Is this a scam or am I paranoid???

[briann532]

Ok so despite my better judgement I listed my camper on bumtree......

Within an hour I have received a text as follows:

"Interested in your ad on gumtree, reach me at (?email supplied)
for further contact as I have hearing problems and prefer email.
Regards John"

No specifics about what the ad is for and if he wants info, why ask me to contact him?
Wouldn't it be up to him to contact me?

Sounds a bit fishy to me, but am I being paranoid.

Brian

[speewa158]

Could that be the world famous John Of Nigeria CT collector 
lts not a very common name you know                     
Send my 20 Cold Slabs of VB & l will check for " Scams " 

[Snapman007]

Post his email address then we can all send him an email.🏖

[jeffr]

So answer the email and ask. Don't give him/her your precise address or detailed info like bank accounts  ect, and use your "crap" email account (you have one, right?) to protect against spamming your usual account. If his/her answers sound suspect, add his email to the junk pile, and at the same time add his email to a spamming site to get that warm inner glow that spamming spammers gives you

Must say though, sounds somewhat suspect to me, if he/she starts talking about being on a Rig, recently divorced or needing a courier to buy sight unseen etc etc, then the BS goes off the credibility scale...

I don't like Gumtree. IMHO it has pretty PP security protocols.

[JD-120]

He can obviously text, why can't he continue communication over that? Suspect imo

[cancan]

I had something similar last week... wanted to deal by email... his gumtree profile was new so i used my crap email... he tried to negotiate but agreed on the price and wanted my PayPal email address which is normal but i had a dodgy feeling so gave my  crap email address which is not connected to paypal..  then the scam started so in the end they only got my crap email address and i had some fun

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[jeffr]

How would the scammer profit from this anyway? PayPal is secure, even handing out your BSB and account numbers are a one way street. At what point does a scammer get a pay off unless somebody is really, really stupid and hands over the goods before receiving cleared payment, oh...wait 🙄

Sounds like you should, based on can^2 above comment, tell 'em to naff off.

[loanrangie]

How would the scammer profit from this anyway? PayPal is secure, even handing out your BSB and account numbers are a one way street. At what point does a scammer get a pay off unless somebody is really, really stupid and hands over the goods before receiving cleared payment, oh...wait 🙄

Sounds like you should, based on can^2 above comment, tell 'em to naff off.

Usually they want a courier or agent to collect on their behalf but ask you to pay the agent a so called fee and that is where they get you.

[Rumpig]

Reaks of scammer to me

[Bird]

Play along, might be a legit deaf dude.. but you can always ask to call his daughter/wife or get his neighbour to call

[BaseCamp]

My vote is scam...

I reckon it would be talking about your CT on first contact. ..  vs. "I'm interested in your ad"... 

It could be a twist to the old...  courier pay ripoff. ....    Send money to cover a deaf translator. ...

At least "being deaf" .... avoids revealing a Nigerian accent I guess. .   LOL....

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

[UIZ733]

Scam.

[NewieCamper]

Just keep the messages going via gumtree. You can send/receive emails through gumtree without disclosing your email address. Send back a text asking him to use the gumtree message system if necessary. I've used it a fair bit recently both buying and selling and it is as simple as replying to an email once the First message is sent from gumtree.

Also make sure you address isn't shown on gumtree. It asks for an address, but is happy to accept just a suburb.

[Moggy]

I recently sold mine via gumtree & would only correspond by email (i have the luxury of a business domain so just set one up for that purpose).
I didnt get any scammers on ct but did on motorbike,  i went along with it but wouldn't give any specifics & told them i would only accept cash from a personal buyer.
Ended up selling both that way within a week of each other.
Agree with newie camper cos you never know who may be a genuine buyer.
Good luck

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[Paddler Ed]

Couple of guys on 4x4Earth had the same, so yes, it is a scam. Not sure how you end up getting fleeced, but I'm sure you will....

[achjimmy]

Yep total scam.

[speewa158]

lm still waiting for my " SLABS ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,                or not                   

[Colmano]

Scam...part way into emails you'll be asked to Provide your bank details so the 'buyer' (aka Nigerian/Romanian scammer dude) can deposit proceeds....and will usually entice seller by offering 'overs' on the asking price...but won't be able to attend and view personally because they are 'overseas on business'...unfortunately your account will not too long afterwards, be emptied...OR having sent him your email, you'll start receiving dodgy emails with trojans or rats in attempts to access your computer and steal your personal details and/or identity...

[cancan]

How would the scammer profit from this anyway? PayPal is secure, even handing out your BSB and account numbers are a one way street. At what point does a scammer get a pay off unless somebody is really, really stupid and hands over the goods before receiving cleared payment, oh...wait ?

In my case i recieved a confirmation email from paypal that the payment had been made but there was an extra $600 for the agents fee which i had to then transfer to the agent... the normal scam.
Of course i knew the payment confirmation was a fake because i gave the email address i uaed wasnt linked to paypal.. if they were genuine they would have come back saying they could not make the payment.
They were suss from day 1 but i still went through the process just in case... and would never send the goods until i has logged into paypal and checked money was there

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[NewieCamper]

Need to be careful of the Paypal system too. If the scammer sends you money, then you send the item they can open up a dispute claiming it is broken, not as described etc and Paypal have ways of taking the money back off you and you end up without the item or the $.

[Troopy_03]

Sometimes a google search on the email address throws up interesting stuff.

[Goose]

I reckon it would be talking about your CT on first contact. ..  vs. "I'm interested in your ad"... 

Bingo.

What you got Brian was an automated message. They scan the gumtree ads, collect the mobile numbers and then SMS generically worded message like what you got. Very common to get these SMS's within an hour or two of listing. A quick responses, a keen buyer and willing to pay full price often make the seller (you) think they've got lucky and proceed with a sale.

The 'buyer' is probably overseas and sending the SMS's using an online gateway in Australia. Thus they want to transition you to email for that reason. The email will be a throw away gmail, hotmail etc. They would send hundreds of these SMS's a day.

[Robbo]

lm still waiting for my " SLABS ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,                or not                   

Sorry Jamie, i'd say that you'd been scammed. 

[briann532]

lm still waiting for my " SLABS ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,                or not                   

I'm still waiting for my "pre dug firepits"...............

Maybe if you send me a couple of hundred bucks, I'll arrange delivery cos they only accept cash, and then I can repay you all 950 I ordered are delivered.
Happy to pay extra for fast freight and insurance.....
Alternatively I can repay you with some 100 percent authentic dot paintings from a very remote location in NT called china. Its a small settlement not yet on google.

Keep pouring those green cans Jaimie!!!!!

Cheers mate
Brian