I thought I would post some info re my recent encounter with an online scam when posting my caravan online to sell - and hopefully others will read this and benefit from the information 
I posted the van on Gumtree, and then a few days later I received a friendly text message asking if the van was still for sale, and could I please email the details to their email address (supplied in the text message). So I did as they asked, then sometime later I received an email which said the following -
"Thanks for getting back, i'm cool with the price likewise the condition as described on the advert, i work with New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG) and we are presently offshore in New Zealand Taranaki Basin on kupe project. We do not have access to phone at the moment and that's why I contacted you with internet messaging facility. Regarding the payment, i will be paying you through PayPal linked up with my westpac bank account, please get back to me with your paypal details so i can process the payment, you can alternatively send your bsb acct name and number if you have no PayPal acct. I have also contacted my courier who will come for pick up and deliver it to my place in Darwin after the whole fund has been cleared into your acct. Await your reply"
I was immediately suspicious, particularly as I hadn't even mentioned anything about the price in my original email, and for the fact that this person was from overseas, and it all just sounded too good to be true! So I did some googling, and found that this exact same message has been used numerous times in the past to scam others, along with other messages of a similar theme. There are varying stories online of how the scam is acted out - the most popular seems to be that the scammers email you a "paypal confirmation" screen confirming that the payment has been made, however if you logged into your paypal account you would find that no money was actually in there! The other popular scenario was that they did in fact deposit the funds into your account, however upon collection of the caravan, they would promptly dispute the transaction with Paypal and have it reversed! Meanwhile your van is gone and likely never to be seen again..
Anyway, suffice it to say that I didn't reply to the email. I have since received at least 4 more text messages from different numbers / people asking if the van is still for sale, and to "email" them the particulars - all of which I have ignored!
I posted the van on Gumtree, and then a few days later I received a friendly text message asking if the van was still for sale, and could I please email the details to their email address (supplied in the text message). So I did as they asked, then sometime later I received an email which said the following -
"Thanks for getting back, i'm cool with the price likewise the condition as described on the advert, i work with New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG) and we are presently offshore in New Zealand Taranaki Basin on kupe project. We do not have access to phone at the moment and that's why I contacted you with internet messaging facility. Regarding the payment, i will be paying you through PayPal linked up with my westpac bank account, please get back to me with your paypal details so i can process the payment, you can alternatively send your bsb acct name and number if you have no PayPal acct. I have also contacted my courier who will come for pick up and deliver it to my place in Darwin after the whole fund has been cleared into your acct. Await your reply"
I was immediately suspicious, particularly as I hadn't even mentioned anything about the price in my original email, and for the fact that this person was from overseas, and it all just sounded too good to be true! So I did some googling, and found that this exact same message has been used numerous times in the past to scam others, along with other messages of a similar theme. There are varying stories online of how the scam is acted out - the most popular seems to be that the scammers email you a "paypal confirmation" screen confirming that the payment has been made, however if you logged into your paypal account you would find that no money was actually in there! The other popular scenario was that they did in fact deposit the funds into your account, however upon collection of the caravan, they would promptly dispute the transaction with Paypal and have it reversed! Meanwhile your van is gone and likely never to be seen again..
Anyway, suffice it to say that I didn't reply to the email. I have since received at least 4 more text messages from different numbers / people asking if the van is still for sale, and to "email" them the particulars - all of which I have ignored!
