Nigerian eBay Scam – Victim lost $8700 for selling PS3 on EBay
Nigerian Scam - Sold PS3 and lost $8700
An unfortunate single mother was scammed into sending $8700 to a Nigerian who claimed to represent Western Australia’s government’s consumer protection agency.
The elaborate scam began when someone placed a fake bid on her Ebay item, which was a Playstation3, games and movies for $250.
After receiving a fake Paypal email falsely stating that the funds had been transferred, the bogus buyer asked for the items to be sent to Nigeria. He then asked her to pay for the shipping charges and customs duty and he would transfer the cost via PayPal.
The victim suspected it was a scam after receiving another fake Paypal email stating that the funds for the shipment had been transferred, and another email with fake custom forms for the shipment. She then contacted the Consumer Protection which told her to stop dealing with the fraudsters.
After forwarding the email received from the Consumer Protection to the scammers, she received an email fraudulently claiming to be from Western Australia ScamNet which contained government logo’s, explaining that she should fully co-operate with the Nigerian Authorities.
The scam continued when she received a fake email claiming to be from Ebay and stating that the case has been reported to the Nigerian Police and explained that the fraudster had been arrested.
The victim was then sent an email claiming to be from the Nigerian Police stating that the courts and the Nigerian government had awarded her $250’000 compensation.
A document was then posted to her claiming that the funds was in the process of being transferred into her account, however she needed to pay a release fee of $US7000 before the funds could be deposited into her account.
After paying the ‘release fee’ she received nothing and had lost a total of $8700. She told the Consumer Protection in Perth who explained to her that she had been conned.
She told a staff member that the whole experience had left her feeling “violated”.
“If we go on eBay again, I’m not selling anything to overseas,” she said.
“This is our first time and it’s my last time.
7 Responses to “Nigerian eBay Scam – Victim lost $8700 for selling PS3 on EBay”
stupid woman y r people still being scammed like this?
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AshleyJuddWannaBe Reply:
May 13th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Ignorance has nothing to do with the level of intelligence of someone. The internet is new for the older generation.
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momofone Reply:
May 15th, 2010 at 10:36 am
I agree as some people just dont understand the internet and think emails are just like letters
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poor thing! could buy a lot of diapers for $8700
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Great post.
Perhaps I can just add to this that the best way to guard against being ripped off by online sales or auctions of any kind, Craigslist and eBay included—and whether seller or buyer—is to use a *bona fide* online escrow company. Especially for pricier items like antiques, jewelry and autos. Although it does add some cost, it takes the uncertainty out of the transaction, and that’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.
For my money, the best bona fide online escrow (and there seems to be ten fraudulent escrow sites for every bona fide one) is probably Escrow.com (http://escrow.com). In fact, it’s the only one that eBay recommends, and is the only online escrow company that is licensed to provide escrow services all across the United States.
Take care,
Ulf Wolf
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Admin Jay Reply:
May 19th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Thanks for the information Ulf – good to know
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All I can say is what an idiot! Greed got the better of her! Why on earth did she think she would be entitled to $250,000 compensation for anything that had happened to her?
If she hadn’t been so greedy she would have lost nothing!
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