Nigerian Fraud

Be wary of people who buy phone(or anything else) from you and pay by Money order.
I just became a victim of one such fraud. Shipped the item to Nigeria. The buyer gave a Fedex account number (i suspect that is either stolen or a fraud too) so I dint spend on shipping. He also gave email address and said will use Bidpay to get the MO to me. This service is there but the guy (his name is tonycraid) sent me an email which looked like it came from bidpay. After sending the package, and sending him the tracking number, i got an email that the MO has been sent. It had an order/MO number. I went to bidpay website and contacted them whether the MO was genuine and was told that bidpay did not authorize or send that email.

Red lights: Very bad writing skills, email was bidpayconsult@nyc.com (which probably goes to tonycraid), wants more items, more expensive items like laptops, cell phone to be shipped.

Please be careful and not become a victim of such frauds.

I have gotten many Nigerian Emails

Someone has died and put your name in there will and we at almost for sure it is you. Contact us this this email address (fraud@yourgonaloseyourmoney.com) to claim your inheritance. To properly identify yourself please have you credit card and drivers license number when you respond back so we know it is you.

If you don't know what a orginal Nigerian Letter is. You get a letter in mail from a person in Nigeria saying that they have alot of money and are making deals in America, because the banks are not that safe in Nigeria and American banks are, could In have your bank account number so I can put money in your account for a month or two and then give you some small payment as a token of my appreciation.
Then one day there may be some money put in like $100 all of a sudden is in the account then a few days later the account is at $0 and probably closed.

Most of us are aware of the email Nigerian fraud about transferring money to your account, about royal family's wealth and how they need your help to get their money and in return will pay you some millions. But this one about selling items is relatively new. I posted the message because many of us sell our old cell phones and mail them out.

Just be aware of this fraud too. These buyers pay you more than the item is worth and then ask you to refund the excess money from the Money order. Later the bank informs you that the MO was fraud and you have to give the money back to the bank. So you lose the money you sent to the person and lose the item you shipped out. They even give you a fedex account # and that makes it look genuine. Possibly stolen fedex #.

they had a whole special on dateline NBC about this, they actually confronted these people, it was really funny to see those guys swear they were legit.

Man! I thought I was the only one who got these emails! I've actually gotten quite a few and weirder still I get them through my work email (Microsoft Outlook) and I don't get ANY other junk emails!! I always wondered if anyone actually went through with this crap.

I almost did a few years ago. The guy called me repeatedly after I sent him contact info. Luckily I dint go through with my financial or personal info.

This time I was a victim and shipped the item I sold to nigeria. Dumb of me. Luckily it was a small $50 item.

Anything with 'Nigeria' in it should ring alarm bells.

If you sell anyone something and he gives you fedex number for shipping check the address of the fedex account, if the account address is different than the shipping address, think twice and check the authenticity of the transaction.
Call the phone number on the account to verify authorization.