A reader is in the process of selling his jeep. He listed it on eWillys and Willysforsale.com. He soon ran into a scam. We don’t know which site “Jay Larsen” used to find the jeep for sale, but I wanted to warn everyone just in case, as this scam has been used before (though I’ve never heard of any problems from eWillys readers).
The seller wrote, “I was contacted by a Jay Larsen. He agreed to buy the Jeep, but told me he wanted to use PayPal. I reluctantly agreed. I received a series of emails this morning indicating that the money was “on hold”. I was told that for the money to be released, I would have to send a money gram to a shipping company. They wanted $2,000. I did not proceed with the deal and told him I knew it was a scam.”
There’s nothing inherently bad about Paypal as I use it a lot to buy things and get paid for advertising. But, it doesn’t mean scammers won’t use it either. So, here are some warnings provided by Papal that include the “on hold” scam mentioned above: https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/Scams-on-Craigslist-and-Other-Classifieds-Websites-FAQ3022
The buyer of something on PayPal should never be asking for money. I would immediately report them to PayPal as scammers and warn other people never to do the same.
In this case, the email from paypal was obviously a fake. If you’re selling and accepting paypal as payment, when you get these emails, go to paypal directly (not through any link the email received) and see if the money is there. Yes, it’s an extra step, but it’s the surest way to knock out 95% of the scammers.
Unfortunately, there are two other pitfalls with paypal. The first is where they have used a stolen credit card to pay you. Everything will be fine, you’ll ship, and then find out the payment was reversed and you’re out both the money and the item. The second is where the buyer complains to paypal and/or the credit card company that the item they bought doesn’t match the description. The money will vanish from your account, and you’re out the money and the item.