Classified Advert SCAM!! [Archive] - MINI Cooper Forum - MINI2 Mini Cooper Forums

: Classified Advert SCAM!!


andymcmanus6617
May 27th, 2012, 06:14 PM
Hi ther all,

I have an advert on the classifieds and today i got an e-mail contact from khotmiller@yahoo.com asking about my Mini, saying they wanted it at full asking price and will pay by paypal.s

The message was not in very good english with a few grammatical mistakes. A bit unsure, i replied requesting full name, address, contact number etc and whether or not they were private or trade buyer.

The reply i got contained none of the requested information, but asked me for my paypal e-mail address, mobile number and paypal user name. Again the grammar was poor and the person claimed to be an 'oceanographer' working in the pacific off West Africa (strange that the Atlantic is off West Africa, not the pacific) and was buying the car for their dad as a suprise.

Now even more unsure I googled the e-mail address and there are many instances of khotmiller@yahoo.com being scammers and theives from Africa (Nigeria) who are trying to take hold of peoples paypal accounts etc.

I have not replied since, and checked that my paypal account is in order. Hopefully they cant do anything with just my email address and name as to change passwords etc in paypal you have to confirm your full bank details or card details.


**JUST WANTED EVERYONE TO BE AWARE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE ADVERITSING ON ANY CLASSIFIEDS!!**

andymcmanus6617
May 27th, 2012, 06:15 PM
Please excuse my spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes in that post!!

lasjca
Jun 3rd, 2012, 12:35 PM
The lengths scammers go to! It's a good job you had your suspicions, I dread to think of how many people they have scammed!

Liam mini 35
Jun 4th, 2012, 08:14 AM
Funny i had the same e-mail the other day aswell. I didn't reply as i thought it was a bit dodgy.

tarayislandgirl
Jul 15th, 2012, 07:48 PM
I know this post is a bit old now but I just have to respond. This sounds sooooooo familiar. About a month ago, I was selling my old car. Same story. First email was the same; bad grammar, odd names which sound 'western' but don't match the tone of the email. They'd ask me my 'best selling price', leave no telephone number and not ask any details about the car. I got instantly suspicious but maintained my politeness by replying with something non-committal but still open to a sale in case they were genuine but just couldn't speak English well. Sure enough, time after time, it was the same. I'd say I won't sell unless I meet the person and they'd had a chance to drive the car and the responses always came back with them not being available because they were oceanographers or marine biologists or unable to come see it because of work. But they'd always tell me that they were happy with my asking price and were buying it for his wife/son/daughter and asking PayPal information as its the safest form of payment for both parties.

Take heed all. PayPal is NOT the safe option for sellers. There are loads of scare stories about how much people abuse the PayPal system and even loopholes in the bankers draft system. Scary stuff that these scammers do.

Another word of warning, the scammers are also getting smarter. The English is getting better and they've started realising that people are picking them out better. If there is ANY doubt, be careful

The Nun
Jul 15th, 2012, 08:21 PM
All very familiar and all of similar theme, these things crop up so often, I had one last year, some bloke from outer mongolia wanting to know if I would like to buy his wife or something.
Her name was probably MINI HA HA , he would be the one laughing all the way to the bank though, no one else.

Madpig
Jul 15th, 2012, 09:28 PM
All very familiar and all of similar theme, these things crop up so often, I had one last year, some bloke from outer mongolia wanting to know if I would like to buy his wife or something.
Her name was probably MINI HA HA , he would be the one laughing all the way to the bank though, no one else.

Makes me wonder now if the enquiry I had for my Fiesta was a scammer rather than a time waster....somebody emailed me asking what I would take for a quick sale so I just replied asking them what they were offering.....

Strangely enough there was no response but no matter.......car's sold and I've now got my new baby:cool: