Scammer alert for Gumtree sellers

[Re::Cycling]

Evening hubbers,

 

Recently had some interest for an ad posted on Gumtree. Buyers mo turned out to be quite repetitive. Here's the email we received:

 

From: raymond korff (rkorff13@gmail.com)

 

Hello ,

Thanks for the response, i am really interested buying this for my Son as a surprise gift for him,its Graduation that is coming soon only if you can assure me that everything is in order and it works fine,i am a petroleum engineer currently on a rig offshore i really want this to be a surprise gift for my Son so i wont let him know anything about this until it gets delivered to him , i am sure he will be more than happy with it.It will be secured paying via Payfast as i'm on rig offshore.So let me know if you have an account with payfast so i can make the payment.

note well:

Pick up agent will come for the pick up as soon as i have made the payments, i would have loved to talk to you on phone but I work mainly offshore, our phone is down on the rig right now due to bad weather, we can only communicate with our base for now.

Thanks

 

Same story for a kettle on another site:

http://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread.php?p=2571847

 

Heads up for a similar story / name.

[JLK]

these guys are a bunch of thieving assholes!! Im selling quite a few things on gumtree and olx. had a guy phone me couple months back for something he wants to buy for his church. Was so eager he offered me more money than what i was advertising it for. next thing i get a computer generated SMS from "nedbank" and a Proof of payment emailed to me. i was busy that afternoon so told the guy i wont be home but he can collect in the morning after i confirmed with the bank funds that funds will clear. he got very aggressive and said his courier is coming to collect, he doesnt mind coming after midnight when i got home. needless to say money never cleared and i never heard from him again. day later the phone number he used wasnt working anymore. be careful! there are sooo many scamsters out there. dont let go of your goods untill money is in your account 0r they bring hard cash! also meet in a public place. i quite like the Police station for meeting buyers

[Cube120]

Its very simple...a fool and his money are easily parted.And the scamsters on Gumtree operate as a syndicate,and due to the trusting and gullible nature of people there are a lot that will get caught.When in doubt tell the idiots to get stitched.

[sawystertrance]

That's a bit harsh. Just because someone is conned it doesn't mean they are a fool. Most folk are decent and trusting and it doesn't even occur to them that there are crooks out there working like this. Doesn't make them fools.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

As soon as I read the words "Offshore" or "Abroad" then I switch off, the modus operandi is generally always the same with a twist or two.

[NickGM]

This is sort of stuff is all over the place. Over a year ago I tried to sell a car on autotrader in the UK, and received a largely similar response, with the main difference being that "Jennifer McCale" was an Oceanographer, also having to work offshore, etc. For a qualified oceanographer Jennifer's grammar was really not that good, so from the start I was cautious. As a joke/test I told her that the car smelt of urine and that I had mistakenly filled it with diesel so it wasn't running well now - did she still want it? Apparently she did. 

 

The concerning thing is that this scam still exists more than a year later. 

[EmptyB]

Unfortunately this is a daily thing on olx and gumtree. Be very cautious of stories like offshore and I'm overseas etc. They all say I'll pay today and someone will collect today. What BS.....

[Skylark]

What's with the scammers wanting to pay with payfast these days?

The last week I had one of these idiots rashing me, was very insistent that I open a payfast acc and that he pay via them. Strung him along for a while then told him to collect the item at the cop station

[Hairy]

Had a guy wanting to buy a pricey camera a few years ago, also an fnb supposed proof of payment and a courier on the way story.

 

Did not feel right and let him know he would have to wait fit funds to clear, he got agro, I did not care as he also never knew where to find me......End of story, was a scam and cell no was disconnected

[Vetseun]

I was looking for a cell phone for my laaitie. Found an advertisement for a phone in Bloem. I was immediately concerned, I noticed spelling errors in the advertisement and the photograph is of a Samsung S4  the advertisement is for a S3 Mini. I called the seller Bongani. When he answered and I heard that Bongani sounded like a Nigerian. I in anyway decided to play along. After receiving total assurance that the item was in tip top condition, I made as if I was ready to conclude the deal. Bongani tried to lure me to a block of flats at the taxi rank in Bloem. A notorious criminal area . Whities only visit that area to buy drugs or for a whore with seven different illnesses, 4 of which are unknown to medical science. Enough confirmation for me, I abandoned the whole story.

I immediately contacted OLX. The response was fast, they reassured me that the advertisement had been  removed and the seller blacklisted.

Within an hour, the seller was back with the same advertisement just with a new name.

I reported it again.

I have now eventually given up after reporting the seller more that 10 times and within an hour he is back.

Same pic, same advertisement, different name.

His name has been Butt, Themba, Cassie and many more, currently Lee.

OLX assures me each time that the user has been blacklisted.

Doesn't seem to be working.

I originally reported for the first time in October and this bastard is still scamming innocent people.

I wonder how many times this S3 mini has been sold already.

If it was not lucrative, he would not do it.

It bloody disgusts me. 

Edited December 25, 2014 by Vetseun

[Lurch the stalker]

The 'problem' is, as a whole, we South Africans are generally open and trusting people.

 

I'm not saying this doesn't work all over the world, but I think it is particularly popular here.

[ballisticz4]

 

or for a whore with seven different illnesses, 4 of which are unknown to medical science.

 

rofl, nice one. But ja, the okes are so skelm man. I had lots of camera gear on the tree of gums at one time, and jusso, I swear these people sit at the same damn internet cafe phoning us. The first call had for my lens, I heard a lady screaming in the background, I declined the offer due to obvious reasons, on the second call (a different no and guy this time) I heard the same lady screaming in the background. No wat ga he aan!

 

Donderse skelms!

[Bonus]

I'm obviously wrong, but I thought you could only get a SIM card in this country with valid identity and "proof of address" docs? (RICA?) Meaning that no one can own a working phone number anonymously?

[scotty]

I'm obviously wrong, but I thought you could only get a SIM card in this country with valid identity and "proof of address" docs? (RICA?) Meaning that no one can own a working phone number anonymously?

Same way you require a TV lic to buy a TV it can be bypassed, legislation is only as good as its enforced. You can buy pre registered sim cards from certain cell shops. 

[Lurch the stalker]

I'm obviously wrong, but I thought you could only get a SIM card in this country with valid identity and "proof of address" docs? (RICA?) Meaning that no one can own a working phone number anonymously?

This nonsense doesn't work.

Had an issue where my mother bought a cellphone and SIM for her domestic worker. Due to some issues she was dismissed and I don't know how, got the number of her replacement and was calling and harassing her. So I told my mother to just cancel the SIM only to find out the number had been ported to a different provider and she hadn't authorized it. I had an absolute sh!t fit at both the old and new provider over it and after a huge fight got the thing canned.

 

It's like most laws, the general population follow it but the rotten apples will always find a loophole...

[ArnoRtb]

I listed a SIlverback Sola 2 on OLX in October 2014, and within an hour received a call from a man with a foreign (read: Nigerian) accent. I obviously took it for a scam, but played along never the less.

 

Had to drop a relative at Lanseria, (I'm from Rustenburg) so sommer arranged the 'collection' for the same time. Arranged with the SAPS office at Lanseria before hand, and they actually caught the guy, or his driver at least.

 

What happened at the end of the day?

Nothing, driver was not arrested as there were no evidence that he was responsible for defrauding anyone, although he was a Zimbabwean national claiming to do collections for the scammer on a regular basis. And seeing that the goods wasn't handed over it was also difficult to open a case of 'attempted theft' or 'attempted fraud'.

 

Oh yes, and ABSA were so kind to inform me that someone tried paying me with a stolen cheque, thanks for the heads up ABSA!

 

The best part is the scammers number was still active for a couple of days (maybe still?) afterwards, as we occasionally had a pleasant chat: me pointing out how stupid he is, and him threatening me (even after I told him the cops are involved).

 

A few lessons picked up over the years:

• Genuine buyers will ask about on the condition, specs, age etc.
• Avoid buyers with 'foreign' accents and/or poor spelling/grammer (could be a nigerian, or just a really dumb person, or both, but you should avoid them just the same).
• Ask for emailed proof of payment, it has a reference number that can be verified, SMS confirmation can easily be spoofed.
• Check if the buyer/seller has a facebook or whatsapp profile.
• Meet only in a safe place, specially when buying something cash.
• If money was deposited and reflecting in your account, but not available it's a cheque and it WILL bounce. No individuals uses cheques anymore, except fraudsters.