Craigslist and paypal payments scams?

[nbo10]

Hi all, I have a question for all the tech savy people out there. I'm selling a few things on craiglist. I talked to a buyer on the phone that lives about 100 miles away. We agreed on a price and I told him I will ship the item after the funds have cleared. Then he asked if we could use paypal for payment. Are there any scams out there with paypal? Could he withdrawal his payment after I ship the item? What happens if a stolen CC is used to pay the payment? I'm sure paypal isn't going to eat the couple hundred dollars if the CC wants their money back. I know about fraud with cashier checks and stuff, but how safe is paypal? Thanks

 

[sandbanana]

I have had someone send me "official" emails from pay pal letting me know that payment was sent and that I should ship the item. It also showed me a balance of sorts of his/her account. Not to mention they had precalculated shipping costs for me and when I did it for myself the amounts did not match. Thats what set red flags off for me. Oh yeah (now that I am looking at the emails again) one that said contacting pay pal is not needed. Big red flag.

I immediately went to pay pal and checked on my account and sure enough there were no records of any activity whatsoever. After digging around google and the pay pal site I found a program that shows an icon of the site it was sent from to verify that it is in fact an official email.

I forget where exactly but its on pay pal's site. I'd probably start by looking around the security faqs or general faqs.

Also, pay pal will address you by the name on the account in an email sent from them. The fake ones sent to me were addressed to my email. And any attempts to have you send the item immediately or urgently or whatever may cause concern.

Here is a picture of the email that got me wondering.

Also, if you do get a suspected fraudulent email, don't click any links!

edit: The program is called Iconix.

 

[FlexGunship]

Hi all, I have a question for all the tech savy people out there. I'm selling a few things on craiglist. I talked to a buyer on the phone that lives about 100 miles away. We agreed on a price and I told him I will ship the item after the funds have cleared.

The whole point of Craigslist is that you don't ship things. In fact, their motto is "save money by dealing locally." Anytime I purchase something on CL, or sell something on CL, I insist on making the transaction happen face-to-face.

Usually this means meeting somewhere neutral (like a gas station).

I've never been a victim of CL fraud, and no one has ever complained about any of my dealings with them. Otherwise, just use eBay.

 

[Office_Shredder]

To add to sandbanana's advice: The first suspicion should have come when an email from paypal had an address ending in @mail2consultant.com.

Also if you are suspicious of any links, when you hover your mouse over them the actual URL that they will direct you to will appear in the bottom left corner of your browser usually (maybe bottom right or something depending on the browser). If you have an email from paypal, every address they direct you to should be a paypal.com address

 

[nbo10]

Thanks for the input. I've done some fact checking and the guy seems to check out. His name was in the phone book at the address he gave. His phone number was registered to him and his wife, or at least his name popped up on the caller id. The guy's grammar is good and speaks english well, so I don't think he is a nigerian :). I think I'll go through with the transaction. It seems like paypal has some "seller protection" policy as long as you get a signature confirmation when the item ships.

 

[JaredJames]

I wouldn't worry when using paypal.

A few points:

If you are paid with paypal, they send you the money and you simply log in and check your account and if the money is in your paypal account, it's yours. They can't touch it, they can't get it back.

The only thing they can do is file a complaint saying they didn't receive it and then paypal may refund them, but only if you can't prove the item was sent. So you should use a postal service which provides tracking information.

Aside from that, there's not much else for you to know.

 

[Danger]

I use PayPal exclusively when buying anything on-line, including my PF dues. The depicted message is crap. When my payment has cleared, I get a printable receipt e-mailed to me by name, including my actual physical address. It's a very simple message with no graphics. Anything else reeks of a scam.
(I occasionally get an e-mail advertising some discount or other, but its still done on a name basis.)

 

[Dr Lots-o'watts]

I've made many (>100) transactions (I sold collectibles) on eBay, of which most payments were made through paypal, and I've never had any problems (was I lucky?). Of course, eBay does have a system to help you screen good from bad before payment is made. IIRC, once the funds are in your paypal account, you can immediately transfer in your real bank account if you want, and ship afterward.

There are some who use the paypal name to scam you, but paypal themselves are unrelated, and have quite a good reputation, being tightly bounded to eBay, which is on the NASDAQ.

As for someone using another's credit card, well that could happen anywhere, not only through internet.

I know nothing of craiglist though.

 

[ellamarie]

NO, he can't take back his payment if he already send the payment to you.