If you've recently tried to sell a laptop on ebay (among other things, but laptops especially), you've probably run into a "creative" Nigerian con-artist or two. To me, the problem is not that Nigerians are doing this, but that some people are stupid enough to fall for their tricks, because the signs are so painfully obvious that, in order to fall for them, you'd have to be a moron, no way around it.
For example, I bought a laptop on Newegg for $589. It was working great until I spilt some soup on the keyboard, and then it wouldn't turn on, so I put it up on ebay for a penny, because I know some people may have a way to fix it, or may have a use for one of the parts that isn't broken. Well, after the bidding was done, someone with zero reputation had bid (get this) $2,024! He then proceeded to send me an email from paypalconfirmation@emailaccount.com saying that his payment had been confirmed, but I needed to provide a tracking number in order to get the money; this was a security measure for the buyer, to make sure I sent it.
So let me get this straight: Not only has paypal started using a new security feature that I didn't know about without telling me about it, but they can't even use their own domain name (paypalconfirmation@emailaccount.com), not to mention he bid over three times the price of the computer when it was new? Um, how 'bout no?
Ebay, if you're reading this, I beg you... no, I beseech you, to stop cracking down on these Nigerian con-artists, because if someone falls for their sad, ridiculous, obvious schemes, then it's just as much their fault as the Nigerians.
Discuss?
For example, I bought a laptop on Newegg for $589. It was working great until I spilt some soup on the keyboard, and then it wouldn't turn on, so I put it up on ebay for a penny, because I know some people may have a way to fix it, or may have a use for one of the parts that isn't broken. Well, after the bidding was done, someone with zero reputation had bid (get this) $2,024! He then proceeded to send me an email from paypalconfirmation@emailaccount.com saying that his payment had been confirmed, but I needed to provide a tracking number in order to get the money; this was a security measure for the buyer, to make sure I sent it.
So let me get this straight: Not only has paypal started using a new security feature that I didn't know about without telling me about it, but they can't even use their own domain name (paypalconfirmation@emailaccount.com), not to mention he bid over three times the price of the computer when it was new? Um, how 'bout no?
Ebay, if you're reading this, I beg you... no, I beseech you, to stop cracking down on these Nigerian con-artists, because if someone falls for their sad, ridiculous, obvious schemes, then it's just as much their fault as the Nigerians.
Discuss?
