How to entertain a scammer and what I have learnt from it

It all started with a couch. The name of the couch: Karlstad. Obviously from IKEA. It is in perfect condition and the only issue with it was - it had to make room for a bit more space in my study. Now so far so boring. Let's see how this turned into an oceanographic adventure and some learnings I took away from it...

Moving to Australia automatically exposes you to Gumtree. A fascinating website and a fascinating service. Specifically, if you try to sell furniture. I have had all kinds of experiences with it:

• People who want to buy way below the price you advertise...
• People who want to make their apartment all of a sudden change size to fit the item you sell, instead of the other way around...
• People who tell you they buy your item, but then do not show up...

I am sure there are many more examples out there. However, I recently came across a brand new experience, which I thought is too good not to share it. So here we go : let's try to sell the Karlstad couch.

Enter Gina Kefford. I receive a text from an interested buyer:

I have to say that this request is pretty common. People are asking for a (lower) price (despite it being shown on the website). So nothing too crazy yet.

ME: Hi! Price is as shown $790. It’s an awesome couch. Let me know, if you want it. Cheers...

GINA: "Thank you for getting back to me. Can you assure me that it's in good condition and that i will not be disappointed with it. I'm ready to pay your asking price and to be honest. I want to buy this for my cousin but the issue now is that I'm an oceanographer and I do have a contract to go for which starts tomorrow and I am leaving any moment from now. The contract is strictly no call due to the lack of reception on the sea area but I'm able to access email anytime as we will make use of laptop so my only quickest payment option is PayPal as I can send money via PayPal anytime. Since I'm requesting this transaction to be done via PayPal, i will be responsible for all the PayPal fee/charges on this transaction and if you don't have an account with PayPal, its pretty easy, safe and secured to open one. Just log on to www.paypal.com. I hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible? I have a Pick up agent that will come for it once payment clears and they will take care of very necessary paper for me. Send me your PayPal info for payment so we can proceed."

Well - obviously a very interesting issue. Being an oceanographer sure puts you into interesting environments. Lots of adventures. Also a very long explanation, but again - like I said - you will come across all interesting types of stories. All I am trying at the moment is to get rid of the couch. So let's go ahead.

ME: Hi! Sorry for the delay, but I’ve been working all day. The couch absolutely is in an awesome condition. Please send the payment to [...]. Let me know when you’ve done so. Thanks!

GINA: "Thanks for your mail. I will proceed with the payment immediately. Kindly end the listing immediately since you have decide to sell the merchandise to me and also get back to me with your home address so i can forward it to my shipping agent for the pick up."

Awesome. I have sold my couch. That was not too hard. And so here we begin:

GINA: "Hello mate, I have just made the payments now and I expect PayPal to have emailed by now. Check your PayPal email address inbox or junk folder to see if you have been messaged. I sent $1,460.00 in all including the PayPal charges. PayPal said they would be holding the funds because of the excess payments of $670 added meant for pick up commission fee and due to the fact that I emailed them about the excess payment I made, until they get the western union information from you, this is being delivered to my cousin so I will need you to send the $650 to my pick up agent Headquarters via western union money transfer (this can be done today from the post office, as they usually have a western union agent there) or do it via western union online, I added extra $20 to cover the western union charges which should be within $15-$20 but just to be sure I added $20, Here is my pickup agent Headquarter info needed to get the money sent through western union money transfer [...] My shipper would be coming around your area to get the goods once you got sent the shipping charges fee to them, as I need you let me know what time you want them to come and where (your e telephone number that can be reached) I'll be waiting to hear from you once the money was sent to my shipper. Thanks for business."

Can I mention that it took all the way to this message to finally realise I was not selling my Karstad, but rather on the receiving end of a scam attempt? Think what you will, but I had such a good laugh at this stage about my own blindness. I got a text message, didn't I? (Checked later, did not have a number against it, just was showing up with the obviously fake name). Oceanographer, come on? Really? Well, I once sold a very large wardrobe to a single mother of 2 and she came to pick them up with a Fiat 500 and no further help...

Well. It got this far. No real harm done. Time to return the favor:

ME: Hi! Thanks. I’ve just sent you back too much. $1000 instead of the $650. Can you transfer me back the $350 please? Can you send me your PayPal details again so I can ask PayPal to make sure you got the right amount? Thanks mate. Sorry for the confusion. Cheers

No immediate response, so I had to add one...

ME: Oh and I’m just very worried that you might miss all of this before you go on your oceanography adventure any minute. So please wire me back the $350 ASAP. Thanks!

GINA's response?

Obviously this idea (of returning the favour) has been influenced by James Veitch. In case you have not heard about him:

So what have I learnt from all this? Take experiences like this with a little bit of humour and you may reward yourself with a good laugh. Also of course: always check who sent you a SMS or EMAIL and do not share your PAYPAL recipient email with anyone, before you have read through all of the conversation. Oceanography is not that exciting (probably).

James also did a talk on his experience with marketers:

So hope you had a good laugh about my experience. Let me know, if you had similar stories out there when engaging with marketers, scammers or 'customers' when trying to sell your couch...

Before I forget: If you want the couch, let me know :)