Is this a craigslist scam?
 

So I put up my laptop for sale on craigslist, and I got a response with some interest, I quoted the price at 1200$ and this is his response...I mean...paypal is pretty secure, and so is money order - but I see west africa and the hair on the back of my neck stands up lol.

would you do it? this is his e-mail back to me:

The Laptop is for my wife birthday gift which is coming up in some days time.She works in the United states Consulate office in west africa.Am a very busy man and would like you to help me send this item to my wife in West Africa for her birthday.i will pay you the sum of $1375.It will cover up for the cost of the laptop,the assessories and shipping to my wife in west africa.I will be paying you through PAYPAL,Its secure and reliable and it protects the two people involved in the transaction.I will need your paypal account so i can make the payment right away and hope you send the item to my wife as soon as you receives your payment from paypal.
Thanks for your help and understanding.
Robert Adams.

NB:Alternatively,i can send you a money order through merchant express money order, www.memoco.com. If you will like to receive your payment through money order,then let me have your contact address.
Name:
ADDRESS:


edit: I guess it depends on if he wants me to send it prior to getting the money order if I go that route - but how do you fuck with paypal?

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh
yeah, it's a scam. They'll pay with a stolen credit card or sum such, and the money order will be fake.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

yep...

Try this site : http://www.419eater.com :winkwink:

there was a big special on Dateline about scammers outta W Africa... i'd be leary.

take the paypal payment then report it to paypal

its a scam

If he pays via paypal with a stolen credit card then you'll lose the money and the laptop.

H
 

tell him it can be her present next year... as it will then be too late for a chargeback...

Definate scam... tell him to send you a pic of himself with a fish on his head... thats what some guy in the UK did and had the made Nigerians doign all kinds of crazy shit !

OH YA BABY! it's on now! hehehe

interesting...it's pretty ridiculous how easy it is to get shafted when buying hard goods online from other people. You'd think with the money paypal is raking in they'd be able to afford a little more protection... oh well. Then again, if they did it'd be really easy to fuck with them on a large scale, so I suppose they don't have much of a choice.

I remember way back when playing EQ - I quit and decided to sell my character. Made a clean 2300$, and was thrilled. Then I get an e-mail saying all the money had been taken away due to a dispute, and because it was electronic goods, I had no receipt of shipment or anything lol. So - I started getting collection notices from paypal, but I was still in highschool and worked like 6 hours a week on the weekends, so I just ignored it (ignorant kid I guess) - until one day they just stopped coming. Someone told me that when Ebay bought paypal they bought out all their debt, and I guess decided it wasn't worth going after all the money owed. *shrug*

What they actually do is send a fake e-mail appearing to come from Paypal saying you got the funds, and then another e-mail appearing to come from Paypal saying the funds will not be released until you send them a scan of the shipping documents showing the item has been shipped. The e-mails are poorly worded and look like they were written by a monkey (and seeing as they are coming from Nigeria they actually were). Just do a Google search for Craigslist Paypal scam and you'll see what I mean...