Is this a new Ebay Nigerian scam?

hongkongfever

Senior member
Dec 19, 2004
250
0
0
I'm familiar with the Nigerian e-mail scams but I've never seen something like this. I enlisted a unlocked cell phone on Ebay and someone bought it pretty quick with the BUY IT NOW option. The person who bought it has 0 feedbacks and is not a valid/registered user or some junk. He sent me the following e-mail afterwards:



Hello,
Good Morning to you, how is business, family and all other things, I
hope all are in good condition. well I'm Candy mark from us ,but
Presently I?m leading a trade fair program in UK i saw your item
above at eBay (170148xxxxxx) and I feel like it will be nice to present it as
a gift to my grand daughter that will be celebrating her birthday next month
although she is studying computer science in Nigeria and that is where i would be
sending the item to. I will like to informed you first of all that i will
be handling the shipment on my own risk over to Nigeria do not worry about
the shipping of the item i will be the one to pay for the shipping to my
grandson daughter i will need you to calculate the shipping cost to his address
in Nigeria via USPS OR EMS Express service on the shipping, and
make sure that the item get to him at the end of this week early next week.
this is the address that you are to shipped the item to.
NAME..........xxxxxx
ADDRESS.......xxxxxxxx

CITY.....Ikeja

STATE.......Lagos State

COUNTRY......Nigeria

ZIPCODE.......23401
Thanks
hope to here from u soon




I'm leaning towards scam and plan to re-enlist my item.
 

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
28,653
100
106
What's ebay's 'buy it now' policy if the bidder doesn't pay...do they give you the listing fee back or allow relisting for free after a certain amount of time?
 

hongkongfever

Senior member
Dec 19, 2004
250
0
0
Originally posted by: jjsole
What's ebay's 'buy it now' policy if the bidder doesn't pay...do they give you the listing fee back or allow relisting for free after a certain amount of time?

Well supposedly since this guy's account has issues, Ebay said they would credit me all the fees if I choose to re-enlist the item.
 

Mr Incognito

Golden Member
Feb 20, 2007
1,035
0
0
I'm sorry but anything that involves Nigeria is bad news. Nigeria has scam schools not Comp Sci schools.

EDIT: At least they are getting easier to read.
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
Originally posted by: hongkongfever
I'm familiar with the Nigerian e-mail scams but I've never seen something like this. I enlisted a unlocked cell phone on Ebay and someone bought it pretty quick with the BUY IT NOW option. The person who bought it has 0 feedbacks and is not a valid/registered user or some junk. He sent me the following e-mail afterwards:



Hello,
Good Morning to you, how is business, family and all other things, I
hope all are in good condition. well I'm Candy mark from us ,but
Presently I?m leading a trade fair program in UK i saw your item
above at eBay (170148xxxxxx) and I feel like it will be nice to present it as
a gift to my grand daughter that will be celebrating her birthday next month
although she is studying computer science in Nigeria and that is where i would be
sending the item to. I will like to informed you first of all that i will
be handling the shipment on my own risk over to Nigeria do not worry about
the shipping of the item i will be the one to pay for the shipping to my
grandson daughter i will need you to calculate the shipping cost to his address
in Nigeria via USPS OR EMS Express service on the shipping, and
make sure that the item get to him at the end of this week early next week.
this is the address that you are to shipped the item to.
NAME..........xxxxxx
ADDRESS.......xxxxxxxx

CITY.....Ikeja

STATE.......Lagos State

COUNTRY......Nigeria

ZIPCODE.......23401
Thanks
hope to here from u soon




I'm leaning towards scam and plan to re-enlist my item.

this is the oldest one in the book...
this one looks like the scammer didn't realize he had to choose one option out of the template...


 

hongkongfever

Senior member
Dec 19, 2004
250
0
0
Originally posted by: Mr Incognito
I'm sorry but anything that involves Nigeria is bad news. Nigeria has scam schools not Comp Sci schools.

EDIT: At least they are getting easier to read.


Yeah the word Nigeria jumps out at me the first time I read it. I'm a little curious as to how this scam will play out as he's the one in the position to send me money. If I didn't need the cash from selling the item quick, I think I would play out this game to see what he says/do.
 

IEC

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jun 10, 2004
14,607
6,094
136
I stopped selling on eBay a while ago, mostly due to crap like this.

I also never deal with Nigerians. They have a certain "reputation" even in Africa.
 

dud

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
7,635
73
91
Yes, this is the old 419 (Nigerian penal code) scam.

"... she is studying computer science in Nigeria and that is where i would be
sending the item to." - Sure, everyone studies CS in Nigeria.

"... i will be the one to pay for the shipping to my grandson daughter i will need you to calculate the shipping cost to his address in Nigeria via USPS OR EMS Express service on the shipping, and make sure that the item get to him at the end of this week early next week." - The "buyer" isn't even sure who they bought the phone for. Now you are shipping to a "him". The buyer has a great command of Nigerian English.

You said: "I'm leaning towards scam and plan to re-enlist my item." - You're kidding, right? You're LEANING towards a scam? Report the buyer to Ebay and yes, relist it with a caveat saying you will sell/ship ONLY to the US.



If you want a good laugh, visit Shivermetimbers over at www.419eater.com.