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[Tom T]

Be aware of scams in classifieds. See the latest from a user:

The 'scam', Mr. 'XXX' represents himself as an 'Oceanography' at sea wanting to purchase a telescope for his father in the UK. He goes as far as establishing a PayPal account promissary funds, but the 'funds' never actually get credited to the 'seller's' PP account. PayPal states, "This payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been 'approved', but will not credited into your account until the MTCN is to us (PP) for verification...". Mr. XXX then says, because he is "on the ocean", he can't send his 'shipping agent' a Western Union wire transfer for shipping and would I do that for him. Of course he includes the amount in the total promised PayPal amount. This a.m. I received an email from Mr. XXX that the 'shipping agent' required additional $950 for 'customs charges'. The Red Flags went up and I emailed him back stating the transaction was on-hold until my PayPal account was credited and then I discovered the email account was disabled. I'm out $560.00 for 'shipping fees' I paid which in hindsight was stupid, but I was trying to help the guy. My mistake. Anyway, I'm sure the next time this guy does this it will be a different name, but I thought maybe you could pass this on to the CN scam alert folks.