Christmas is a season for shopping and scammers are also on the look out for your money. I posted my old DLSR camera on Craigslist to help off set the cost of getting a new one. The next morning I received a message from Randy expressing interest in my camera. I was so excited, it seemed it was going to be a quick sale. I verified my advertised information was accurate and Randy asked for my Paypal email which I sent. He sent me an email saying I should check my spam folder and I would see an email from paypal. I did see the email but there was an extra $100.00 more than my proposed sale amount. I asked Randy why he was giving me extra money and he said it was because he wanted it shipped urgently. I told him I would have to find out the cost of shipping which he responded that it will be $70.00. He told me he was sending the camera to his cousin for christmas and he sent me his address. I got a bit suspicious when I saw the name of his cousin and the country the mail was going to. Knowing that part of the world well, it was unlikely that the two would be connected but you never know. I told Randy I was not comfortable sending a parcel outside the US and I would prefer to send it to him within the US. He told me he was not in the US. At this point I tried his number and it went to Google voice. My suspicions were kind of verified that I was dealing with an identity thief. I spoke with a few friends if they knew who I could report to but there were no obvious or easy places to go. Randy was not my real client, he was using someones identity. I had an option to close my eyes and send the camera, after all i had all the money but I couldn't bear the thought of supporting someone who was making another persons life miserable.
I spoke with a colleague about possible lines of action to take to stop the criminal. My colleague said most cases of fraud are that people are trying to take from you and not vice versa. This changed my strategy and I decided to call paypal. It was interesting to find out that the money my client claimed he had sent to me was not even there. The email I received from Paypal was forged but it looked pretty authentic to me. I decided to play along and told my client that I would not send the camera unless I received the money. He said I should not have called Paypal and he later threatened me that he will report me for not fulfilling my part of the bargain. My response, "Go ahead". I never heard back from Randy again. I learned from this experience that while i was trying to protect my unknown neighbor, I was actually protecting myself. I also learned sticking to my principles of working with Integrity even with a stranger over the internet saved me a lot of money. Lessons to take away - Think again if you are to ship abroad from a craigslist and the number used cannot be reached directly. Make sure to call your bank or Paypal to verify that the money is in your account before shipping the item. Lastly, follow your intuition, if it does not feel right, don't do it.
I'll like to hear about your experiences
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