Follow Ups/Extra Information. Most recent is listed first.

a buyer wanted to buy a couch I was selling on craigslist and he told me he was a marine engineer. The details of the emails are below. He wanted me to actually send him money to pay for the movers and he said he would pay me back on paypal. Watch out for scams like this even when you are the seller. Never send anyone money!
email 1: Thanks for your mail as am sorry for my late response,I will not be coming to view it because of my Job,i am an marine engineer and i am buying this for myself. i accept your offer and i will be happy to accept my offer.I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online,but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email address to make the payments,and if you don't have a PayPal account yet,its pretty easy to set one up at www.paypal.com i will be expecting your email. my mover will come for arrange to pick up after payment clear .Thanks and nice doing business with you...i hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible?
email 2: Thanks for your usual response.I got your PayPal email address now,I need you to do me a favor,i just got a message from head quartz of the shipping company that will come for the pickup for me,which is in the USA that i need to pay a total commission of about $950 USD conversion to them before the pickup can be registered and it should be paid via western union ONLY and there is no western union outlet at my present location to send the money to them over here, you can send the money at any Wall mart store or Bloom store,so all i need from you is the permission to include the said amount to the payment i will be transferring into your PayPal account and you will help me wire the money to them for the pickup as soon as you get it, PayPal will be informed about this process as well.Sorry to put this on you but without the pickup, the purchase cant hold.
Thanks for your help. Loveth

also a search on paypals forum has about fifty of these scams from Oceanographers, to Nuclear Submarine workers, to Merchant Marine guys. It s ALWAYS "at sea", always bad english, and always "technically legal"(at first) because they are relying on people to send them money for a shipping fee by western union. I am not sure if by spoofing a paypal email they are breaking federal law at all, but paypal does not seem to care very much about it. They seem to want to work on malicious code embedded in emails instead of "human hacks" where they scam is to appeal to you good nature.
Freaking scammers, makes me wonder if this will be the incentive to put a ton of internet identity restrictions on the net. Seems like the perfect job for the NSA or FBI. Are they incapable of tracking these types of people or just unwilling?

Oceanographer scam that eventually uses a spoofed paypal email to try and threaten legal action if you do not wire a western union check for shipping
Hello, Thank you for getting back to me,can you assure me that i will not be disappointed if i buy this Bike as a Birthday gift for my Dad? as I'm ready to pay your asking price but not cash in person because I'm an Oceanographer and i am presently on a contract which will end in couple of months,the contract is strictly no call due to the lack of reception on the sea area,but I'm able to access my mail through my laptop and my only quickest payment option is PayPal,its safe fast and secured and i will be responsible for the PayPal transaction charges so you can get your expected amount.
If you don't have an account with paypal,its pretty easy to open one,Just log on to www.paypal.com and sign up.I hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible? as my Dad's birthday is fast approaching,I am sure he will love this Bike,he's a mechanic and a handy man,so if there is anything that need to be fixed in it just let me know he will handle it.
I have a mover that will come for the pick up once payment clears in your account and he will handle the title for me.I look forward to hearing from you with the information below.
Your PayPal e-Mail Address : Full name: Firm Price: Zip code for pickup:
Thanks,
Scott.
THESE SCAMS ALWAYS HAVE POOR ENGLISH IN COMMON, AND THE "SURPRISE GIFT FOR MY DAD/SON/MUM"

Oceanographer scam that eventually uses a spoofed paypal email to try and threaten legal action if you do not wire a western union check for shipping
Thanks for your response, It's really appreciated and i am okay with the information you have given me but i want you to know that. I am an oceanographer and am currently on sea at the moment. I'm interested in purchasing the vehicle but i won't be able to come and have a look at it due to the nature of my profession. I can only make the payment through PayPal because i don't have an online banking but my PayPal account has been attached to my bank account. I've been using PayPal for the past years and that's the main reason why I'm insisting by making the payment through it. Please kindly get back to me with your PayPal details so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done, I will personally arrange for it's pickup as soon as the payment is been made. I wait to read from you soonest. How much are you willing to let it go for and let me know if we have a deal.
THESE SCAMS ALWAYS HAVE POOR ENGLISH IN COMMON, AND THE "SURPRISE GIFT FOR MY DAD/SON/MUM"

Oceanographer scam that eventually uses a spoofed paypal email to try and threaten legal action if you do not wire a western union check for shipping
Thanks for your response, It's really appreciated and i am okay with the information you have given me but i want you to know that. I am an oceanographer and am currently on sea at the moment. I'm interested in purchasing the vehicle but i won't be able to come and have a look at it due to the nature of my profession. I can only make the payment through PayPal because i don't have an online banking but my PayPal account has been attached to my bank account. I've been using PayPal for the past years and that's the main reason why I'm insisting by making the payment through it. Please kindly get back to me with your PayPal details so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done, I will personally arrange for it's pickup as soon as the payment is been made. I wait to read from you soonest. How much are you willing to let it go for and let me know if we have a deal.
THESE SCAMS ALWAYS HAVE POOR ENGLISH IN COMMON, AND THE "SURPRISE GIFT FOR MY DAD/SON/MUM"