I bought a new D700, and wanted to sell my old D200. I posted it online and got several calls. I picked the first one, we established an email contact and I send a money request to paypal.
Then I received an email from paypal (or I was tricked to thinking it was from paypal) that the buyer deposited the money to paypal, and as soon as I ship the item and send them the tracking number, then paypal would release the funds to my account.
Great, I thought! Smart idea. And how stupid and naive I was!
I shipped the camera to the destination, sent them the tracking number, ...and then what? Received email saying their system is down and they will release the money in 72 hours.
Then I realized how stupid I was. Or inexperienced. Or both. Or believing in human goodness too much.
I looked at the original email closely and then I realized it was not from paypal at all! It was a phishing email. They just swindle people to think the item is paid for and trick them to send it.
I quickly called Fedex, claimed the immediate stop and return of the package, and then I watched hopelessly on fedex site as the camera was slipping through every checkpoint with its claim unnoticed.
I called fedex hundreds of times, only to be told there is nothing they can do. Just some idiots at fedex checkpoints ignoring the beeps from their sensors.
Finally, when I completely lost my hope, at the very end, just blocks away from the swindlers, the package was stopped. Uffff...!
Probably the fedex delivery guy finally didn't ignore the beep on the box.
It is now on the way back to Portland. I lost the S&H, but that's nothing compared to my frustration and the cost of the camera.
Beware! The world is not populated with good people! The world is a jungle!
It looks the only safe way to sell it is locally. Hand to hand. One hand with cash, one hand with item. Just as one hundred years ago...
Yikes! that was a close one. I'm glad you had the presence of mind to quickly get on the horn to fed ex and stop it in time. Now that you have the address of these A-holes, you should send them a package anyways. Maybe with a nice fresh dog turd or somethin' packaged inside a nikon box.
Unfortunately that is really common, I ebay stuff all the time and have to be very careful, people have tried the same trick on me, but I caught it just before I shipped it out. I'm glad you posted this, hopefully someone else will see it and won't fall for the same scam.
Was it a US address? You should take action so paypal can fight these scams and to get them prosecuted. Forward the e-mail to "spoof@paypal.com" so paypal can do what they need to do. Also for the legal side of things forward it to the FTC at "spam@uce.gov". You may want to be more detailed for the FTC and send all of your correspondence and anything you may have from FedEx so they can track down these bozos.
Yes, it was a US address in NH.
Thanks, I will send all the information to those links.
As to Aaron's suggestion - it's tempting, but I don't know what those guys are capable of. I prefer to report it to the police...
Wow-WEE, that was close! It's good you hounded Fedex, that made the difference.
One thing for sure about PayPal: you will ALWAYS have the money in your PayPal account as soon as the buyer pays, when the transaction is legit. PayPal isn't dependent on the shipment status at all. Rule of thumb: once you have the confirmed payment email from PayPal and have double-checked your balance on the Paypal website, THEN you ship. Nothing should ever leave our homes until PayPal says Payment Confirmed. I'm sure you know that now!
Yes, I understand my lesson now. The seller doesn't send the merchandise until the funds are on his account. But what is the buyer's security? The scam may occur on the seller's side too, right?
Is there any secure way for both sides on such remote transactions?
This is why I so easily fell into this trap - I thought it is Paypal that has the power to hold the funds until the shipment is made.
You would think the good guys could be smarter than the bad guys Glad it ultimately worked out in your favor Cezar...in a nick of time! Maybe we should all get together and send them a ton of turds
Very good question Cezar. See, PayPal was purchased by eBay in 2002 (and used the service before that) mainly for their own auctions. The buyer gets his "assurance" from the seller's eBay Feedback (i.e. 99.5% with 15,234 ratings is a great seller), plus the buyer gets buyer protection although that's limited in many ways. The seller of course is the clear winner because he gets the funds. SO, you can certainly use PayPal outside of eBay, but the risks increase, especially in private sales.
More and more stores are using PayPal now, such as Adorama, Beach Camera, Newegg.com, many others. So as usage outside of eBay increases, I would think the PayPal "workflow" will improve.
Anyway, I'm sure a lot of folks on here have done a loud "whew!" with you, I know I have. I'm more ticked at Fedex for giving you the brush off.
I hate to say it, but most people who pull those scams also give addresses to a "drop site". It's pretty much an empty house or other location with a postal address that they will use to receive stolen goods at. It's common with credit card fraud when items are shipped off. I used to do fraud investigation back in the day and it's amazing how stupid some people can be, or just how smart they can be. Hopefully it wasn't an address for a drop site or you will never be able to pinpoint who it is, except for traces on the email and that most likely was sent out with an anonymous emailer with a relay somewhere on the internet. That is, unless they are stupid.
Glad you were able to catch it before it got bad. How much for the D200 and what is the shutter count on it? I may be interested if I decide not to go with a D300 or the D700 if I can swing that one (most likely not, heh).
Thank you Nicholas for the advice.
The price for the D200 was $600. Including all accessories that came with it: USB cable, battery, battery charger, manuals, original box, and 2GB card as a bonus.
I don't know what the shutter count is. How to read that? I bought it in May 2007 and was using it on average one session a week. Is there a counter somewhere in the menu?
The only way I know is to fire off a shot and open the RAW in an exif viewer like KUSO. There's an entry called shutter count that says how many times the shutter has clicked. I'm looking for a replacement for my D70s, but might pick up a D300. I don't think I'll be able to afford the D700.
Discussion
14 repliesThen I received an email from paypal (or I was tricked to thinking it was from paypal) that the buyer deposited the money to paypal, and as soon as I ship the item and send them the tracking number, then paypal would release the funds to my account.
Great, I thought! Smart idea. And how stupid and naive I was!
I shipped the camera to the destination, sent them the tracking number, ...and then what? Received email saying their system is down and they will release the money in 72 hours.
Then I realized how stupid I was. Or inexperienced. Or both. Or believing in human goodness too much.
I looked at the original email closely and then I realized it was not from paypal at all! It was a phishing email. They just swindle people to think the item is paid for and trick them to send it.
I quickly called Fedex, claimed the immediate stop and return of the package, and then I watched hopelessly on fedex site as the camera was slipping through every checkpoint with its claim unnoticed.
I called fedex hundreds of times, only to be told there is nothing they can do. Just some idiots at fedex checkpoints ignoring the beeps from their sensors.
Finally, when I completely lost my hope, at the very end, just blocks away from the swindlers, the package was stopped. Uffff...!
Probably the fedex delivery guy finally didn't ignore the beep on the box.
It is now on the way back to Portland. I lost the S&H, but that's nothing compared to my frustration and the cost of the camera.
Beware! The world is not populated with good people! The world is a jungle!
It looks the only safe way to sell it is locally. Hand to hand. One hand with cash, one hand with item. Just as one hundred years ago...
JG
P.S. I love Aaron's idea
Thanks, I will send all the information to those links.
As to Aaron's suggestion - it's tempting, but I don't know what those guys are capable of. I prefer to report it to the police...
Seriously though, I hope you get this resolved and the punk(s) get what they deserve. Good luck.
One thing for sure about PayPal: you will ALWAYS have the money in your PayPal account as soon as the buyer pays, when the transaction is legit. PayPal isn't dependent on the shipment status at all. Rule of thumb: once you have the confirmed payment email from PayPal and have double-checked your balance on the Paypal website, THEN you ship. Nothing should ever leave our homes until PayPal says Payment Confirmed. I'm sure you know that now!
Glad it worked out!
Is there any secure way for both sides on such remote transactions?
This is why I so easily fell into this trap - I thought it is Paypal that has the power to hold the funds until the shipment is made.
More and more stores are using PayPal now, such as Adorama, Beach Camera, Newegg.com, many others. So as usage outside of eBay increases, I would think the PayPal "workflow" will improve.
Anyway, I'm sure a lot of folks on here have done a loud "whew!" with you, I know I have. I'm more ticked at Fedex for giving you the brush off.
Glad you were able to catch it before it got bad. How much for the D200 and what is the shutter count on it? I may be interested if I decide not to go with a D300 or the D700 if I can swing that one (most likely not, heh).
The price for the D200 was $600. Including all accessories that came with it: USB cable, battery, battery charger, manuals, original box, and 2GB card as a bonus.
I don't know what the shutter count is. How to read that? I bought it in May 2007 and was using it on average one session a week. Is there a counter somewhere in the menu?