Nigerian Scams

eBay is a great place to find low-priced products. You can find the rare and exceptional items from early days or those items that were only produced a few times. You can find your childhood favorite toys, if you wanted to. You can, even, find collectible items, as well as, other items that you’ve been searching for.

On eBay there are a great number of products as well as an even larger number of sources to find the products, which are usually for a less expensive than the store price.

It seems great right?

In fact it is…. Most of the time…

Unfortunately fraud and scammers are all over eBay. You need to protect yourself from scams because they are all over the eBay, and the scams are far and wide.

Nigerian eBay Scams

Nigerian scams are all over the online world. In many situations you will receive an email asking for money to be sent to a bank account. This can apply to eBay on a different stage. Such as, when you sell an item on eBay, and receive email from the wining bidder, in which the winners is trying to get you to get the information to delivery to Nigeria or some other nation, typically a country in Africa, in order so that he can send you the money. Except, it’s not real money.

DO NOT click any links in the received email, because the link(s) will lead to fake paypal and ebay sites. If you click on the link and sign in to the phony website, you will give the scammer all your information. When they get your password and log in name, they will capture your account. Once your account has been captured, you won’t able to log into your paypal or ebay account for a day or so which gives the scammer time to post one day auctions for many, pricey items.

Ensure that you DO NOT send the item for any reason; EVEN you got their paypal payment since their payment is fake, as mentioned before, and the money is not valid.

In some scenarios, sellers could get money orders or checks. Even still, do not send out the item until you can get the check or money order inspected. In this situation, you must take the check or money order to a bank; they will be capable of check it out, and tell you whether it is valid or fake. In most cases they will be fake, especially if they are for really high dollar amounts for items that actually aren’t worth that great. In these situations, the scammer will keep on to bid, driving the sale to an absurd amount for the particular item. They will contact you right away to get your address to send out the payment. If you give them your address, don’t always trust the check or money order even if the buyer is prompt and chatty.

Sometimes, the Nigerian scammers will be more forceful by threatening the trader in hopes that the seller will back out and send the item anyway. Don’t do it.

Some cases, the scammers will tell you that they are being investigated by the FBI for scam for not shipping the items to Nigeria. Don’t be panicky. If you have any hesitation, you can contact the police or just disregard it.

Do NOT respond to the email because by replying to the email, the scammer will catch your email address. When they have your email address, they can sign up for countless things online such as porn web site or gambling sites and they can send you a fake paypal and ebay email. Each way, they can spam up your email.

Make sure to report the situation to eBay. Open a fresh internet browser. Sign in to you ebay account. Click “Help” button which is located on the top right of the ebay page. Click “Contact Us,” which is located in the middle, left side of the page. Then select “Account Security” in order to report the situation. With reporting the scam, you can help to protect other eBay sellers.

Email example:

I just saw your item on eBay and I was looking for an exact gift to a friend of mine, who is in Nigeria. I hope that your product is as good in its condition as you have described at your auction off eBay. I would like you to get the rate for the shipment of this item to him. Once you got the charge for the shipment, please get back to me, and add the amount to the price of the item and sent it with the invoice at eBay or paypal. I would to make the payment of this item by paypal. Paypal protects both the buyer and the seller, so I would like you to send me your paypal email account so that I can send the money to your account today. And don’t forget that you will ship the item with USPS GLOBAL EXPRESS MAIL, or EMS 3 to 5 business days for the shipping.

Protect Yourself from Nigerian Scams