How can you tell whose a scammer on Gumtree.com? -

Ok i have never come across this on Gumtree but they sound like scammers to me because they both using the same kind of story:Customer 1 said:HI, thanks for the mail and i just want you to know that i am buying this item for my SON who is currently in abroad but i wish i could make it face to face and see the present condition of the item but am not n the state now if you don t mind making the payment through paypal, so kindly send me your paypal email ID so that i can make the payment as soon as possible and i will send you 60 USD for the shipping cost via USPS priority Mail Deliver. Thanks get back to me as soon as possibleCustomer 2 said:Dear seller,Thanks for the reply,and am happy to read from you.am interested inbuying your item for myson who will be taking his flight to West Africa Nigeria tomorrow nightso i will like to the total cost of the item plus shipment via FedExor Normal Post services to Nigeria.i will prefer to make the payment via Paypal.so let me have your details in order for me to proceed with the payment:Mrs B.PhilipsSo what im thinking is if i do give my email address of paypal how could they hack me or scam me? They need the password to do it shall i give it?

THEY DO NOT NEED YOU PASSWORD TO MAKE A PAYMENT TO YOUNEVER, EVER, tell anyone your PayPal password ...Anyone who asks for your PayPal password is a criminal SCAMMER .. don t even bother to reply (if they emailed you at the email address you registered for PayPal, then they already have everything they need to make payment to you).Anyone who gets hold of your PayPal password can empty ALL of your accounts that are linked to PayPal (that includes maxing out your Credit Card and your Bank Overdraft) ... and anyone who gives their Paypal password to some random eMail spammer will get no sympathy (and no repayment) from PayPal ..As to the above == well, in theory, both could be legitimate buyers, however I would suggest they are both crooks == they are getting ready to con you into sending your stuff abroad to an address that is NOT the same as the Paypal buyers address (most likely they have phished the PayPal account details off some other poor mug who has no idea that they are about to buy your goods).You MUST NEVER, EVER, send anything to an address that is NOT registered as the buyers PayPal address = if (when) the buyer claims it never arrived, PayPal s computer system will automatically reverse the payment without question if you sent it to the wrong address, your appeal will be automatically refused (see link 1 below, about a US con-merchant, most likely using a phished German PayPal account, who conned the seller into sending stuff to him in USA) Now that people have gotten wise to scams using Western Union / MoneyGram, the more clever crooks are starting to use PayPal s system of always stick the (honest) customer for any scam (link 2 below)

HUGE SCAM: Ignore it.

Of course this is a Nigerian scam. You don t EVER give anyone your Paypal address or password. What they do is create a fake Paypal notification which they email to you referencing your account address and saying the money is in your account and telling you to send the item or send them the shipping reference. You believe this is a real Paypal email and try to log into the site from that email, but you are just giving your login name and password to a scam site. http://blog.gumtree.com/paypal-scam-aler��http://www.419legal.org/reporting-fraud/��This is such a common scam on Gumtree - they don t even mention what they are buying. They say this item and send this same email to everyone who posts anything for sale. Don t believe me - put up another ad for a used iPhone or Laptop and you ll get exactly the same messages. To protect yourself from scams, only deal in face-to-face transactions where the buyer gives you cash when they pick up the item