebay route.

I did some research on the guy which makes me feel a bit better.
So easy to track down

male
late 20's
vincentown, NJ
recycles electronics for gold
sells used phones on craigslist
TV, computer repairman
worked for Verizon at one time
I have complete name, address and phone number.

claims he bought an item on ebay 2 weeks ago (his account is 1 week old)

Kinda creepy, where did you get all that info? lol

 

[diggummup]

Kinda creepy, where did you get all that info? lol

Read the thread. Reply number 10.

 

[Omega]

Read the thread. Reply number 10.

If I didn't read the thread, how could I have quoted him?

 

[cyberdan]

Kinda creepy, where did you get all that info? lol

evey search is a little different. I use google mostly. first enter a name and try to associate it with some other info you know. many people use the same handle on different forums. you just have to dig.

 

[cyberdan]

4-14-14 UPDATE

Well the guy never bought so I write it off and keep the 5 pounds up for sale.

This morning I got an offer of $250 for the SIMS. Thats fair and I make a little money, so I accept. After lunch I look to see if this bidder has paid, not yet. The bidders name looks familier with zero feedback so I looked at me old messages and it's the same guy.

lets see if he pays on this one, it's only been 8 hours.