Fraud Explained!!

[kimmiz_choice]

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
Are you sick of spam too? Do you want it stopped now?
Try jwSpamSpy, the spamfilter we use to track the spammers!
Free 30-day trial version available now!




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.



Visit New York City online. Special offers on hotels, shops, attractions, and more.
Plus FREE @nyc.com or @newyorkcity.com E-Mail!
http://www.NewYorkCity.com http://www.NYC.com
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

[nanosystems_aci]

5 of my items were bought my fraud nigerian buyers in a single day using various ids and each and every item I list gets atleast one e-mail from nigerian fraud asking for shiping the item to nigeria by moving away from ebay terms and conditions

[wacky_ranger]

jesus christ the same heppened to me a person bought my mobile for 3000 rupees and tol me that he was in uk and needed me to ship the item to nigeria. i received 2mails from bidpay of western union that my money order has been confirmed and that i should ship it within 48 hours. gosh i was gonna do that tomorrow. thank god i saw this.

people how do i get my listing fees back>?

[dineshdalwani]

Hello eBay sellers.......

You can use the BLOCK BUYERS option in My Preference Tab of My eBay.

These Fraud Buyers usually have a new account through which they buy the products which are registered through a Credit Card.

If you select the SMS verification Preference, it blocks all buyers who have not gone through the SMS Verification process to register on eBay.

So this prevents those Fraud buyers from purchasing our products and we sellers too remain on a safe side.

Since i have started this preference, i am recieving emails from hell lot of buyers asking "What are the requirements to purchase or Bid on a particular item"

And when i see the date of registeration of the Buyer ID, it would be the same day of the question sent.

So you can opt for this Preference and block all those FRAUD BUYERS who need shipment to NIGERIA !!!

[vickycool80]

Hi Guys,

I too got a fraud mail from the buyer from Nigeria ..and lucky for me that i did not ship the product ..

i was selling a Digi cam ..:)

[velgean39]

I too received a fake offer for my Yamaha Keyboard from this country of fraudS NIGERIA.

The best method to escape from the scam is to first RECEIVE THE HARD CASH in your hand before you ship.
Don't let yourself to be convinced from any number intimations from seemingly genuine reputed money transfer organisation !

[captain_ryder]

I Had a similar experience all from india based members who had been using ebay less than a month (APPARENTLY)

i was selling my laptop, and people from india kept offering the most outrageous prices for it <<< first indication of scammers

i repeatidly ignored these emails until i could take no more. and reported the lot of em to ebay, who promptly removed all the accounts.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION:
Ebay should stop the ability to create accounts using free web based servers such as hotmail.

anyone can create these accounts and they do not have to be truthful about anything. i remember when ebay required a ISP email address for registration, i think theyll find if they check their records from that period, that fraud would have occured considerably less, as these accounts can be traced to their owners! food for thought anyway.

[30chris182]

I CANT PROVE IT... BUT HERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE. THIS PERSON WANTED TO BUY MY LAPTOP FOR WAY MORE THEN THE ASKING PRICE.



Dear david fisher,

Thanks so much for your prompt attention, which make's me feel
very delighted to do this transaction with you.
The resulting ammount is not the issue at hand,what is paramount
at this moment is the item condition and
time lapse with which the package will be delivered against the
the time needed
I am buying this laptop for my son who need's to use this
laptop for the completion of his final project
That is why I had to offer you this amount of money so that you
would be able to ship this laptop once you have received the
approval of the money order from Money Gram.I will make the payment of 3000usd
including the shipment via usps 3-5 days GLOBAL EXPRESS MAIL SERVICE
I do not mean to be pressing but I am trusting you on this as I
hope the item is of the specifications stated and not other wise
and it will be sent truly since I am making payment immediately
P.S note i only want you to ship the laptop through usps 3-5 days Global express
mail service.
However, this are the following information needed for me to
complete my payment without any delay
Your Full Name
Address
City
State
Country
Zip Code
Tel Number.
Money Gram is Money Order; it will be issued to you by Money Gram
Immediately I make the payment at Money Gram, you will
be notified Via E-mail with the confirmation of the payment I made
to you by Money Gram
You will be further notified of my Payment from Money Gram
that your Money order has been approved. And your money order will
be delivered to you at your contact address.
Here is his shipping address below.
Name : Ade Rowland
Address :9 ADENLE AVENUE MOKOLA
City : IBADAN
State : OYO STATE
Zip : 20001
Country : NIGERIA
i will be looking forward to hearing from you soonest because the
laptop is urgently needed.
Regards,
lisse

[nalla_ezhil]

i have got a buyer,who tells me that he will buy my cell and also give me shipping charges,but asks to ship to nigeria and at the same 23452 pc place,he told that he has deposited the money in some postbank in orangehome(uk).should i trust him.pls reply soon.

i will specify the bank link here:

http://us.f341.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=6215_7954428_241034_1981_5267_0_2648_18236_1556831468&Idx=0&YY=70833&inc=25&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=Inbox

do try to reply at my yahoo id ,(z_ezhil@yahoo.com)

with regards,
Ezhilvendhan.

[sumoma_hallmark]

from jascojohn_0333(ebay id) bought an item from me but doing fraud in making payment.he told me that he paid using postbank,germeny.later on i too received an email from postbank asking me the shipment tracking number in order to sanction the paymend by that fraud buyer to my UTi bank account,india.when i discussed the matter to ebay customer care ,they cancelled his registration and suggested me not to ship that item to nigeria b4 getting money.

[cansc361]

I just encountered a fraud from Nigeria, by the name of Kate Peter (another earlier email by the name of Stella King). He mentioned that he is from France and has a son studying in Nigeria. His son requires the notebook urgently and ask for an urgent shipment. After giving my quotation for my notebook and shipping charge. He sent the following notes:

Hello,
Thanks for the mail,..I am so happy that the payment has been approved and that is to show how efficient the POSTBANK payment service is. But one thing you must know is that they must verify the item shipment first them use it to process your money, that is how other sellers which i have been buying from
abide with and they get their money. I can assure you that there is
no fear nor lose in anything, Now what they require from you is for you to go ship the item and then send them the tracking number and scanned copy of receipt. I was with them this morning and that is what they told me they are expecting from you
soon and that it should not be more than 1 day as they say,. so they
said once the receipt of shipment and tracking number is received by
them they will proceed with the transfer of your money payment
immediately. Please you have to do as they say to ensure your money
gets to you cause my son is waiting to receive his item , remember i told you how POSTBANK auction payment works before . So i hope to hear from you about the item shipped.

Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.

To make it look realistic. The bank, "Postbank" sent a advisory note that the money is transferred and is on hold until the proof of shipment is sent over.

I am lucky to stumble on this forum and confirm that the whole thing is a fraud. My advice is never ship your stuff until payment is received.