Buyer trying to Scam me to get my product for free

[Deleted by Amazon on Jan 5, 2012 8:08:21 AM PST]

That's scary. And rude. How did they get your seller email account? I thought Amazon removed that when sending emails.

Delivery address = that just gave it away right there.... really.. Nigerian spending 3000 for a camera? I'm sure that's what the poorest countries are buying right now with their thousands of saved up dollars. Not food, but cameras lol

No, the rude part is he will leave bad feedback if he doesn't get it.

They emailed me through amazon asking for pictures and asked if i could email them through a different email.

below is the first email i recieved from them.

Dear ,

I want you to send the pictures of this item to me for scrutiny. my email is adamreece38 at yahoo.c.o.m. The item will be ordered on Wednesday if I receive your email on time in good condition.

Adam.v

Red flag #1: asking for the product without paying
Red flag #2: Bad punctuaction - "Amazon Buyer\'s "
Red flag #3: Bad grammar
Red flag #4: Buyer is from Nigeria, scamming capital of the world!

i just feel bad for the people that might actually fall for this. So i figured i would give this guy some public exposure

HEY, isn't that also the guy that has MY winning Nigerian Lottery winnings?

This looks like it might be identity theft, although it's an odd mix. He's using Adam Reece's information, like billing address, as if he's using Adam's credit card, but from the look of it it's entirely an e-mail scam. Which makes that information somewhat unnecessary (unless he thinks it somehow makes it look more legit?). Bonus points for creating adamreece38 at yahoodotcom too, one of the biggest tip-offs of scams is shady e-mail addresses and this guy actually thought to create a safer sounding address (technically I guess he could have gained access to the alleged Adam's e-mail, but why go to the extra effort when you can just create adamreece## in a couple minutes), scary.

Thanks for the heads up! I know a bunch of people who sell through Amazon (who, sadly, would most likely fall for this), I'll make sure to pass it around.

We should report this to amazon! I just had the same experience with him. He wanted to pay $450 for a canon s95 and send it to Nigeria. Below is his email:

Dear ,

I want you to send the pictures of this item to me for scrutiny. my email is adamreece38 at yahoo.c.o.m. The item will be ordered on Wednesday if I receive your email on time in good condition.

Another red flag - the email refers to "the item" rather than specifically "the camera" or "the book" or whatever it is you're selling. (~_~)

A. Final Take, Llc says: "... if I receive your email on time in good condition."

How does an e-mail arrive in bad condition?

I did report him to amazon. You should also as well that way they can track the guy.

That was kind but Amazon deleted it already.

Yes, I will be doing the same. I tried to reply back but his email address is no longer active today. Another red flag.

There's lots of scammers out there, but exercise common sense and you should be fine. One of my less-than-street-savvy friends one time tried to rent an apartment off Craigslist. She did not take note of multiple red flags, even though several of us at the office spotted them right away when she asked for advice.

1) he was "in London" and will mail her the key
2) when asked to talk on the phone, he said he had a bad cold and lost his voice
3) asked for cash, via wire transfer

There are some very obvious things when dealing with anyone online. Don't go outside official channels like Amazon or eBay. If you do, you are not protected. I always photograph my items before packing (for serial numbers, item condition) and post-pack out w/ the address clearly visible and postal label. And I always pay for delivery confirmation ($0.19). One time, a long time ago, a buyer claimed she only got part of the item I sent her. I emailed her the receipt with the weight shown and she never contacted me again. For high priced items, I pay a few extra dollars for insurance. I sold 3 pairs of Ultimate Ears headphones and they looked like fishy addresses in the middle of nowhere. One was a shipping forwarding service.

But with these basic common sense things, I haven't had any problems with buyers claiming they never got the item. Obviously, watch out for countries like Nigeria..

[Deleted by Amazon on Mar 26, 2012 3:00:22 PM PDT]