What could this scam be...

[Question111]

Anyone been "scammed" this way via Facebook marketplace or can tell me what the scam may be?

So, I've put up a coat for sale. It's an expensive item, band new etc.
Within 15 mins I had a message via Facebook messenger. I know there are many scams and the last time I tried to sell something on fb, I had so many of those "I'll send a dpd driver".

So a message from someone very quickly offering to buy the item (full price). It says her profile was created 2023, she has 4 pics, profile pic looks grainy and apparently went to uni somewhere in America. So obviously she isn't going to buy my item.

She says she will collect, so I ask where I live. She names a town which is actually only 15 mins away and says she will send her wife to collect (I've not given my address obviously). Without asking my address, asking for any discount etc she asks for my PayPal to apparently pay £200 for an item when she doesn't even know my address. I provide my PayPal details. I don't know why but I'm playing along at this point waiting for the scam.

10 mins later she says she's paid and can I check the money has gone in. Obviously it hasn't.
She's tried calling me via messenger! I'm not answering.

So... obviously she's not genuine but where is the scam? Any ideas?

Do they think you were born yesterday @Question111 ?

There's a reason that ended up in your spam folder.

Interesting scam, always good to see what they are coming up with to avoid. Glad you got it sorted. I would suggest that you edit or remove the pictures where you have partially crossed out your email address. I am pretty sure I have guessed it all except for one character and it's a public forum. Wouldn't want to see you targeted further.

Thank you @TheIsleOfTheLost I will, or I'll be scammed again 🤣

Haha it's crazy. I couldn't help myself saying "haha of course I'll send you £520" they claimed to not know what I was on about, so I sent a screenshot of the email and they basically explained what the email said and then said "are you a trustworthy person" 🤣

The PayPal email about login from a new device is genuine - I got one this week when I had just logged in to pay for something, nothing dodgy at all, just PayPal didn't recognise that I was using the same laptop I always use, possibly because I had cleared my cache/cookies/history since last using it.

The scam one was just the one in your junk mail. But it is always just as well to be suspicious and not use links on emails to log in, go straight to the main website.

And be aware that Wise is another payment form which scammers love. They 'send' you payment but you get an email saying you have to upgrade your account (even though its supposed to go into a bank account) and deposit £400 in it. They will then release the funds and refund you the amount you had to deposit to upgrade. They used to use Western Union but that's since tightened its rules....

Thank you so much to everyone who offered advice!