I am currently in the process of selling a car on carsales.com.au

I received an email from this person a day after the car was listed;

Name: Robert Lucas
Town/Suburb: LILYDALE
Postcode: 4021
Mobile Phone: 0419847094
Email: [email protected]
Comments:
Hello Mate, Do you still have this car available for sale?


The email itself seemed quite unusual, especially since the car was only just listed but to be on the safe side I sent a reply;

Yes, the car is for sale


Then I received another message that confirmed my suspicions;

Thanks for the prompt response.. I am ready to buying it now as a gift for my Great Father. I am at sea at the moment as i am a marine engineer and due to the nature of my work, phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it. I really want the car to be a surprise for my father so i wont let him know anything about the car until it gets delivered to him, i am sure he will be more than happy with the car. I insisted on paypal because i don't have access to my bank account online as i don't have internet banking, but i can pay from my paypal account, as i have my bank a/c attached to it, i will need you to give me your paypal email address and the price so i can make the payments asap for the car and pls if you don't have paypal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to http://www.paypal.com.au and get it set up, after you have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with paypal so as to put the money through. I have a pick up agent that will come and pick the car up after i have made the payments...

Regards

Robert R Lucas


At this point, as much as I would have liked to gather more information, I sent a simple reply;

The car was sold locally
Thank you


There were several tell tale signs that this was a scam;
The language used
He wanted another party to pick the car up
His insistence and even instructions on how to receive payment in the way it suited him.
The lack of negotiation and willingness to pay the full price

Had communication continued, I would presume that I would have received an email that appeared to be from paypal saying that the money had been paid with an additional amount paid that was to be forwarded to his agent, most likely by Western Union.

The scammer may have even added an additional amount to compensate me for my trouble.

Of course, the payment would not have actually reached my paypal account and any money sent to his agent would be lost and gone forever.

I may have even received additional emails pretending to be the auction site, Pay Pal or even the police suggesting that I should forward payment immediately to the agent.