The Energon Pub

Posted: **Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:04 am**

I'm selling a computer on Craig's List (in order to not have to deal with the whole world) and I got an offer from someone who wants to electronically purchase and then some service will physically mail a USPS money order to me. I think he/she is trying to scam me. Here's the email:

I will like to proceed with payment imemdiately through USPS postal money order ...but i will need you to get back to me with the name and address of where you want the money order to be mailed out to...And once i make payment ,i will make the shipping arrangements imemdiately with my FedEx account so i can send you the FedEx label and invoice for the shipping of the item ...Let me simply explain how the payment method works to you for better understanding ..

USPS Money Order like i said its just like all the usuall postal money orders.Its very safe and easy way of sending payment(mostly auctions payments).and i have never had problems using the service.All i need to go ahead with payment is just your address(the address of where the money order will be mailed and delivered to .So once i make payment ,and once the payment has been processed and approved ,you will recieve a payment approval confirmation via e-mail from USPS which is to let you know that payments has been made and its on its way.I would have loved to use paypal...But i have really bad experiences using paypal...you can visit ( http://www.paypalsucks.com ) to see what i mean ...

So after the payment must have been approved,you will recieve a payment approval confirmation which means that the payment has been approved and has been mailed out to the address that you gave...and it takes 3-5 business days before your money order will be delivered to you.So once you have seen a payment approval confirmation e-mail,it means that the payment has been mailed out...

Once i make payment ,and once the payment has been approved ,the money will be immediately credited to my account ...The money will be removed from my account and will be made out to you as a money order ...So once you recieve the payment approval confirmation notification from USPS ..it simple means that the payment has been successfully processed and approved...So i guess you now have an idea of how payment works..

Then about the shipping ...Once the payment has been approved and confirmed by USPS ,i will proceed immediately to make shipping arrangements with my FedEx account and after i have finished doing that ,i will send you the FedEx prepaid shipping label and invoice that you will use to ship the item out and all you have to do then is print out the label and invoice and then paste it on the items package and drop it off at fedex for shipping ok...

So let me have the full name and addres of where you want the money order to be mailed out to ...so i can proceed to make payment ...

Get back to me asap..

(name removed by DorkimusPrime)

So I decided that for the moment I would play along. I'm going to wait until I have the MO in my hot little hands and take it to where it was sold (supposedly USPS) and see if it's legit before I send anything, and if it's not legit I'm going to take it to the police. And if nothing ever comes, then surprise, it was a scam. Further, the deal is off if any website or person ever asks for any more info than my mailing address (which is a PO box anyway). So I'm going to be careful, I'm just wondering if anyone ever heard anything like this before. I found this article which makes me very hesitant.

Posted: **Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:45 am**

Something about that english just doesn't seem right to me. :-?

Posted: **Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:50 am**

you can jus go 2 the post office and ask.

Posted: **Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:18 am**

Burn wrote:Something about that english just doesn't seem right to me.

Any regular joe can have bad English but be legit. Check out any forum anywhere on the Internet.

I'd say it's a bulletproof plan you have, Dorkimus: if the guy sends a legit money order and the money goes through, it's good. I wouldn't send anything until the money goes through, though. And this guy should understand that.

Posted: **Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:15 am**

Thanks for the input. Yeah, the punctuation was kinda bad, but overall probably an English speaker. We shall see, and I will update this thread when I find out.

Posted: **Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:32 am**

Was a victim of...avoid like plague.

Posted: **Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:41 pm**

Personally I've had more problems with people that write checks send money orders and so on then by way of electronic means but to each his own.

All too often I heard sob stories of "but I sent the check" "but I sent the money order, what you never got it?" "it must have been lost in the mail!" etc etc. with paypal I've had one outright blunder on their part and some buyers try and pull some funny stuff but with paypal to me there are a lot more options for the buyer and seller and in the long run it's usually more fair to both parties or it used to be.

I read every agonizing moment of that bloody message from the potential buyer and I was feeling "just send the bloody money order" and if it spends then it's a good deal but he was being way too detail oriented at this point when he doesn't even know if you were willing to do business with him yet so I say why not an electronic means then as he did not really go into any specifics as to what problems he had just what others had to say about paypal on some website.

Posted: **Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:12 am**

I say its a scam. I have gotten several of these when trying to sell my car on Facebook's Marketplace. Same inquiry message by several people. I just ignored them.

The Energon Pub

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