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Why do so many scams come from Nigeria?

Buyer Scams- Africa/Nigeria... 'i am interested in your item'.. blah blah blah?

  • Hi- Just want to let people know of the buyer scam operating in Africa/Nigeria. You post a 'laptop for sale' advert on Gumtree or Vivastreet, you'll get an email something along the lines of ' i'm interested in this item, please get back to me on final price'--- scammers are never specific, they keep it brief, so they'll say 'item' instead of laptop. They'll ask for you to send it abroad, often to Nigeria or West Afrika, as a birthday present or gift for their daughter/son/boss/friend. They can't send it themselves because they are apparently 'out of the country'... they say they'll pay via paypal, (scammers use credit cards) and you're probably thinking, paypal is safe, and you'll be protected, so you go ahead accept the payment and send whatever you're sending... only to find that after 2 weeks, paypal have taken the money out of your account, the buyer files a chargeback, he claims it was an unauthorized transaction, paypal refunds them the money, and you'll be left with absolutely nothing!!! There is no way for you to get the money back, even if you report it to the police. TIPS - Don't accept PAYPAL as a method of receiving money. - NEVER accept cheques, bank drafts or money orders - ONLY accept bank transfer (faster payments) or postal orders - ALWAYS obtain proof of postage- without proof of postage, there's an 80% chance, the buyer will file a non-received dispute, VISA cards offer the same protection as paypal. - NEVER NEVER NEVER send to the following countries- Nigeria, Africa, Pakistan, India, or abroad... Scams originate from these companies. STAY SAFE- if it's too good to be true, it probaby is! Ash.

  • Answer:

    Very good advice. Got stung a couple of years ago myself like this on ebay. I never use it now and when I do sell something which isn't very often I never send the item until the money has cleared in my bank. Also I never sell anything to anyone out of the US or UK. Just can't trust any of them. Like I said, this is very good advice and I think you are A star for posting it.

alamolic... at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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africa's not a country its a continent

Dave

Nigeria,anywhere in Africa, anywhere in Asia Pakistan, India, or abroad.Russian. Romania anywhere not in the Euro first zone then you deserve to be took. p.s I had that one played on me with a mobile phone a while back, I laughed at the guy.. and told him to F off..

♠sweet fish♠

All very true - an old scam - google 419scam and you will be horrified at the lengths these thieves go to!

Sal*UK

Paypal is a fine way of receiving money, it's not Paypal's fault, there's ways to exploit any form of payment over the internet. Hopefully most people would already have to sense not to send anything to someone who is in Nigeria, or anywhere that isn't the UK or USA for that matter. Maybe Germany... if it's very good.

Dale T the 3rd.

Hey Ash, Whilst you have not really asked a question, I think your advice is sound and think this is a worthwhile format to share what maybe the benefits of your personal experience. Take care and be well ok.

godsadvocate

Thanks for this. It has rung an alarm bell for me over something currently going on.

michaela

Those of us in the USA are well aware of Nigerian scams on Craigslist. These people can be anywhere in the English-speaking world. The FBI is aware of them. You can tell because they always have "an agent", they want to pay you more than you are asking, they cannot pick up in person, they ask you to remove your "advert" which is not American, they want to give you a money order which is a fake American bank draft which your bank cashes and you have to put back later, and their sentence construction is not English.

Flower

Cool - next time I sell on ozadz.com I'll bare it in mind!

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