Is this a scam?

I'm inclined to think that it is. The guy's name and e-mail match up, though, which is something abnormal for any scam I've received. The thing is, he's willing to pay $100 extra to overnight it, which is definitely not how much it would cost and a big red flag, along with the fact that he says he's purchasing it on behalf of a colleague.

I have sold stuff to people purchasing for other people before, but that was face to face and cash in hand. I think I'm going to request his phone number and see how that goes.

I want to believe this is a real offer, but you know what they say about too good to be true, right?

Hello

Thanks for your reply and am glad to know that it is still available for sale.However i have few questions on the product you are selling.

1,I would like to know the reason why you are selling it?
2,What is the current condition of the item ?
3,What is your firm price though am okay with the listing price ?
4,Do you have the original box and the receipt ?
5,Do you mind if i pay you through paypal though i would be willing to cover the shipping to North Carolina because am not local at the moment am out of town to visit my sick grandma and i would like to purchase this item on behalf of my colleague as a Christmas gifts.

Once you send me your paypal email account or send paypal money request to this address steve8188@att.net and i will send the payment into your account, I will send you
the payment for your item as well as $100 USD to cover shipping via USPS Next Day Delivered.

I would be glad if my request is favorably considered.

Thanks

The old I'm out of town right now bit.....walk away. This is the perfect time of year to use the Christmas gift and short on time excuses. Scammers love this time of year. If he is legit he will give you his phone number.

His first e-mail asked if the thing was still availabe and I replied, "Yes I do, but if you're in Nigeria, I regret to have to inform you that I do not ship to your country."

They don't even talk like that here in the mountains. Run away....run away fast.

ask for his sick grandma's address and phone number so your brother (a policeman) can deliver the goods in person picking up cash on delivery, saving both postage costs and potential damage in transit...

Yes, it's a scam....

That's definitely a scam. I got tons of those e-mails when selling stuff on craigslist. What is funny about it is that most of the time for 100-150$ more they offer, they can buy new online from amazon etc. and they claim that they are in different country for business purposes..
Other typical red flag is when they say that the item is not from them (friend, colleague, ant, cousin etc)
All they want is your paypall account info.
here is one of scam e-mail I just got yesterday.
first e-mail:"> Hello friend i will like to ask if this item is still available and dos it
> have any warranty am willing to buy it get back to me ASAP"

second e-mail
"Thanks for your reply,i am located in NY city in Rochester i really
need to buy this for my cousin schooling out side the country as a
christmas gift. I have been trying to buy this on eBay but its so very
stressful buying i will offer you $980 including the shipping cost, i
will be paying through PayPal because i have a verified account with
PayPal. get back with you PayPal email address and the full name on it
so i can make payment into your PayPal account.once payment clears.get
back to me if my approval is granted.i would like to see the picture
and also the condition which the item is please get back to me with
your full name"

So run...

In the US we use periods after numbers for an ordered list, not commas.

id say it is too...

i do have to say other than the , after the numbers... the english/grammer is not that bad...
i was selling a dirtbike and the guy told me hey i buy you dirtbike fun is it i like.... blah blah blah.. he was going to pay me extra money to drop it off at a boat and have it shipped to him.. shame i was not nice in my return email.... expecially since in my ebay auction it said.. pickup only.... guy local bought it... hah...

If you still aren't convinced that this is a scam, I have this golden opportunity for you!

STATE DISBURSEMENT COMMITTEE,
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND,
FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPT,
FLORIDA, UNITED STATE OF AMERICA.
OUR REF: USA/CON/INH/ATM-8298
YOUR REF: ATM-8298

ATTN: PERSONAL REFERENCE ID :: ATM 8298 (BENEFICIARY)

REPLY TO: state.disbursement@kim​o.com

I am Mr Mast Dennis, the coordinator, State Disbursement Committee, United State Of America. We have full details of who you are but choose to notify you without full details to be sure we are dealing with the right person. The reason for this is because in the past we had problem of people posing and impersonating beneficiary of the United State Contract / Inheritance.

Please note that we have had cases of people impersonating this office, please do not respond to such unsolicited email without verification from this office, in view of this you are being given a code of conduct to which you should only comply to,which is; REF:ATM 8298. This will be included in YOUR SUBJECT WHEN REPLYING TO THIS NOTIFICATION and all further correspondence as regards your ATM payment, thus any email without this code of conduct should be considered as fraudulent and not from this office. Therefore to avoid complication, you are to forward such emails to us.

The United State Government in bid to compensate victims whose Contract/inheritance has not been fully paid is paying out Six Million USD ($ 6,000,000.00 USD) to six beneficiary of which you are one of the lucky winner, this is part payment for the last quarter of this fiscal year 2010.

In view of this, your payment was approved as you were one of the beneficiary with outstanding payment and was therefore credited with an ATM card number: 7832 7320 3463 8532 and personal identification (PIN): 8298 worth One Million United State Dollars ($1,000,000.00 USD).

Provide the the following information to enable us verify your payment.

We therefore reckoned that you can receive these funds as you are qualified by your name identity. All the legal papers will be processed and signed the moment we get a formal notification from you comprising your;

INHERITANCE FILE: REF:USA/CON/INH/ATM-8298 FULL NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
PHONE NUMBER:
FAX NUMBER:
OCCUPATION:
AGE / SEX:

Forward above details to: inheritancedisbursemen​tdesk@kimo.com // state.disbursement@kim​o.com

Before now we have cases of impostor's impersonating this office from the United Kingdom, for purpose of clarification and authenticity of this programme, you will given valid means of Identification once you provide the above information, this will prove beyond all reasonable doubt how legitimate this programme is.

Note, you will be required to forward to this office via email a valid means of Identification which should be a scan copy of your Driver's License or International Passport <<< IF ANY >>> for proper verification and authentication (Very Important for proper verification purpose), also this will be needed to conclude this proceedings and remember to put this as your subject: REF:ATM 8298.

Necessary information are to be forwarded to the desk of the verification officer, via email on: (state.disbursement@ki​mo.com)

Act swift as we now remind you that your payment has been approved.

We await your prompt response.

REGARDS
CO-ORDINATOR, MR MAST DENNIS,
STATE DISBURSEMENT COMMITTEE,
FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPT,
FLORIDA, UNITED STATE OF AMERICA.

I never tire of these of these scams, they are so amussing...

Jason C

What scam? Looks legitimate to me. I responded to a single reply here recently from someone offering a Leica 19mm and after a week of communication Paypal'd $4400 to this guy in Chicago whom I had never met. A week later I had two of the most gorgeous chunks of glass I've ever owned. Investigate everything. If the letter looks canned pass, from some other country pass, malicious looking pass. The fact that this person gave you his Paypal account (which you posted here) to send him an invoice exposes you to no more than him getting your Paypal handle or email address.

If ever in doubt, do a google search on a unique portion of any sentence in the email. If it's a scam, you'll usually get search results leading to similar scams. In this case I googled "am not local at the moment am out of town to visit my sick grandma" and found this >> http://kati8712.blogsp​ot.com/2009/09/scammas​.html which contains the exact email you received.

Well that's a nice tip. How does this scam work? How is the seller on the hook if they send an invoice to the buyer via Paypal? They must be trying to scam Paypal. What am I missing here?

I would have disregarded this as normal, but the AT&T e-mail is what got me. Normally the e-mails come from Google or yahoo or some other free service. Don't you have to be an AT&T customer to have one of their e-mails? That would mean either it's legit, or stolen.