You may have followed this story with me on my Twitter. Anyone who’s listed anything on Craigslist has probably had a similar encounter. You get an email that seems innocent enough at first.

Hello am interested in your item let me know if is still available

Sure, the grammar is horrible, but no reason to raise any red flags yet. I respond simply with “It is.” This is where it gets good. His response:

Thanks for your mail,i am buying this for my son who school overseas.i will add $80 for shipping,i would have preferred to make this a local transaction but i am out of town presently…so you can get me back with your paypal email account so i can pay now.hope to hear from you soon
best regards

This is a classic scam, one that my friend Melissa nearly succumbed to if it weren’t for me. I could have just ignored it, but perhaps I felt there needed to be some vindication for Melissa. Maybe I was just inspired by the P-P-P-Powerbook (Disclaimer: This story isn’t as grand as the P-P-P-Powerbook story, so don’t get your expectations too high). But I decided to have a little fun with this guy. First, I play dumb.

$80 for shipping seems a bit high. When are you back in town?

Before I could even agree to sell the item to him though, he decides to send me the “money” through “Paypal”. I get an email that is an obvious fake from “Service@Paypal.com”… hovering over the email in Gmail clearly shows the email is from “notifyofficee@officeemail.net”. He’s sent me $100 more than my asking price and the email looks somewhat legit, except that it says I won’t actually get the money in my account until I put in the tracking number. Yeah right. I don’t know whether he was trying to steal my Paypal info, get the item sent to him and never pay for it, or maybe both. But I knew Paypal doesn’t have any sort of escrow service. And I was especially keen on this scam since it was exactly what Melissa went through as well. But it gets even better. Along with that email, I get this one from him:

Hello Seller ,
I have made the payment through PayPal auction payment as stipulated
and i sent the funds for the item as stipulated price to you for the payment
and shipping of this the item bought because i want this package to be
shipped today via USPS PRIORITY MAIL and i know you ought to
have receive the confirmation from them.Kindly get the item
shipped and email me immediately the shipment is done.
Below are the shipping address:
Name : Abiodun Sunday
Address:8 Sapon Rroad
City :Abeokuta,
State:Ogun State
Zip code:121101
Country:Nigeria
+2348034847758

Nigeria. Perfect. At this point, my only plan was to make the guy squirm by playing dumb without actually giving any personal info away. So I respond:

I checked my paypal account and I don’t see any record of payment. Are you sure you paid it? When do you get back in town? You could just pay me personally with cash and send the camera to your son yourself.

His response, which so far the worst his grammar has gotten yet:

i havesend the money and the money has been remove from my account want you to ship it to my son because him need it urgent went i check it now I will like you to read the confirmation mail that was sent to you by the PayPal care that you have to ship the item so as to release the money into your account all you just need do is to send the item first thing tomorrow morning via USPS (EMS) and get back to the PayPal with the shipment tracking number and as soon as they verify the shipment number valid, they will activate all your money into your account.

My favorite part, “want you to ship it to my son because him need it urgent went i check it now”. Me know you idiot get camera never i check see me smart.

Again, trying to play dumb, waste the guys time, and this time maybe freak him out a little, I respond:

Your son is in Nigeria? Wow what a coincidence. I have a friend in Nigeria too. He’s visiting on business. I hope it’s alright, but I gave him your son’s address to make sure it’s real. I heard on the television service that sometimes people actually try to scam you on the internets! I’m sure you’re not trying to scam me, but my friend insisted on checking. So what’s your son doing in Nigeria?

What’s even better, is that I then get more fake Paypal emails. 2 to be exact. What’s curious about these was that it was like Paypal was trying to stick up for this guy and assure me this was real.

This message is originated from PayPal company.We have received an order from our clientfmx_66@hotmail.com regarding the payment made  to your PayPal account. The payment has been successfully made but due to security reason we have to receive the shipment tracking number before the next 12hour for the processing of your order. This a new measure we are taking to protect both our sellers and buyers against fraudulent customers. Once you have shipped the item send us the shipment tracking number for verification after the number has verify your account will be credited instantly.

This is to let you know that  fmx_66@hotmail.com is a confirmed PayPal user ,
The Money has been deducted from fmx_66@hotmail.com account and it is not refundable.

So all you have to do now is to get the item ship to the buyer’s address and make sure you contact us with the shipment  details so that we can verify it and then credit your account.We     are assuring you that this is a safe and approved transaction between you and our client fmx_66@hotmail.com and your account will be credited immediately we verify the shipment details.You can contact us anytime if you have any question(S) about this transaction.

Alright, so at this point, I’m getting bored and want to end this. I go to Twitter to ask for help. @chasemacri helps me out. Here’s the email I send.

David, I just got the confirmation emails from PayPal, assuring me you’re legit. I’m sorry I had any doubts! I’m glad I can trust you, because I really need this money quick! I’ll have to remember about this PayPal service. I just got back from the post office and sent off the package! It was a bit expensive to ship. Good thing you’re paying for it, right?

Here’s the link to your tracking info

Let me know if your son likes the camera! Send me some pics he took with it!

Click the link for the tracking info. Go ahead. I’ll wait…….

RICKROLLED

And such ended my good, clean, wholesome fun with someone trying to scam me…. or so I thought. I end up getting ANOTHER fake Paypal email. Time to up the ante and forget “good, clean, wholesome”.

I just got another email from paypal reminding me to ship, and I still haven’t gotten payment. I’m not very good with computers. I wasn’t really sure how to put in the tracking number to get my money. Would it be too much to ask you to do it for me? Here’s the tracking info. If you could just give that to paypal so I could get my money, I’d appreciate it. I really need it quick!

I will save you from actually linking to what I linked in that email. Let’s just say, 2 words: lemon party (If you don’t get it, don’t google it to find out. You’ll regret it. Once you see it, you can’t un-see it).

And that was the last I heard from him. It was fun doling out karma…… but part of me wonders……

……. oh crap.