A stranger wants to buy something from me that I put up for sale on Craig’s list. I asked him if he had a preferred way to pay for the stuff. He said either Paypal or Wire Transfer.

My bank says I need to provide my account number and routing number to receive the transfer. They told me there is risk, if the person transferring funds knows my full name and social security number. They could potentially rip me off, but only funds in the account, and not funds in my other accounts at this bank (like other savings and checking accounts).

My gut is wondering why this person would offer to transfer money, as he stands more to lose. I’ve searched this on ol’ internet and can’t really find any cases of wire transfer fraud, from folks ‘getting’ money.

Is there some new fraud going around? Should I be worried?

go paypal .I have read plenty about this especially from overseas .

DON'T DO IT! Craigslist of full of scams like this now. It's gotten impossible to sell anything of value there. Paypal is safer, but I'd be wary of dealing with a person like this unless it was face-to-face, in a public place, with other people around.

So I told the guy I had concerns with the transfer, and he said he's OK with Paypal. He then sent me pics of his driver's license, car registration, pics of himself with his car. If this is a scam, he sure is working it. Part of my conscience wants to believe in people and integrity, but I've ran across too many scoundrels....

As long as you use paypal, you will get the money the you send the product. It is t he buyer that is taking the risk at that point. I just bought off canuck audio mart like this and I was a bit nervous but all went well.

I'm tagging on to Mike's post since it's in the same vein. I put a bunch of stuff on Craigslist yesterday, and stated that I would only sell to local buyers, face to face.

Someone from out of state contacted me and offered to pay in advance via PayPal and then have a local friend of his pick it up. He says that he is the one taking the risk.

I'm familiar with quite a few scams, but can't help but wonder if there's one I'm not familiar with that's going on here.

Can a PayPal payer refute the sale afterwards and have the money transfer back to themselves, the way you can refute a charge on say, Visa or MasterCard?

I'll look this up on PayPal's site, but again wonder if there might be a scam I'm not familiar with.

It's a $700 video tripod.

Does it emerge out of the ground and shoot people with disintegration beams?

I'll give you $800 !!

Mark, if someone, anyone, is going to come to pick it up, then there is no reason that person cannot already have for you: cash, a cashier's check from a national bank, or a Postal money order.

Edit: Wait! Didn't JP once refer to himself as a $700 video tripod?

No, it was $7 video tripod. Watch your decimals, Dewey!

But aren't those ones really unstable?

J.P. unstable? Was that a question or a statement?

Hey, man, I was all ready to buy Mark's stuff, and I told him I had some nice wombats with breeding potential for trade, but he was all like "No way, man" and he totally harshed my mellow.

He wouldn't even meet me in my local dark parking lot!

Mark -

Paypal provides an element of security for both buyer and seller. I’ve been using it for a couple years now. If someone is going to have a friend pick this up for him/her, I wouldn’t be concerned (meet somewhere neutral though). Paypal is convenient, as you can use a credit card to fund your Paypal purchases. Not everyone has $700 in cash lying about like Bob.


So I told the guy I wasn’t comfortable with the wire transfer, and to send the money to my Paypal account. That was yesterday. Still no money. If it doesn’t hit my account today, I’ll know this guy was a scammer.

Good decision.
If you have enough conscious thought to stop and ask yourself the question "does this sound legitimate?", then the answer is "no".

JP, don't you get your birthday as a day off from the stalking routine?

Ha!

What if I have a friend in New Jersey who saw your ad - can you travel to him?!

Deleted.

Only for an extra wombat.

Smiley faces for that one!

It was something about Mark not doing out calls, wasn't it?

LMFAO. However, I'm not sure which one of us you intended as the "callee."

I was just following the flow of the conversation and how I was riffing on Mark's craiglist ad. I figured Mark didn't do outcalls to my "friend" in Jersey. He seems to have some antiJersey sentiment building up from somewhere.

Seriously, Mahk, funny ad. And I'm glad that you're reconsidering your position on wombats.

That wasn't even the tripod that I was mentioning in this thread. I'm selling a bunch of old tripod equipment 'cuz I bought all new carbon fiber tripods and now I have way too many.

"Check it out, baby, I upgraded my tripod ..."

That's good...

It's possible for a buyer to dispute a PayPal purchase if they don't receive the purchased item, or if the item is not as described.

If the buyers friend is going to pick up the item, you need to be able to prove the following to PayPal in the case of a dispute:

1) The buyers friend had authorization from the buyer to pick the item up.
2) The buyers friend picked the item up.