Am I being scammed?

[Pharrox]

I have been looking for a good laptop for college lately. While I was checking Craigslist I found a pretty good deal on a used Alienware. I contacted the seller and this is what I got in return:

Hello,

Yes

My name is Nancy Smith and I am now in London, United Kingdom (I was sent here with my work ). I made an order for a new Laptop for UK use and I need the money from this sale to pay it.

We can close a deal ASAP.

Obviously we need a way to complete this deal that will allow us to make sure we receive what we are after.

I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the Laptop in less than 2 days, if you move fast as well. The solution is provided by UPS, which will handle the payment and delivery of the Laptop.

I have found a procedure that will allow you to pay for the Laptop only after you will receive it and through this way you

will see it and test it before I receive my payment.

You can visit www.ups.com for more information. I'm sure you've heard about them, I worked with them many times.

Like I said, I will pay for a 2 days delivery so you will receive the Laptop right away.

I will explain to you step by step how this will work:

1) First, you will have to send me your full name and address. I will need them for the shipping.

2) I go to UPS and leave the Laptop onto your name as the intended receiver.

3) UPS will check the Laptop to see if everything is OK with it and also the legal papers that will come along with the Laptop.

4) UPS will send you a delivery notification to let you know they have the Laptop, in which you will be told that they have

the Laptop and that they checked it.

5) At this point you will have to go to a Western Union Agent Location and make a money deposit on the UPS payment agent name for the amount we agreed.

6) After you make the deposit you will have to send the info about the money deposit to UPS (MTCN, sender's name and address)

7) UPS will verify the payment informations and if everything is in order they will deliver the Laptop to you .

8) After you receive the Laptop, check it and see that all is in order you will instruct UPS to send me the information about

the money deposit and I will be able to receive the funds.

I will pay UPS for the shipping and you will pay Western Union for the Money Transfer fee .

Let me know if we can do this.

Thank you,

Nancy

Of course as soon as I saw this the first thing I thought was that it's a scam. Still, going by what they said, UPS wouldn't send the money until I've recieved it and had a chance to try it out. I still assume it's probably a scam, but I just wanted to get some other people's opinions first, such as how it would work and what problems there are with it.

 

[jaxxster]

sounds too tricky so its a scam

 

[Pharrox]

Yep, that's what I thought. Just wanted to make sure.

 

[juggernaut911]

total scam. too much BS on craigslist, I only deal locally and have people look over the suspicious ads that I'm interested in. theres too many steps for a normal deal. normal stuff is quick and easy.

overall, just reply saying:
JK LOLOLOLOL!! I WAS GONA SCAM JOO B4 U SCAM ME HORE!!!

 

[deathfisaro]

I think it's probably a scam, avoid deals involve shipping.

If she wants to sell her laptop, she should try U.K.'s craigslist instead. No reason to bother with all that shipping and UPS crap.

Seriously, I'd look for people who want a U.S. laptop in U.K. then having to pay for 2 day U.K. -> U.S. UPS delivery. (I think shipping's already 3 digits right there?)

 

[SavageWaffle]

DONT DO IT, THAT BITCH SCAMMED MY FRIEND. SHE/OR HE IS USEING THE SAME SHIT! This is that bitchs thing:
1)After she gets money, she sends an emty box. With sometimes trash.

OR

if shes buying:
1)Sends a fake paypal e-mail "with a @yahoo.com" e-mail. But it isn't real. Says the money went through paypal, bull shit.

Of course, your getting scammed.
That son of a bitch is practically giving you the instructions to get you scammed. Without you even noing.

 

[gratefulbuddy]

UPS does offer a service very similar to this (its called UPS Exchange Collect) but:

UPS will not accept cash, checks, credit cards, PayPalTM or Western Union ® money/wire transfers.

But even if UPS holds you're money until you receive the "package", there is no guarantee of what is in that "package".

 

[Pharrox]

Okay, thanks everyone.

Even if everything checked out I probably wouldn't have gone through with it just because it seemded too risky. I basically always say that I only want to do it locally. Thanks for clearing up the details on how it works.

 

[Dack]

A quick search for 419 or 'advance fee fraud' should give you the answer.

e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/419_scam

 

[Awdofgum]

What's with all this she talk, there are no girls on the internetz.

 

[NeSchn]

Send her a message and bitch her out and report her to Craigslist

 

[PizzaPasta]

overall, just reply saying:
JK LOLOLOLOL!! I WAS GONA SCAM JOO B4 U SCAM ME HORE!!!

HAHAHAHA!

Yes, please reply as Juggernaut says, verbatim!

If you get a response that does not sound like it was generated from a machine then you should post it here.

 

[arsehat]

My name is Nancy Smith and I am now in London, United Kingdom (I was sent here with my work ). I made an order for a new Laptop for UK use and I need the money from this sale to pay it.

Pretty much any laptop power supply these days is universal 100-240V @ 50-60Hz and works worldwide - there may be some exceptions to this, but they'd be pretty rare as it's cheaper to produce one common switchmode unit that works anywhere than to produce specific US and European versions. Most alienware notebooks are what, rebadged Clevo gear aren't they? I doubt they'd do two different power supplies when one would suffice.

Alienware would be able to confirm the input requirements for the power supply on one of their notebooks, and I'd wager doughnuts to dog turds that they're universal.

Maybe the scammer should be told to cancel her order and spend a fiver on a replacement power cord or a US-UK plug adaptor - something along the lines of "I cannot in clear conscience take advantage of you - your current laptop can almost certainly be used without problems in the UK, and I am not a fraudster who preys on the innocent".

 

[Apex]

An old famous saying is: "If it sounds too good to be true, than it probably is."

A less famous one is as follows: "If it sounds to tricky to be good, just spend the extra cash on the real deal."


'Sides, if you're getting a college laptop, for COLLEGIAN activities, I'd go for a Macbook, they're fairly cheap, and as long as it's not dealing with intensive 3d graphics, they're demonically good.

 

[DeMoN]

Why would a woman have an Alienware laptop in the first place? scam.

 

[Lupigen]

Generally, when you see "International" and especially "Western Union" for a transaction, it should set off alarms. There are scams out there that use Western Union as the core. You can probably find out more about such scams through Google or eBay's forums.

 

[deathfisaro]

You know what though, the moment you saw the e-mail you suspected it was a scam, so did I.
But it looks like some people still fall for it.

It's good that you brough this to Tempers' attention, now even gullible people will doubt such offers.

 

[Mangofett]

Carry out with the offer, but do not get money involved, instead spend as much time wasting the time of the scammer.

 

[Trippy]

Carry out with the offer, but do not get money involved, instead spend as much time wasting the time of the scammer.

Right on. Start messing w/ her for fun. ANY western union and wire transfers are a dead giveaway.

 

[kobykaan]

Its a scam ... seen around on the net for a couple of years with the name just changed several times!

just junk it and forget it!

it pi$$es me off that crap like this is still out there and churned out in different formats and ways so much that innocent people still get conned/duped into parting with their money

as above .. if it sounds too good to be true then NO DOUBT IT IS! AVOID!

to those that suggest playing mind games ... the only person out there that would gain is the person sending them out gets confirmation that your email is LIVE and VALID so they can send MORE SPAM!

best thing is to just delete it!

DO NOT RESPOND to ANY emails like this .. you will only end up with MORE!!!