Published: Wednesday, 26th March, 2008 12:00
Scam proves costly for Alloa eBay seller
By Bob Lovik
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Linda Conroy with the dodgy cheque which could have ended up costing her even more money.
Pic by: Jan van der Merwe
AN ALLOA woman who fell prey to an elaborate scam on the popular internet auction website eBay is sending out a warning to Clackmannanshire residents so they don’t suffer the same fate.
When Linda Conroy was contacted by a ‘Rose Collins’ offering to buy the Nokia N81 8GB mobile phone she had placed on auction, she was thrilled.
In a message to Linda, ‘Rose’ told her that she wanted to skip the auction process and buy the mobile phone immediately as a birthday gift for her husband in Africa.
Linda had set opening bids for the state-of-the-art phone at £250, but ‘Rose’ was offering £400.
For experienced eBay sellers, this may have seemed like a “too good to be true” scenario and ignored the offer – but this was Linda’s first time selling an item on eBay. Not having been through the selling process before, Linda proceeded cautiously.
In the initial offer to buy the mobile, ‘Rose’ said that she would pay £400 into Linda’s PayPal account and that when Linda received confirmation of the payment, she should send the phone immediately to an address in Nigeria.
PayPal is used by millions of people around the world and is considered to be a safe way of sending and receiving money.
Linda then received an email which appeared to be from PayPal telling her that £400 had been received as payment for the mobile. The PayPal message looked authentic and it put Linda’s mind at ease.
She was told that it would take two to five business days for the transaction to go through. Feeling confident things were going along legitimately, Linda posted the phone.
The PayPal email, however, was a clever and convincing fake.
Linda told the Advertiser, “It was the first time I’d ever sold anything and I didn’t know if an offer outside of the bidding like this was unusual. I’ve used PayPal before and there was nothing to indicate it was a fake. It looked genuine.
“I was cautious and even sent a message to ‘Rose’ asking if this was a scam. She replied saying I should look at her positive eBay user records for proof of her honesty. That checked out and, combined with the PayPal message, everything seemed legitimate.”
Linda then paid £34.80 to ship the phone to Nigeria. The real scam, however, was just starting.
Linda received another email from ‘Rose’ in which she explained that her PayPal account had been hacked into and could she send Linda a cheque for £400 instead.
Linda gave ‘Rose’ her address to send the cheque to, and it quickly arrived in the post. The amount on the cheque was for £1500, which came as a surprise to Linda who, by now, had realised something was not right.
Linda received another email from ‘Rose’ who explained that her secretary had accidentally confused amounts and that the £1500 was for her son’s school fees.
‘Rose’ then asked if Linda could deposit the cheque and send back the difference – £1100.
There was no way Linda was going to fall for this. She realised the £1500 cheque from ‘Rose’ would bounce and she’d be left £1100 out of pocket.
However, the whole experience had proved expensive.
Linda said, “Between the phone, shipping and phone calls at £1.50 a minute to PayPal customer services, I’ve lost about £500. If I deposited the cheque and sent ‘Rose’ back the money she’d asked for, I would have lost another £1100.
“I’ve been scammed. I want to make people aware of what can actually happen and that PayPal emails can be faked. Losing the phone wasn’t the scam. Sending the cheque is the scam.”
Clackmannanshire trading standards officer Hugh Hamilton told the Advertiser that when con-artists create spoof websites, it is easy for people to fall victim.
He said, “We always advise people to use caution on websites like eBay, especially when you are dealing with people in countries that are far afield.
“Make sure you use secure websites and receive the money, not just a confirmation of payment, before sending away your goods.
“Spoof bank and PayPal websites are more and more common and alarm bells should ring if someone is offering too much or sending the wrong amount in a cheque. If it appears too good to be true, then it will be.”
Linda told the Advertiser that scammers take advantage of high priced goods for sale that haven’t received any bids.
An offer is made and then a fraudulent PayPal proof of payment message is sent.
Unfortunately for Linda, she learned too late how to confirm where an email came from. By checking the email’s properties, the real source of the email can be seen.
Linda added, “I hope someone can learn from this. It would be awful if a parent was selling something to make a little money for something like Christmas gifts for their children.
“If folk are made aware of these scams, hopefully something like that won’t happen.”
For more information on the different kinds of internet scams, visit www.scamsonebay.com for tips on what to look for and how to avoid being a victim.
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