Somebody bought my Tablet! Is this legit?

[az]

Somebody bought my tablet PC for a whopping 1650 EUR plus delivery (including docking station and 1 GB RAM, but still...). What makes me suspicious is that this is a foreign buyer (residing in the UK, but apparently an american account). He doesn't want me to send to the stated address, but to his son, apparently, and can't pay via paypal (which is no problem itself, it just makes me suspicious).

Here's the email he sent me:

Hello,

Greetings to your and your family. I bought your eBay Item....I am Sending the item to my son studying in London as a gift , Dont send it to me because i am not in the USA now, i am on humanitarian tour around the world. I am curretly in London United Kingdom. I can not transfer the money via Paypal Account to you, because my account has no limit left, so it has expired. I would like to use Bank Transfer.

I will transfer the full payment to you via Citi Bank Online (United Kingdom) ... If you accept then give me the shipping cost to London and your Bank Information:

YOUR NAME:
BANK NAME:
KONTO:
BLZ:
SWIFT/BIC:
IBAN:

I will be waiting for this so that i can proceed with your payment via Citi Bank Online. You can also visit Citi Bank Online homepage:

https://www.citibank.co.uk

Regards

Mr.Peters

This makes me suspicious, but I don't really know why - he has to pay in advance, so where's the risk? The ebay address is also in the UK (although a USAnian account).

[ND66]

"...and your Bank Information..."


I say it's a fraud.

This makes me suspicious, but I don't really know why - he has to pay in advance, so where's the risk? The ebay address is also in the UK (although a USAnian account).

He's not going to deposit any money into your account, he’ll clean your account out first.
.

[az]

No, that's the normal way bank transfers work in germany. We don't use your strange cheque system

I don't think it is possible to clear bank accounts with only that info, or it would happen all the time, because everybody tells everybody this info for any wire transfers (which we all use daily).

His email address is at least not faked, his name matches with the ebay name. The account has been used only six times, once in 03 and 04, four times in 05, all positive feedback. At least it's not a new account, but maybe it's phished?

[Jon P. Inghram]

Classic scam, with really bad English and all.

[az]

But if it is a scam, what are they going to do?

[ND66]

No, that's the normal way bank transfers work in germany. We don't use your strange cheque system

I don't think it is possible to clear bank accounts with only that info, or it would happen all the time, because everybody tells everybody this info for any wire transfers (which we all use daily).

His email address is at least not faked, his name matches with the ebay name. The account has been used only six times, once in 03 and 04, four times in 05, all positive feedback. At least it's not a new account, but maybe it's phished?

I'd ship only to a stated address, if it was me. I just wouldn’t take a chance on helping, (maybe) scamming someone.

But hey, it’s just me…. .

from E-Bay

Fake escrow services.
Use caution when considering an escrow service to pay for your item. For eBay transactions, you should only use the following eBay approved escrow companies: www.escrow.com (US and UK); www.escrowaustralia.com.au (AU); www.escrow-europa.com (IT and ES); http://ebay.iloxx.de (DE); www.tripledeal.com (FR, NL, BE). Learn more about escrow.

.

[az]

Unfortunately, iloxx only works for german and austrian shipping addresses

[Jon P. Inghram]

They don't have a credit or debit card?

[Sasq]

you can only pay paypal via CC if the other end accepts the *biz* charges.

Az, its the same here, we remit money as a matter of daily biz, and knowing bank account details is fine.
does it smell scamish to me, yup. but if the money hits your account should be ok, though if your not sure check with citibank uk what their policy is on hacked accounts etc.

[schmosef]

Didn't you just get that tablet? Why are you selling it?

[Jammrock]

I say scam too. Someone tried a similar scam when I sold my wife's old laptop on eBay. They always try to get you to ship the laptop to another contry where it would be impossible and too costly for you to attempt litigation.

If they don't pay via PayPal...until the money is sitting in your account, don't ship for any reason. That's my rule with eBay selling.

[Sasq]

Didn't you just get that tablet? Why are you selling it?

he wants a macbook

[schmosef]

I have to say that this looks like a scam to me too.

Did you sell it on eBay? Did the buyer have good feedback?

[Brian Ellis]

I say that it could be legit. Send the guy your bank details. As he has asked for the BIC and IBAN, you should receive payment within a couple of days. You can then send the goods off by, say, EMS or one of the courier services to the son's address. The worst that can happen is the son will say he never received it, but there will be a traceable signature on the transaction to show it was delivered to the stated address (possibly safer by EMS than courier, as postal workers are generally better than any person whom a private courier service may employ).

I've conducted such transactions on ebay without any difficulty. Your bank account will be perfectly safe.

I agree that the US/UK/Cypriot cheque system is much more open to abuse than wire transfers, which I use all the time - and they are more expensive! Remember that those used to cheques probably don't understand the niceties of wire transfers, so would be more suspicious, the way I'm always suspicious of cheques (I recently sold a lathe here and insisted on cash when the guy came to take it away).

[az]

Thanks for the feedback guys, sums up nicely what I think.

It smells fishy, but I can't really see the angle to scam me. I would never ship without having received payment. I'll probably ship with DHL.

And yes, I want a macbook (and will even have money left to get a screen! Yay!).

He does have good feedback, but only six (from 2003, 2004, and 2005).

I'll send him details to a bank account with only ~100 EUR on it to minimize my risk.