I've had this happen a few times and I'm always suspicious but have wondered how this scam could possibly work. I looked up Paypal/Craigslist scams but doesn't seem to fit any profiles because the item is a pickup item.
I post something on Craigslist for sale. I get the usual email. In a nutshell, "I will send you your exact asking price for the item through PayPal and have someone pick the item up later or something".
One time it was a car. Yesterday it was a dining room set. Someone sends me a LONG text message on my phone which is the first dead giveaway but obviously they can spoof their phone number and use software from a computer. I asked them where they were and they said New Jersey but they are most likely in Nigeria or some other [censored] hole country.
I usually play around with the person. I ask them, "Don't you want to see the item in person to make sure it meets your expectations?", "Where are you located?". Then the final punchline is, "I only accept cash" then I never hear from them again.
I'm assuming they are somehow trying to get into my bank account to withdrawal funds or direct me to a bogus link to some phishing site.
But if someone wants to send me money through Paypal but I send them my Paypal email address or ask them for their email address and send them a Paypal request for funds invoice and they send me money, but obviously never pick the item up, how can they scam me? Obviously they are not going to send me money in the first place.
What am I missing?
I post something on Craigslist for sale. I get the usual email. In a nutshell, "I will send you your exact asking price for the item through PayPal and have someone pick the item up later or something".
One time it was a car. Yesterday it was a dining room set. Someone sends me a LONG text message on my phone which is the first dead giveaway but obviously they can spoof their phone number and use software from a computer. I asked them where they were and they said New Jersey but they are most likely in Nigeria or some other [censored] hole country.
I usually play around with the person. I ask them, "Don't you want to see the item in person to make sure it meets your expectations?", "Where are you located?". Then the final punchline is, "I only accept cash" then I never hear from them again.
I'm assuming they are somehow trying to get into my bank account to withdrawal funds or direct me to a bogus link to some phishing site.
But if someone wants to send me money through Paypal but I send them my Paypal email address or ask them for their email address and send them a Paypal request for funds invoice and they send me money, but obviously never pick the item up, how can they scam me? Obviously they are not going to send me money in the first place.
What am I missing?