Molly’s laptop was stolen, and the thief didn’t even break into her house, or snag it from her at a coffeeshop, or hold a knife to her neck in a darkened alley. No, her laptop was stolen via email. In fact, she mailed it to thief, in Africa. OMG, you’re probably saying to yourself right now with your hands up by your face, how could this be? Discover the horrifying true story, inside…
Molly writes:
1. I posted my laptop for sale on Craigslist for $550.
2. Kaynero01@yahoo.com emailed me and said he’d send an extra $150 through Paypal for shipping to his cousin, a student in Nigeria.
3. Paypal sent me an email saying they needed the tracking # before they could post the $700 to my account, to protect the buyer and be fair to both parties. (I’ve since found out this email was a SCAM!)
4. I emailed the tracking # to the Paypal address they had provided and waited day in and day out. I’d paid $76.05 to ship the laptop.
5. Finally, I got frustrated enough today to call Paypal and demand the money. They said the buyer account did not exist and there was no $700. The only thing they had a record of was my request for $700 from the buyer.
6. So! Paypal couldn’t do shit. They told me to call USPS and recall the laptop.
7. USPS said the laptop left the US on September 22nd and cannot be recalled once it leaves. The insurance I’d put on the item was for lost or damaged goods. It does not protect against fraud.
8. So! USPS couldn’t do jack.
9. I reported this to the FTC, but what’s that gonna do? NOTHING!
10. I’m so livid that I am currently in an emotionless state.
That’s right, Molly, you’re fucked. Here’s a few things to remember so you don’t end up like Molly:
- Don’t mail anything to Africa and expect to get money back. Any email based around some kind of transaction wanting to have you do something involving Africa is probably a scam.
- Someone offering to buy something from you, then give you extra money over the sale price so you will ship it to a third party, is probably scamming you.
- If Paypal were really stepping in to mediate between you and the other party, a record of it would appear in your resolution center on paypal.com
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I wondered why we always assume and repeat wrongs over and over. Someone just scamed Molly of her laptop. Though she was probably asked to ship it to Nigeria. How do you know he is a nigerian or even lives in nigeria? We all must learn that scam syndicates abound virtually everywhere now and in particular many of those nigerian scammers are not in nigeria. They are in those big cities where they learn and connive with people of different nationals who aid them in their nefarious act. We all must be vigilant and be careful and not tie scam to nigeria alone else even d man next door to you will be the one to target you next time. All must be alert to collectively fight the war against scam wherever it is perceived from and not to foolishly be shouting nigeria everywhere while the one who scammed you is just at your next door.
Working for a shipper, wont’ name them since they read this site.
They won’t let us package or send things to Nigeria or most places in Africa without us asking a million questions of the person shipping. I actually saved one guy this nightmare 3 years ago when he sold his Laptop online and used their account number.
I warned that this person sounded illegitimate he shipped it anyway, then came in 3 hours later saying how I was right about the guy and he checked his Paypal Account and there was no money. He reported the guy as a scammer. I reported the account number stolen. Guess what, it was stolen from a guy living in las Vegas who also got scammed.
IF YOU USE PAYPAL THEY WILL NEVER CONTACT YOU VIA EMAIL FOR ANYTHING TO DO WITH A TRANSACTION OR PERSONAL INFO!!!!
ALWAYS LOG INTO PAYPAL.. I do not understand people at all that do not understand this concept.
New headline: “USPS jacks, PayPal shits”
I ended up receiving MANY fake “Ship now!” emails when recently listed my used iPod on Amazon. There is always something that doesn’t look right about them (formatting, email address), plus you should never ship anything until you see the money sitting in your account. If you don’t trust email, you’re fine.
These emails piss me off. I replied to every single one of them with some comments that even made ME a bit ill.
Craigslist has warnings for this ALL OVER THEIR WEBSITE. In the emails you get from the buyers, on the webpage itself, etc. I really didn’t think people would still fall for this.
Could she honestly expect either Paypal or USPS to make good on a stranger’s promise when they had nothing to do with the situation? That’d be like someone telling you that your grandma will pay you a million bucks on their behalf if you give them your car first, only to find out the next day that granny knew nothing of it, and then still expecting the old gal to pay up.
It’s common sense. This is why I always urge people to always read the FAQ on any and every site they use to transfer goods or money if they have never used it before.
I know we all took a sacred vow to not blame the victim, and I apologize Consumerist, but I simply must in this case! :/
I work in a specialized portion of Fraud for a large Credit Card company and most CC companies have specific strategies targeting most of Africa and especially Nigeria for Fraud or scams… that right there should tell you that it may sound like stereo-typing, but its just a fact of life.
The person involved in this story is obviously naive and needs to think a little bit more before making the sale to someone outside of the country, even if they are paying with MO’s or Cashier’s Checks as these are easy to fake as well and you will be left with no money and probably owing your bank for fees and you also have no product…
Just to sum this up… NEVER sell anything to anyone from Nigeria, The Ivory Coast, Nieves & St Kitts just to name a few even if they give what appears to be guaranteed funds up front. It’s probably a scam unless you know them.
Why does the Nigerian in the picture have to be black?!?!
the same thing happened to me via craigslist with my PSP but with England, not Nigeria!
I took all the same steps that you did, but they weren’t able to help me either. However, after 3+ months my package came back! I think it’s because i asked for confirmation/signerature. Good luck!
Nice racist statement against Africa there.
I’ve NEVER blamed the OP before, but hello dumb ass. Where have you been for the last ten years?
Salutations Nigerian scammer!
I am shocked that you”masterminded”
-anything. It would mean that you were able to have an
“original thought”, which for people with less than a
1st grade education is highly impossible.
As a friendly Internet billionaire I feel for you and
would like to give you 1/2 billion $USD as you are a
charity case, But to trust you, you will need to give
me 2 billion as a security deposit, mostly because you
are a……
nigger.
I can not even use your child or you , or your entire
extended family as collateral ….That is because you
are worthless- since niggers no longer have any value
under USA law,
because in the USA we can no longer use them for God’s
only intended purpose as slaves.
So contact me when you have an extra 2 billion, which
you can make doing the ONLY thing Ivory Coast men and women can do to earn money- anally fucking diseased truck
drivers for fifty cents apiece. So if you slept with
100 diseased truckers per day (16 per hour non stop
every day for 12 hours a day) you’ll have 2 billion in
a little over 100 years.
Or,
you will die of AIDS like ALmighty God intended for
you stupid walking talking monkeys long before the
decade is out. (Be happy he designed AIDS just for
you!)
Keep scratching your infected puss oozing cock like
a monkey with a dirty shit caked asshole. Then sniff
your fingers to see what we intelligent rich white
people smell everytime a nigger enters the room.
Have fun starving!
how are we sure the story is even true and not a typical stereotype about africans and nigerians in particular,held by most westerners?americans and europeans pay bribes to our government officials to corner juicy contracts and our general welfare and no one gives a damn about that.well serves the person right,just karma.thought you guys were too smart,but you are not.
(Chris Tucker’s Voice) NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER… Ship without have the money in hand
Excellent point, LoganAdams.
That’s Getty image #57421614, entitled “Portrait of a delivery man”. Humm, time to rename it as “African swindler who steals laptops from stupid people on-line, according to an article written by a white dood.”
Oh, pop-up window at Getty came up inviting me for a chat while I was typing! So, I asked if the release rights for Getty purchases include portraying models as thieves. They said *NO* and that the model in question can sue if they feel their image was used in a defamatory way. (sorry, wish I copied and pasted the transcript, good stuff!)
Wellllll, big large red letters that say “How A Nigerian Steals Your Laptop” above his image… black delivery person in the US becomes Nigerian swindler, apparently!
BTW- I’m white and StumbleUpon’ed this page and found it interesting.