Verified Buyer in US, request ship to Ukraine, does this sound suspicious?

[scouttech-outfitters]

Hey guys,

I have had situations like this where I have shipped out to other locations then listed for people before and have been ok.

However this one has raised the red flag for me in several areas, mostly because it is a larger dollar amount than I usually deal with...

Does it help that he paid using a verified PayPal account (the account I was paid from is registered USA)?

1) He claims that it is a gift for a brother in Ukraine, however he bought 10 memory cards when originally inquiring about just 1 and 10 cards sounds like a funny gift unless his brother plans on opening up a computer store business during the holidays

2) He requested that I ship immediatly so that it gets there in time for xmas (this is a reasonable request as it is xmas but it is guaranteed 4-5 days shipping to Ukraine) I dont want him to have a late gift but nor do I want to get scammed.

3) He requested that I send as a gift and ONLY THROUGH CANADA POST and not UPS as it is a gift for someone to avoid high import taxes. I assume this is a legit move to do but does the fact that CP was requested raise any alarms? He also said that the others will ship to a major city and require his brother to go and pacik them up, is this true?

4)He said to send the package uninsured? It sounds kind of silly to me to send a package valued at $700 uninsured. Yet another way to avoid taxes I suppose. I guess I will warn him its his loss if the package never makes it.

5) The name of his email didnt match the paypal email name, alone this might be ok, but combined with everything else that is going on makes me a little queasy

Does this sound like a safe transaction to everyone or does it raise any alarms? Maybe I am just paranoid because the customer is asking for alot and it is a larger dollar transaction thatn I normally deal with.

Also I am going to send this puropak. Does anyone know if I need a special bag for this, or can I just prepare it online from home like I normally do and drop it off in a box?

Thanks!

[muminlaw]

I think I'd be inclined to ask him about the name difference and then, if you're happy with his explanation, I'd offer to ship one card to the brother in the Ukraine along with a note that there are 9 more coming, and I'd ship the balance, insured, to the buyer's verified address via traceable mail.

I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but hey ... there's gotta be a limit!

Glenda

[scouttech-outfitters]

Thanks mum, a very good idea, maybe I will send out a partial shipment and the rest later (the buyer would probably freak out but what can you do)
He responded to me about the name difference, he said the email he was using to contact me just has a different name for security purposes which is something I myself have done.
Is there a number of days I can wait to be safe for sure? Or can PayPal decide that funds are fraudulent a month down the road?

He gave me a 0.65 cent tip too!
He seems to be a little reckless with his money too, but I have also been tipped before...

[shoplineca]

RED FLAGS ALL OVER THIS ONE!!!!!
I do stand to be corrected however here is my take on the situation:
1. The Ukrainian Christmas is generally known as Little Christmas on January 6th.
2. No Insurance. I have no comment but to say he is trying to avoid signature requirments.
3. PayPal email and personal emails being different is a huge red flag unless the guy is a seller on eBay with a fair amount of positive FB.

I sense in your post you are a bit hungry for this deal as you found how each of the red flags could each be excused.

What is this guy's FB rating and how long has he been a member and what is his typical $$$$ purchase?

I had a woman in midwest US ask me this morning if I would ship an item to her relative in Florida, knowing that PayPal wouldnt cover/insure this. I said I would have no problem because I saw that she had 288 positive FB with a 99.8% rating.

I can almost guaranty that you will loose on this one however.

Malcolm

[sunward-hobbies]

I am sorry to say, but you have to ask if this raises red flags?

As for the insurance, yes it is to avoid taxes. You're committing fraud, BTW. But you would be foolish to risk 700 anyway.

Either the account is hijacked or outright fraud. Hard to say as we don't know the feedback.

IIRC, verified only means the bank account is connected to the account.

Paypal only offers protection if you ship to a CONFIRMED address. For this amount, you need a signature also.

paypal help is down, but my list of approved countries does not have Ukraine on it. So you may be violating paypal if you even send there regardless of this or any situation. Try sending an email to paypal. If you are silver ps, call in.

Ask for money order and wait for it to clear. Explain to your bidder you can't ship to the Ukraine and you need a verified address. Also, go to your paypal account ( not via the email link ) and make sure you were even paid. I would take a neg before I would ship.

[scouttech-outfitters]

I investigated a little more and here is what I found...

The buyer has 34 feedback, all positive except for 2 neutral and 1 negative

They just state that buyer didnt communicate and buyer couldnt complete transaction because of family emergency.

He has already paid as of last night

The feedbacks date back to August 2000

He has been a member since August 2000

I am now VERY CONCERNED as the last feedback is dated May 2002, I guess this means the account could have been hijacked. I will email eBay and inquire about this. Is there anyone else I should report a possible account hijacking to?

[sunward-hobbies]

I can't find this buyer. Did you check his other bids?

[shoplineca]

I have seen similar reported by other eBay members several times before where an inactive account suddenly becomes active with large dollar purchases and strange requests. They have all turned out to be bad accounts, either hijacked or a previously established account, reactivated to scam people.

Report it to PayPal, as I assume that is how he paid you last night. They will prbably be more proactive in assessing the legitimacy of the PayPal account.

Once again, this STINKS! Dont ship, dont refund. Let PayPal and eBay handle it but get your notices about this situation in to both of them right away.

Malcolm

[scouttech-outfitters]

Relaible Quality - I cant view his other auctions since he hasnt bidded for a long time

My request address came in and the eBay one didnt match paypal either.

I have already emailed eBay through bronze powerseller email support

I will email PayPal now

Am I allowed to post his user ID here so people can be aware of him?

Yikes and to think I almost honored my same day shipping standard for this guy

X-(

Thanks for helping me get through this guys! The whole experience is somewhat of a rude awakening...

I will let you know how the whole things turns out!

[scouttech-outfitters]

I am on the phone with PayPal now, I am hoping this call will help to speed up the fraud report process! Their automated system made it tough as 1/2 my face is paralyzed and it cant understand me...

I have an operation scheduled with an oral surgeon for this afternoon, its a good thing I passed on those Tylenol 3's this morning!

[shoplineca]

modern_tech_solutions
Dont post his userid here. You arent allowed. You can post the listing number and we can figure out the rest.

Malcolm

[scouttech-outfitters]

Malcom - another buyer beat him to the item so he did not use the BIN through eBay

I told him Id put up a new BIN auction for him this morning and he went ahead and paid and tried to do it outside of ebay and told me not to bother listing the item for me. This is what really raised the alarm this morning. I would never complete a transaction that has not been done properly from the start. I was going to make him do the buy it now anyways but before doing so decided to check with you guys.

It is a good thing I did as now he can not leave me negative feedback regardless 🙂

Thank goodness he tried to rip off eBay or I may not have suspected him

I guess if there is no way I can post the info here I will make sure eBay and PP know about it so he cant go after anyone else

Wow, still on the phone with PayPal as they transferred me to the wrong department, there goes a months worth of LD minutes in 1 call!

[scouttech-outfitters]

After being trasferred aroudn about 5 times here is what PayPal said.

There has been a good # of fraudulent Ukrainian transactions recently (this explains why I have had so many inquiries about more expensive items). Silly me feeeling sorry for them thinking that they just didnt have this kind of stuff avaialable at reasonable prices...

The PayPal lady said to either ship to the US address so I am protected or to refund the money.

IN case he is a legit buyer which is unlikey but possible I may send xpress to him with a prepaid label to forward it to Ukraine

As I have been informed that Ukrainian Xmas is not until January 9th it should not be a problem for him

Thanks for your help guys!

[shoplineca]

DONT SHIP!!!!!!!!! REFUND THE MONEY!!!!!

If you ship to him in the US and PayPal doensn't honour any complaint he makes, there is nothing stopping him from having his credit card company do a charge back.

You have already reported to us that his email, his eBay email and Paypal email addresses are different. That after sleeping for 4 years, he wakes up to make a $700 purchase "outside of eBay" and wants it shipped to a country on PayPal's seriuos problem list.

He will keep your memory chips and get his money back and you will be out everything including the cost to ship to him at some bogus US address.

A scammer is a scammer whether his first scam to get you to ship to the Ukraine works or not. You dont honestly think that because you wont ship to the Ukraine that he isnt going to still try and scam you are you?

Dont walk away from this RUN away. The only thing that you told us positive about this whole deal was your chance to sell multiple units for $700.

That is the carrot waiving in front of your nose blinding you to the fact that any way shape or method you decide to do business with this guy it is going to be a win-loose proposition (a win for him and a loose for you).

Tell him you were getting the memory chips ready to be shipped and the dog peed on them and they are all ruined and you dont have any more.

Malcolm

[bh542]

I agree with Malcolm. From my point of view, your situation is RED, RED and RED. Don't even ship to US---You'll probably either lose the item or lose the shipping cost (if you are lucky to have the item returned to you) with a chargeback.

Whenever I had sort of inquiries, I always asked for money order or BidPay and NOT a single one has replied.

Andrew

[scouttech-outfitters]

Thanks guys.

I held on to the shipment and low and behold this evening I received a message from PayPal saying that a customer complained there was unauthorized use of his PayPal account.

Thanks for your help guys, it was an interesting experience as Ive never been subjected to online fraud before and I will definatly start being suspicious of many more people in the future.