Etsy Paypal Scam - Rachael Cox
13th September 2012
*Important Message – Paypal scam on Etsy*
I have recently set up an ‘Etsy’ store http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForestEtsy for selling my canvasses and was amazed to receive an enquiry within hours of going live.
Below is the initial enquiry verbatim.
Listing: [name of item here]
Hello Seller,
Am Rachael Cox,I came accross your item on Etsy, i will like to buy the item,is it ready for the immediate purchase, before i proceed with the payment i will Like to ask about the item..
1) Is the item still available for sale?
2) What is the present condition of the item?
3) Do you accept PAYPAL as your mode of payment?
4) what is the final asking price?
kindly get back to me with your reply to my private email:
( rachael_cox10@yahoo.com )
hope to read from you soon,
Best Regards.
I replied, answering her questions (which I thought odd at the time as the information was all there in the item description online) and heard nothing back until I chased on Tuesday. This is the response I got, again verbatim.
Thanks for the respond,i am an oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my Mother,i want to make it a surprise gift for her,she won't know anything about the gift until they get delivered to her, so i want you to reassure me that the item is in good condition as you have described.i can only pay through PayPal.Soplease kindly get back to me immediately so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the Item up immediately after payment.
Regards.
My first reaction was that the whole ‘picking up’ thing was odd (who does that when they order online
?) and that I did not want to hand out my address for security reasons. The language was odd for an oceanographer who must have studied to Degree level or higher and the message, just plain weird.
I spoke to my gurus of all things internetty http://digitalessence.net and they suggested googling her name/email address etc to see if there was anything about her on the web. I would not have thought of doing this, so thank you guys! I quickly googled “Rachael Cox Etsy Scam” and was shocked to see a whole page of listings with her name in it.
This scam http://stopartscams.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/scam-email-rachael-cox.html has been going on for some years now and (although appallingly written) people must be still falling for it.
If you have an Etsy store, or know someone who does, please share this with them.
Thanks,
Ross
I have recently set up an ‘Etsy’ store http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForestEtsy for selling my canvasses and was amazed to receive an enquiry within hours of going live.
Below is the initial enquiry verbatim.
Listing: [name of item here]
Hello Seller,
Am Rachael Cox,I came accross your item on Etsy, i will like to buy the item,is it ready for the immediate purchase, before i proceed with the payment i will Like to ask about the item..
1) Is the item still available for sale?
2) What is the present condition of the item?
3) Do you accept PAYPAL as your mode of payment?
4) what is the final asking price?
kindly get back to me with your reply to my private email:
( rachael_cox10@yahoo.com )
hope to read from you soon,
Best Regards.
I replied, answering her questions (which I thought odd at the time as the information was all there in the item description online) and heard nothing back until I chased on Tuesday. This is the response I got, again verbatim.
Thanks for the respond,i am an oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my Mother,i want to make it a surprise gift for her,she won't know anything about the gift until they get delivered to her, so i want you to reassure me that the item is in good condition as you have described.i can only pay through PayPal.Soplease kindly get back to me immediately so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the Item up immediately after payment.
Regards.
My first reaction was that the whole ‘picking up’ thing was odd (who does that when they order online
?) and that I did not want to hand out my address for security reasons. The language was odd for an oceanographer who must have studied to Degree level or higher and the message, just plain weird.
I spoke to my gurus of all things internetty http://digitalessence.net and they suggested googling her name/email address etc to see if there was anything about her on the web. I would not have thought of doing this, so thank you guys! I quickly googled “Rachael Cox Etsy Scam” and was shocked to see a whole page of listings with her name in it.
This scam http://stopartscams.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/scam-email-rachael-cox.html has been going on for some years now and (although appallingly written) people must be still falling for it.
If you have an Etsy store, or know someone who does, please share this with them.
Thanks,
Ross
Comments
By tealbluesage: I just received a similar email from "Debra Cook" nearly verbatim.
The minute "she" mentioned her own shipper and western union fees I felt sick.
The long and the short, if it sounds too good and is outside of the Etsy convo, it probably isn't valid. They can and do change names all the time.
Any initial convo you receive requesting you to email them personally, be wary. And please, help out Etsy by marking it as Spam once you are sure.
Never ever give them your paypal info. They want the name you use so they can send you a fake paypal notice saying they paid you.
If they are legit they will purchase through Etsy. Even then always CYA and good luck! By Forest Eyes: Thank you tealbluesage for your comment; if enough of us continue to spread the word, we will eventually stop these pathetic people. By Forest Eyes: Since then, I can happily report, I have processed my first sale on my new store to a real, genuine, non-scammy, proper money customer! I wish you the best of fortune with your store. I will pop over and have a look. By marika o'sullivan: Thanks for posting this, I had the same enquiry and response to my response. I also thought it was fishy so decided to google her and sure enough this is a scam.
Lets hope no one falls for it!