Complaint Review: Bidpay - Prof Greg Pugh - Western Union

This report is a WARNING For Ebay sellers or buyers: I put my ipod photo on ebay in november 2005; a few days into the auction, i received an email from a buyer claiming to be located in the hawaiian islands (on his ebay account he said he was from singapore);

he was offering me $200 to ship the item to ibadan, nigeria to his wife attending a conference at a university. immediately it sounded sketchy because of the location, but i followed up on his request and asked him specifics.

Before i told him i was going to sell it to him, I was sent an order pending bill from 'bidpay' that said he sent me $270 ($70 for shipping). I told him that I wasn't going to sell it to him and for him to take his shipment back, but i then received an order approved bill (he sent the money) a few days later from western unions bank of $270.

when i sent an email back telling him to undo the payment, he refused, and i was sent an email from 'bidpay' saying that to settle this, i would have to send him 150 and i would still get my 270.

I was so confused at this point that I searched the web for previous fraud scams on items to nigeria, and found a site with alarmingly similar reports: http://www.joewein.de/sw/fraud-western-union-bidpay-ebay.htm

This website says that these buyers who want the item shipped to nigeria pose as bidpay in their emails, and the payments they make are completely fake.

I sent an email back to him saying that i was seeking higher authorities and he was a fraud, and I have not heard from him since. I came close to being a victim, but luckily never sent him any money. DO NOT SHIP YOUR ITEM TO NIGERIA AND GIVE IN TO THESE SCAMMERS!

Travis
Rye, New York
U.S.A.