I stupidly gave my address and have been daft

[Tevion28]

I am selling something on Gumtree for £600 that any potential buyer has to collect anyway somebody messaged me on Gumtree to say its very nice and that they want it. They then gave me thier email and asked me to message them on it. I messaged saying hi and they replied saying they want it and can they have my details including address in order to pick it up and pay by PayPal.
I gave all details and I then got a message from them saying they had paid the £600 plus an additional £100 but its pending in my account and won't be available to me until I've paid an amount via Amazon to the courier to collect it. I checked my PayPal it wasn't showing anything as pending but I got a PayPal notification which I found in my spam saying I have £700 pending. I have now ignored the buyer has I think they are up to something and I've had another email saying how can I be so heartless as if I don't follow through they can't get thier £700 back. I'm getting worried as I previously gave my address. I'm so bloody stupid.

[halloweenie13]

it's a scam ignore them and move on, if anything contact paypal customer service make them aware you have been victim of this and don't want the money sending.

[WiddlinDiddlin]

Its rubbish, a scam.

Does your actual paypal account show any money coming in?

A pending payment in paypal shows as pending in paypal, in your actual account history of transactions.

Block, ignore, forget about it.

I had someone try this on me last week for something I am selling on facebook - they wanted to pay me £100 more, then send that money to their courier via some other means I dunno I blocked at that point. Same tale though, she's in a wheelchair, can't collect blah blah etc.

Its bollocks, if you did want something collected by a courier from someone elses address, you would pay the seller, then pay the courier independently, yourself. You would never have the seller pay the courier if you were arranging your own courier.

[ConfusingWorld]

Very well known scam. Just ignore and block. They won't do anything — they try these kind of scams on huge numbers of people, and they won't waste any more time on someone who hasn't fallen for it. Unfortunately lots will fall for it, and they'll just move onto the next.

The email from "PayPal" is not actually from PayPal — it'll be a fake email set up to look like it's from PayPal, and if you check the sender's email address you'll find it's not legit.

The other week I sold a high-value piece of furniture on Gumtree, and thankfully the buyer turned out to be totally legit, but I was on very high alert the whole time. I even called up Gumtree's customer service at one point to ask if they were able to let me know if the buyer had any dodgy history on the site (they couldn't tell me anything due to privacy), but the person I spoke to did give me a run-down of all the most common scams, and the sequence of events you've described was one of them, almost word for word (including the wheelchair thing, the courier payment via Amazon, the fake pending PayPal payment email etc.).

As a seller, the only options I'm willing to offer to buyers on Gumtree are (a) cash on collection, for relatively small-value items, or (b) bank transfer if the items are more expensive, and the transfer needs to have cleared before I hand over the item. For large-value items, there's an increased risk of fraud via fake bank notes (and fake £50s are likely to be more common than, say, fake £5s), which is why I prefer bank transfer for more expensive items.

Note that I, as a buyer, would never actually go for option (b) when dealing with a seller on one of these marketplaces, as there is no buyer protection whatsoever. However, as a seller it's probably the safest method, so long as you check with your bank that the payment truly has cleared, as there's no way of reversing a bank transfer payment (whereas a PayPal payment can be reversed under some circumstances). Always prioritise minimising risk to yourself, and decline the sale if you sense any funny business whatsoever.

[QuinnMovesOn]

Good call. Definitely a scam. Block them and in a week you'll see that they never sent you anything. Also you are small potatoes as a "mark" so unlikely you'll hear from them again.

[skyeisthelimit]

It’s a well known scam. You never pay anyone anything to buy something off you. A friends XH got caught when trying to buy a car even though everyone warned him it was a scam.

[Btrsun10]

WELL KNOWN SCAM
Under no circumstances send any gift cards even if the money does show in your account.
If it does then a stolen credit card will have been used to pay and the money will be retrieved from you anyway.
Google it.

[Fieldofflowers1]

This deffo sounds like a scam, the whole point is for you to send them that £100. I would contact Gumtree, PayPal and Amazon (maybe even send the copy of the email, secreenshots) so that they're aware and it's flagged to their fraud departments.

[GloriaSicTransitMundi]

Forward their email to [email protected]. If it's a text, forward to 7726 which is the .gov.uk scam text reporting number.

[RantyAunty]

Scam.
Change your password too if you have clicked on their notification and logged into your paypal.

As in login to your paypal from a browser and change your password.

[Toothsil]

When my grandma went into sheltered housing and we had to clear her home o said I'd do all the selling of things so put all her white goods on gumtree. Every single time I posted an ad, despite clearly saying pick up only, cash on delivery, I had a flurry of messages from people wanting to send a courier and asking for my bank details. I didn't engage with any of those ones.

[AnaBananas]

@Tevion28

Said they can't pick it up themselves as they are in a wheelchair and now I've give them nothing but regret.

I remember years ago I posted on gumtree - I'm sure this was the kind of excuse I was given. I posted two items - had two different "buyers" contact me with similar excuses and I realised straight away it was a scam.

[RedRobin100]

OP this is 💯 a widely known spam

Block all addresses and forget about it.

I wouldn’t worry that they have yours
Address, it’s bank transfers they’re after.

DO NOT SEND / RETURN ANY MONEY IT IS A SCAM

Pa haven’t read whole thread so apols if this has already been clarified

[di2004]

Me and my dh were almost scammed out of buying an item for thousands recently on eBay. I am usually very cautious with transactions on eBay but almost fell for it.
These people are very slick. They know how to work the system or at least they think they do!
Report it to the selling site. Report it to PayPal. Keep a snapshot of any emails/ correspondence and change your passwords. Please try not to stress about it, there are some honest people in the world!

[MimiDaisy11]

Don’t worry about harassment at your house. They likely live far away. They’re out to scam people for money not spend time going to people’s houses to scare them.

Don’t engage with anymore correspondence. They’ll move on. And like others say that email in spam won’t be a genuine PayPal email. If you look at actual address it comes from you’ll see it looks dodgy.

[amylou8]

Don't engage anymore, this is a well know scam. They have not sent you any money by PayPal. They will not send a courier to collect the item. They are just hoping your daft enough to send them £100. Don't about them knocking your door, it's a long way from Nigeria.

[annlee3817]

Happened to my friend twice with gumtree sales, the person threatened to go to the police and she told them to do it, never heard from them again, total scam, she's very weary now

[LazyYogi]

I had pretty much the same scam tried on me on Facebook. Gave my address, then got asked to pay £100 insurance which she promised to reimburse when the courier came to collect the curtains...erm no ta. The curtains were only £15! She'd have been better buying new from Dunelm. Such an obvious scam when the amounts are like that but I think it's harder to see for higher value item that someoneight be more desperate to shift.

Op, I just blocked the person after writing a message saying I knew it was a scam. Nothing has happened since. Try not to worry. Just block and report to gumtree.

[Onatree]

Ah a well known scam.

PayPal hasn’t sent you an email. These conmen have used a phishing email to make
It look like
PayPal

And yes the wheelchair story and also the bit about paying the courier.

Total textbook

[k1233]

I'd reply that their trying to scam you gives you nothing but regret. To make yourself feel a bit better you've passed their details on to paypal and the police. Then block them.

[Thatsplentyjack]

Oh no OP if only you had read my thread a few days ago. I had the same. Someone messaged me on gumtree with a different email address linked in the message and wanted to message that. I posted on here about it because I had never seen a scam like that before.

[Emma330912]

Happened to me over Christmas when I was selling a sofa via gumtree, a son contacted via gumtree, asked if I can email his elderly mum directly with details, I did, then 'mum' said she was happy and would put an extra £50 in for me to pay the courier for shipping via amazon. It didn't feel right so I told her not to pay and I'd find another buyer. They can request their funds back if it really did go through

[saleorbouy]

Screenshot and record the communications and pass them on yo PayPal and the selling platform. Block the buyer's address after informing them you've sent the details to the fraud investigation teams at the above and notified the police.
They'll surely leave you alone and head off for an easier victim.

[Lasttraintolondon]

The most worrying thing here is the 17% of people who voted YABU. The scammers next targets right there.

We need to teach this stuff in schools.

[user313213521]

@Tevion28

It says on the PayPal notification that it can't be reversed and £100 needs paying by amazon gift card or bank transfer never seen this type of scam before.

The scam is that they want your £100

What email address did the email come from?

[Alina2019]

No you’re not stupid!!
This is a new scam and very popular now since after covid.
My husband is on the cyber fraud team and ALOT of people fall for it.
It is 100% scam they have not paid any funds.
And dont worry they wont do anything with your address, they usually live very far away and are only interested in you paying for ‘courier fees’

Just dont respond to any emails again and report it online.