I was selling my Nikon D80 camera set in Los Angeles Craigslist when a Mike Sand contacted me via text from telephone number 314-763-3075 on March 13, 2015, asking me the usual questions about the item such as availability of original boxes and final price etc; he also asked if I was willing to ship, and I said yes if he paid through Paypal.
I have sold other camera items before online, taking Paypal payments, so I thought everything was fine when he asked me to send him a Paypal invoice. He asked me to send it to company name Acquitrans, C/O his son John Sand at 308 S. State St, Ste. 31 in Ann Arbor MI 48104. I shipped the item the next day on Saturday, through USPS, when I received an e-mail confirmation from what Paypal - or so I thought.
When Monday came and went, and I still did not get change on the status activity of my paypal account for the invoice I sent him, I started to get worried. I checked the e-mail he sent me for the Paypal payment, by forwarding the e-mail to myself to see if it was actually using a Paypal e-amil address, and was horrified to find out that it was not! The original e-mail showed it coming from [email protected]® but when I forwarded it to myself the e-mail was actually from [email protected]. The e-mail looked like an authentic Paypal e-mail, but when I read through it again, I noticed some small grammatical and typographical errors as well.
I immediately went to my USPS account and did a package intercept online on Tuesday early morning. I called USPS Consumer Affairs and called the Michigan Post Office to notify them that I was a victim of online fraud. USPS was very helpful, and thank heavens I was able to intercept a very expensive camera set that would have otherwise have been stolen from me, but this ordeal has still cost me over $120 in shipping and other fees.
I tried to call the scammer on the telephone number he texted me with, but it says the number can only accept text messages. Googling the company Acquitrans also resulted in me finding out that it was a Nigerian shipping company, so beware of this Nigerian scamming company and its affiliates!
emailtz
Santa Barbara,#2Consumer Comment
Thu, June 25, 2015
Figured I would just copy and paste the text exchange between me and the scam artist who found me on Craigslist. I was pretty sure it was a scam after their second text, but I really do need the money to pay rent so was hopeful it was a legit buyer! Guess again...
the kidd
Alabama,#3General Comment
Wed, June 10, 2015
Thank you so much for saving me. I am selling a canon 70-200MM and was contacted about what my lowest offer was. I told them and they wanted me to ship it. So I said sure if they pay for paypal cost and pay for the shipping. I then got a very convincing email saying Paypal was holding the money until I gave them the tracking number because it was for such a large amount. I then was about to ship but noticed the shipment address he proved to me had that compaines name onit. and I thought that was odd to be talking to a individual but to ship to a company. So I did a search and saw what you wrote. I then checked my paypal and said no payment was received. I then contacted them and told them.
that email from the fake paypal. is very very close to being the real thing. and I was about to be out of 1770$ and about to be out a very nice lens.
thank you so much for saving me. thank you thank you. if not for your email popping up first about this being a scam, I would have probably shipped it.
Jay
Milwaukee,#4Consumer Comment
Sat, May 16, 2015
This person tried to do the same thing to me, but I am famiiar with these scams. However, I sometimes play along with them to see if I can fine additional infomation. This time it worked! This person works at 7 eleven and I contacted them and told them and told one of the managers, That it's an possibility that one of your employers are involved in online scams and he told down my info and I am calling them back tomorrow to speak to the main manager. Contact me and I will give you all the info and also explained to the manager. She is going to call the police and find out which one of her employers are having slolen goods shipped to his/ her place of employment