jclalor 12 #1 October 4, 2012 If anyone can see a flaw in this please let me know. I post an add in the classifieds for a canopy, a few days later I get a response from someone from Argenitina who wants it. He tells me the name of the DZ that he works at and his name is on the web site. He does not want me to ship the canopy to his DZ, but he said to mail it to a friend in Chicago, when I said I would only ship it to a local Chicago DZ I heard nothing back for a couple of days. this morning he asked for my phone # and called to see if a friend of his who was in San Francisco (50 miles away) could pick it up on Monday after he sent the money on pay pal. I just emailed his home DZ to see if this person was indeed looking for a canopy. Is their Anything that I'm dong wrong? Am I way too paranoid? Thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mark 102 #2 October 4, 2012 If you look in the security and scam forum here, you'll see two posts near the top. The first is titled "New Scam Tactics." When I just looked a moment ago, the first non-sticky post was about a PayPal scam. Just from your description of the process, it looks like you're the next victim. Mark Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jclalor 12 #3 October 4, 2012 QuoteQuoteIf you look in the security and scam forum here, you'll see two posts near the top. The first is titled "New Scam Tactics." When I just looked a moment ago, the first non-sticky post was about a PayPal scam. Just from your description of the process, it looks like you're the next victim. Mark I always thought the reason your paying 3% of your sale to paypal is they guaranteed the transaction. According to his FB he seems like a popular guy down there, I just hope the DZ confirms his story. I listened hard when he called, he did not sound Nigerian. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #4 October 4, 2012 If it doesn't feel right, walk away and sell it to someone else. Period.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SEREJumper 1 #5 October 4, 2012 Ask him for some References of people he has bought from before in the US. If possible have him paypal money to his friend and then have his friend paypal "gift" you the money, then it is yours to keep, paypal/them can't get it back. Most foreign countries do not allow them to send paypal as a gift directly. I've sent items overseas or to friends in the US. If you don't have a good feeling about it, don't do it. Sell it to someone in the states. Paypal protects buyers not sellers, just the way it is. Ive had food results using PP, but nothing is a sure deal as cash (well, that could be questionae as well).We're not fucking flying airplanes are we, no we're flying a glorified kite with no power and it should be flown like one! - Stratostar Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr_Polite 0 #6 October 4, 2012 If his "friend" is meeting you to pick it up, tell him cash only! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGUN 1,048 #7 October 5, 2012 +1 He can use the PayPal email function to send the money to his fiend and have the friend bring you the cash.Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mark 102 #8 October 5, 2012 QuoteHe can use the PayPal email function to send the money to his fiend . . . Ah, the underworld legions. Every now and then what looks like a typo reveals the truth. Mark Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGUN 1,048 #9 October 5, 2012 Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr2mk1g 10 #10 October 5, 2012 Yeah - have him send his mate the money and the mate can turn up with cash. He'll save on any paypal fees that way too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davelepka 4 #11 October 5, 2012 On the one hand it does sound fishy, on the other hand it's not a 'cookie cutter' scam. Having a guy willing to meet you is a good thing, and as others have mentioned, just have the buyer Paypal the 'friend' the money so he can pay you cash directly. Paypal can provide protection, but it's generally geared more toward the buyer, and generally requires some 'documentation' like tracking numbers and shipping records to make a claim. Even if you as a seller needed help, without shipping records or an ebay auction to reference, you're not going to get very far. The seller can send the money as a 'gift' to his friend and not pay any fees. The 'friend' can then transfer the money to his bank so they can withdraw the cash, but it takes 3 or 4 business days for the tranfer to complete, so leave time for that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
5.samadhi 0 #12 October 5, 2012 He is probably hoping to get the canopy picked up during the intermin time that the funds are transferred but not secured. After the pickup the funds source will be severed with paypal upon which the funds will not be securely transferred and your bank will owe the funds to paypal, which you will pay. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 135 #13 October 5, 2012 i think you are paranoid. real scammers wouldn't care about the gearscissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
degeneration 5 #14 October 5, 2012 Other possible Paypal scams are when someone offers to pay by paypal, then collect - then after collecting they file a claim with paypal saying they never received the goods. Unless you get some form of proof that they collect it - i.e. video tape them confirming that they have collected the goods and are in the stated condition (but even then who knows if paypal would accept that) - paypal will then often side with the buyer and the money will be taken from your account. Paranoia, maybe. But if someone is collecting, get the money in cash. If you are shipping, then you can prove tracking numbers etc, so paypal should be fine.Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 135 #15 October 5, 2012 I have bought from the classifieds here 1 BASE rig 2 canopies 4 wingsuits 4 pilotchutes some I bought via paypal, some other via bank transfer, from the 8 sellers, I wonder who had any doubts ?scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
5.samadhi 0 #16 October 5, 2012 Quotei think you are paranoid. real scammers wouldn't care about the gear I think you are probably right about it being an OK deal, but the question the OP asked was how could this be a scam and my answer was the way it could be. Paypal is very easy to abuse if you know how it works. A way to get around this by the way is to wait for the funds to securely transfer, this is beyond the initial transfer, which is unsecured if the sender is unsecured with paypal. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jclalor 12 #17 October 5, 2012 QuoteQuotei think you are paranoid. real scammers wouldn't care about the gear I think your right. I had sent an email to his DZ in Argentina to verify him and his brother emailed me back, he also works at the same DZ. He also friended me on FB, he looks like very active in the skydive community, Anyone who went through this much work to scam me deserves the used student canopy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #18 October 5, 2012 I have an old 24' flat reserve ya can send him, if it's a scam he'll never know the difference and you won't be out your canopy! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rhopstr 0 #19 October 6, 2012 Have you considered using the escrow.com service? From what I've read on their website that should be a safe way to do transactions like this. Haven't used that site / service myself yet by the way. Do let us know how this worked out in the end! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Divalent 89 #20 October 6, 2012 Quote... real scammers wouldn't care about the gear This is not correct. Some try to get your money by doing something like sending you a check for more than the purchase price (and having you send them back the difference before you discover that their original payment was all phony) and others try to get your stuff by making it seem like they paid for it and get you to hand over the goods before you discover the payment was phony. In the latter scam, either you are shipping to an untracable "rent-a-mailbox", or you deliver the stuff to a third party (who likely is an innocent go-between duped into helping the scammer) as a way to prevent you from tracking down the stuff after the fact. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonathan.newman 1 #21 October 7, 2012 He might be trying to avoid import duties. I had a jumpsuit made that was finished AFTER I moved to Panama. I had it sent to Miami, where a friend picked it up and brought it back. I just installed a CYPRES for a guy who paid 25% duty on a $1400 CYPRES. For $350 he probably could have gotten a flight to Deland to pick it up himself. If I were buying a parachute for $$$ and then had to spend another 25%, I'd surely ask a bro to pick it up for me on his next trip to the states. Sounds like the guy is legit. C'mon, you're facebook friends! (how many friends in common do you have?) Another thought, many rigging lofts will provide escrow service for just the cost of shipping and an inspection. Sometimes even for free. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites