Sharks in the bay

It's a fact - the internet can be friggin addictive. Facebook, Supercoach, News updates...
It can draw you in to look at the site and burn your time like theres no tomorrow.
Call me old school but I've just discovered another time waster.

Ebay.

Yep I know it's been around since the dawn of internet time but I have just started to become a serious 'user'.
My housemate is to blame. He bought a brand new Olympus underwater camera for $250. They retail at around $450-$500!

I was in and I was having fun - cheap t-shirts, jumpers, 2nd hand jocks...
It was all too easy and I wasn't doing too much damage to the bank account.

Then I discovered the dark side of the bay. Here's the story -

Back home I have quite a large palm tree in my backyard and apparently they can fetch quite a price. ie. resorts, housing estates, councils.
The palm tree was just sitting there doing not much so I thought - what the heck lets chuck it on ebay, see if I get any nibbles.

I seriously didn't expect too much interest but the very next day I received this email...

Hi there,
I am really interested and i will like to offer you $8,200 for it. Please kindly let me know if my offer is accepted and i will be paying through paypal. I will also arrange for the pick up after the payment has been made. Expecting to hear from you soon. James.

Wow. Too good to be true? Probably. He had offerred me more than what I was asking for, but I thought he might of just wanted to confirm his bid. I also suspected one of my mates was playing a trick on me so I sent him my number and asked for him to call so we could arrange the finer details on the phone. He sent me this...

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the mail and i really appreciate it. I really would have loved to come over to inspect it and also to pay for it in cash but i am a petroleum engineer presently working offshore and i am buying this for my uncle. I want to make it a surprise for him and don't want him to know anything about this until it gets delivered to him. I have seen the picture on ebay and i really love it. I can only pay through paypal as i don't have access to my bank account online cos my internet banking isn't yet activated but i have my bank account attached to my paypal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through paypal. I have a pick up agent that will come around for the pick up after i have made the payments, if you have a paypal account all i will need is your paypal email address to make the payments.
PS:I need you to end the auction on ebay as i will make the payments as soon as i hear from you. I would have called but our phone service is currently down aboard and the signal is always weak at most times but i learnt it will be resolved soon.

My suspicion that 'James' was merely a friend playing a prank had gone. A friend wouldn't ask me to take the tree off ebay, there wouldn't be any real fun in it for them. This had to be a serious buyer who just really liked his uncle? I gave him my paypal email.

Hi Tom,>> I have just made the payments through paypal. I am sure they must>> have emailed you too by now confirming the payments through to your>> paypal email address.Paypal have also>> emailed me and they told me that they have given you instructions to>> follow in the payment confirmation email that they just sent to you>> and this instructions are to be followed in order to get the money>> credited into your account.I just checked>> my paypal account balance too online and i can see that $9,200 has>> been deducted from my account by paypal. I added an additional $100>> for the western union charges that you may be charged when sending the>> $900 to my pick up agent. Just go to the nearest post office and you>> will surely see a western union outlet there. Here is my pick up>> agent's info needed for the transfer as i gave to paypal as well:>>>>
Name:Duncan Cooper>>
160,Hampstead Road,>>
London,>> NW1 7AW.>>
United Kingdom.

Just made the payments! I'm rich! I quickly checked my netbank. It didn't have the money in there. I smelt a rat. Hang on - so the deal is I send your 'pick-up agent' who lives in London $900 then I get the $8,200. Your kidding me?! I did receive a 'paypal' email confirming payments had gone through to my account, but I enquired with paypal and ebay and they both confirmed that it was a scam. Dang it.

I thought this guy must do this all the time and con people of cash here and there.
So I'll do my good deed for all innocent internet users out there and try and lead him on a bit.
So I sent him this email...

Hi James,>>>> I'm a little short on cash at the moment, are we able to bump the price of> the tree up to $8800?>> If your happy to do so I will transfer the $900 through to the Western Union> which is just around the corner from me.>> I've had a lot of other interest on the tree so I think you could still be> getting a bargain.>>>> Thanks,>>>> Tom

Then he sent me this...

Hi Tom,Thanks for the mail. Well paying you the $8,800 is no problem at all and i have updated the payment through paypal Note: My pick up agent will come over for the pick up after all this has been done and paypal has put the $9,800 into your account.

He didn't challenge me raising the price of the tree by $600 one bit. I emailed him again...

Hi James, I just realised something... 8 is a really unlucky number for me and selling the tree for $8,800 just wouldn't be right.Can we make it an even $10,000?If that's alright I'll send the $900 through to that address at the closest western union asap. Cheers, Tom

I think the penny has dropped with him now and he realises the scammer has become the scammed.

But all in all lesson learnt - I'm going to tread carefully whilst in the bay. It's unchartered waters for some and there are sharks out there.
But I did pick up a six pack of size 8-10 business socks today for $7 plus postage and handling.

GSBFN