I thought that I would warn people about this one that was targeted on me on Sunday morning. My son has moved to Kenya and has left a very expensive Bianci carbon fibre road bike for me to sell. It originally cost over £2k. I put it on Gumtree for £950 and on Sunday morning received a text message saying please email me about the bike as I am interested. So I responded to the email address and got this back.

Thanks for your response,
I want you to consider this a deal as i am willing to pay your full asking price! i actually want to buy it for a family member who is urgently in need of it, i have checked through your posting and i'm fully satisfied with it.
Unfortunately, i would not be able to come personally to view/collect, i work offshore as an instructor on a oil rig so i don't have time at all, but like i said i am 100% OK with the advert.
However, I will pay you via PayPal once you are ready and send my courier agent to collect after you have fully received your money via PayPal as that is the only means of payment available to me at the moment. I would also appreciate if you could remove the advert asap.
I will contact the courier agent now so please get back to me with a suitable collection time. X

Looks good then I get the following

I'm sorry about this but my PayPal account can not make payments into a BTinternet email due to some reasons, you can please setup and an alternative email like Gmail or hotmail account and attach it to your PayPal account so that i can make the payment asap. Let me know once you have setup the email.

Please see instructions on how to do it below:
-Log in to your PayPal account.
-Click Settings (the gear icon) near the top right corner of the page.
-Click + to add the new email address.
-Enter the new email address and click Add email address. ...
-Email will be confirmed x


because of the speed at which it came back and the detailed instructions I became suspicious and using Google l typed "btinternet email problems with Paypal" and found that lots of people have had variants on the same email and that there are various outcomes such as a spoof email from PayPal saying that the money is in the account followed by the item being collected then asking for their money back threatening legal action etc.

I responded by saying that PayPal is working fine and "isn't Google a useful tool?" and have heard nothing since. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Yeah, I got this a year or so ago when I was looking at buying a D4 Landmark. Exactly the same bull, worked on an oil rig, car in storage in Scotland, yadda yadda yadda......

Scumbags!

thanks for posting


 If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

🐑
Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

These are quite common through Gumtree when selling anything over a few hundred pounds. I have had quite a few when selling guitars. You can normally tell by the grammar and spelling. I tend to just ignore them as reporting them achieves nothing.

the only bother I have ever had was with Amazon, I used it about 15 years ago to buy something, I then got info off my bank saying did you buy a mobile phone in Kent, ad a handful of SIM cards, to which I hadn't, someone had stolen my details etc etc. I was not out of pocket, but very wary of Amazon, put me right off them, never used them again, although I do / did believe my account was still with them.

Yesterday I got an email saying my Amazon email address had been changed successfully, again, nothing to do with me. I tried to log into it, and I couldn't as, . . . . my email address had been changed . Contacted Amazon who more or less said they cannot help as my email address I gave does not exist . . . .

I am hoping my account is not existing with my details held by someone else, having said that , any card details that may have been with Amazon are long outdated.

I have tried to ask Amazon to cancel any account I may have as I never bother with it, awaiting their response. 2017 SEAT Ateca 4drive 2.0 xcellence (May 2022 -
2007 HSE with HST bodykit in Zermatt Silver 169,700 miles (dec 2016 - May 2022 )
2007 Honda Civic Type S GT (2012-2017)
2002 Mini Cooper S (2008-2012)
1992 Honda Legend 3.2i (2003-2008)
1990 Honda Concerto (1999-2003)
1985 Honda Accord (1997-1999)
1983 Honda Accord (1993-1997)
1983 Mini Mayfair (1988-1993)
1974 Mini 1000 (1979-1986)

Thanks for posting this information.

I do find it worrying. I tend to try to be a bit too safe, and refuse to deal with anyone who phones or contacts me without me initiating the convesation. I probably have missed quite a few good offers. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 82k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

IanMetro wrote:

Thanks for posting more about effective appetite suppressants and this information.

I do find it worrying. I tend to try to be a bit too safe, and refuse to deal with anyone who phones or contacts me without me initiating the convesation. I probably have missed quite a few good offers.

Two things to add to the above:
1) it's also suspicious that they offer to collect the item. I would get not only a receipt but also a few photos - a standard e-bay/paypal scam is to say the item never arrived and demand a refund, which e-bay/paypal will hand over. That's why they say you should always use a signed-for service when selling.
2) the major weakness with Amazon is that they keep your card details and don't ask for the CVC number on the back when you order. If you use the same password for anything else (and many people do) then the first thing any password thief does is to try it on Amazon, usually to buy something like a gaming credit which doesn't need an address. If there's no reaction first time they will go on and order lots more stuff. Ex AA Series III LWB Safari - Gone
300TDi Disco (bought new - terrible car) sent back after 18 months
Freelander 1 Estate - leased, given back at end of lease
200TDi Disco (bought from a mate with 100,000 on the clock) - Gone
Disco 2 TD5 - sold and exported to France
FR2 TD4 GS - Gone
FR2 SD4 HSE - Now changed for a DS
New model ex-demo Evoque S 180 in white
Unable to order a new DS, so gave up. Now have a Volvo S90 Recharge.