Almost Scammed
I listed an item on eBay and it sold in less than 2 hours. Buyer wanted me to include a $400 eBay gift card because he (or she) was in the Marines and could not do this. Buyer indicated that the funds had been sent to PayPal with a hold on their release to me pending me sending a picture of the gift card I purchased with the confirmation numbers scratched off.
I m new to eBay selling so at first I thought, OK, this is normal business. But then, it sounded like a possible scam to me so I told the buyer to release the hold and once I had confirmation of the funds in my account, I would get the gift card and complete the transaction. The buyer insisted that he (or she) was not holding the funds back , but rather it was PayPal. I continued to maintain that I would not do as asked.
Finally, the text messages came to an end and that confirmed my suspicion of the scam.
Glad I did not fall for it, and I post this to alert my WA team of a possible scam out there.
Have a great day!
Recent Comments
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Oh it is a scam my son did this last year and he lost his RC car for 400 dollars and he wanted to join the service when he got out so he also sent a hundred dollar gift card and the money was on hold in PayPal they also gave him an address and it was to a vacant house so they just picked it up from their and I couldn’t get it canceled when I found out glad you didn’t get scammed
Yes it was he was trying to be a grown up and by the time he told me it was to late he said he was a marine and overs seas and said it was for his son and that’s what hooked my son but lesson learned
Hopefully that eBay user won't be receiving any positive "feedback stars" any time soon.
Glad you caught it, Dave 👍
Isaiah 😊
Thanks for the warning. OMG! No end to what people think of.
So glad you stopped and realized what was going on.
It is so hard because we used to be able to trust people.
Spot on about the trust. I had the cards in my hand at the store, but then stopped. I was listening to that voice in my head that said don't do this.
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When you get that gut feeling that something isn't quite right, it's good that you took note and didn't follow it through! Good for you.
You should report this to ebay customer services, they should put a bar on this kind of activity or at least put a warning out.
Thanks for the warning! :-)