The following scam targets eBay sellers, who may be tricked into shipping goods to Lagos, Nigeria without any payment. First the criminal contacts the seller (usually via a new eBay account, often registered in Singapore) and offers a high price for an item on sale. He or she will request that the item to be shipped to Nigeria via a parcel service (FEDEX, DHL, UPS, EMS) and explains that the buyer will pay via "Western Union Auction Payment (Bidpay)". This is a legitimate company, but that doesn't matter in this case, because it's not actually involved.
The way the scam works is that the seller is told the money will only be released by Western Union / Bidpay when the buyer supplies a tracking number, i.e. when he has already shipped the parcel. To get the seller to ship the parcel, the criminal himself poses as Western Union, sending an email from a free webmail service to the victim using an email address which mentions Western Union or BidPay, for example "westernunionmoneyorderpayment@banknotes.com", assuring the seller that Western Union has received payment from the buyer and will release it as soon as he submits the tracking number as proof of shipping. A seller believing this message to be sent from Western Union will lose his merchandise and the shipping costs.
If you receive a fake Western Union / BidPay message, look at the email address this was sent from (for example, westernunionmoneyorderpayment@banknotes.com or onlinebid-pay@accountant.com). If you take this address and replace the left part with the word abuse you get the email address to which to forward such scam emails (for example, abuse@banknotes.com or abuse@accountant.com). Ask the email service to suspend the email account used for this fraud.
See below for examples of such scams. If you have received any such offers, send us copies. Please mark the subject line:
[419] Lagos: eBay
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Example notification (from "bedfordsuperstore"):
Dear seller,
I really want to buy this item and i need a seller who is ready to sell,i
will be paying 750euro for this item and you will ship it to my client in
Nigeria.
(1)I will be paying you by western Union Auction Payment(Bidpay).
(2)You will ship the item by FEDEX,DHL,UPS,EMS.
(3)You will ship the item to my client immediately you recieve my payment
approval from the western union.
If you agree with these stated terms,send me your full name and address so
that i can go to the western union office immeidately to make payment for
the item.
please please scammers stay off!!!!!!!!!!
Robert Dallas
Here is another one by the same scammer:
dear seller, i want to really buy this item and i want
you to ship the item to my client in Nigeria. i will be paying 600euro
for the item and i want you to calculate the shipping cost and the item
price together. i will be paying with Western Union Auction Payment(bidpay)
and i want you to ship the item via UPS,FEDEX,DHL OR EMS. you will ship
the item to my client immediately you recieve my payment approval from
western union. if you agree with these terms,send me your full name and
address for immedaiate payment at the western union office.
Scammers keep off
Dallas Robert
When contacted by email (bedfordsuperstore@nyc.com) the scammer replied:
Dear seller,
Immediately i go to the western union office to make payment for the
item,they will send you a notification that my payment has been approved
and they will send you a number which you will use to rack your money,the
payment will be delivered to the address you will provide.
And once you have track your money and you have seen that your money is
confirmed then you will give me the tracking number to the item.
Or would you like it if i pay you by MONEY GRAM?
If you still want to sell to me send me your full name and address so that
i can go and make payment for the item as soon as possible.
Hope to hear from you soon.
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Here is the fake "Western Union" money notification which is actually sent from a free webmail account instead of from Western Union:
Dear B. E. Trueger,
Bidpay®Online Payments hereby congratulates you and also want
to inform you that the ® Money OrderSM sent to you from Robert
Dallas has been Approved.
Item information
®Money OrderSM :750 EUROS
Auction Item :Keyboard YAMAHA PortaSound Model PS-3
Auction site : Ebay
Seller Contact Address:
Name: victimname
Addresses: victimstreet
postal code: victimzip
city: victimcity
country: victimcountry
Identification Number: 42-782-719.M
Shipping information Via DHL:
NAME:SEGUN ABIODUN
ADDRESS:25,ABIMBOLA ODUNSI STREET,OFF COKER RD
ORIMOLADE BUS/STOP,IFAKO,OGBA
CITY:LAGOS
COUNTRY:NIGERIA
This money order has been approved and will be sent out TODAY
to the address provided by the buyer and you should expect it
in 4-7 business days after postage has being confirmed.
You CAN NOW send the items to the buyer,Moreover the above ®
Pin Number will be asked for before the delivery of the Money
OrderSM, you will also identify your self with your ®drivers
licence or your ®Social security number.
N.B NOTE THAT THE MONEY ORDER WILL NOT GET TO YOUR RESIDENT IF
SHIPMENT TRACKING NUMBER IS NOT SENT TO US IN THE NEXT 24HRS
FOR SHIPMENT VERIFICATION IN OTHER TO SECURE BOTH THE SELLER
AND THE BUYER.
And if you have any question, feel free to contact our customer
service at (westernunionbidpayment@personalmanager.com).
TO CONFIRM YOUR PAYMENT CLICK BELOW
https://netsage.finali.com/netsage?customer=wuap&iid=esell-appr&
num=22813469&status=appr&date=20050330country=UK
If the Link above does not work:
Type in or copy and paste this link into your Web browser,Make
sure you copy this link exactly and do not add extra spaces.
Thank you for using Western Union ® Online Payments. We look
forward to serving your online payment needs in the future.
Sincerely,
Western Union Online Payments.
More instructions from the scammer:
Dear seller,
I have paid for the item and i know by now you should have recieve my
payment from the western union.
I want you to please remove the invoice of the item when shipping it and
also you should declare the item as a EASTER DONATION.
Also you shouldnt write down the exact amount of price i bought the item
from you,This will reduce the rate of custom charges when the item get to
my client,they wont charge him much.
And also i will like you to give me the tracking number for the item since
your money has been approved.
Hope to hear from you soon and also to do more business with you.
From:
To: emailaddress
Subject: APPROVED MONEY ORDER(8180658433 ) REPLY TO THIS EMAIL
Reply-To: westernunionbidpayment@personalmanager.com
X-Mailer: SeeqMail 4.0 (authenticated
westernunionbidpayment@personalmanager.com)
X-Origin: 213.181.81.125
X-Uidl: 1112178921603078762
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 02:35:21 -0800
WHOIS details for sending network (IP 213.181.81.125):
inetnum: 213.181.64.0 - 213.181.95.255
org: ORG-BL4-RIPE
netname: NG-BROADBANDTECH-20000327
descr: BT Limited
descr: PROVIDER Local Registry
country: NG
admin-c: IO243-RIPE
tech-c: IO243-RIPE
status: ALLOCATED PA
notify: bt@micro.com.ng
mnt-by: RIPE-NCC-HM-MNT
mnt-routes: BT-LIMITED-MNT
mnt-lower: BT-LIMITED-MNT
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20000327
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20001003
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20010507
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20010704
changed: lir-help@ripe.net 20011214
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20020419
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20020423
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20020613
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20030211
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20040406
source: RIPE
organisation: ORG-BL4-RIPE
org-name: BT Limited
org-type: LIR
address: BT Limited
address: 8B Ademola Street,
address: Off Awolowo Road,
address: S. W. Ikoyi,
address: Lagos, Nigeria.
phone: +234 1 2693192
fax-no: +234 1 2693192
e-mail: bt@micro.com.ng
admin-c: IO243-RIPE
admin-c: IO243-RIPE
mnt-ref: BT-LIMITED-MNT
mnt-ref: RIPE-NCC-HM-MNT
mnt-by: RIPE-NCC-HM-MNT
changed: hostmaster@ripe.net 20040415
source: RIPE
person: Israel Oyeleke
address: BT Limited
address: 8B Ademola Street
address: Ikoyi S.W.
address: Lagos, Nigeria
phone: +234 1 2673532
fax-no: +234 1 2673203
e-mail: i.oyeleke@moneynett.com
nic-hdl: IO243-RIPE
notify: i.oyeleke@moneynett.com
changed: ifiok@btlimited.com 20010605
changed: ifiok_moses@yahoo.com 20030917
source: RIPE