Just had somebody trying a new  ' scam '  on ebay. If you are new to selling on Ebay might be worth noting, otherwise I'm reporting for the laugh it gave me at the end !!

1) Recieved direct email... Whats the price of your really nice watch if we deal direct ?....I replied with a price ( No alarms yet )

2) Further email .... Oh thats great been looking for one of these for years etc. etc.  will you send abroad with full insurance ( Hmm ? ) and I will pay extra - TOO MUCH EXTRA !! - to cover your expenses and insurance ( Alarm bells ITS A SCAM !! )

3) Recieve a Purported email from Paypal ... Payment has been taken from our clients funds it will be released to you once you provide Royal Mail tracking info

4) Recieve further email from buyer. ...... Check your emails money has been released from my Paypal account, please send watch and tracking info.   I sent a made up Post Office Tracking no for International signed for to see where they would go next ?

5) Another email recieved ............  ( they wanted proof to confirm they had conned me ) Thankyou for the tracking no. but for our records could you please send Tracking " Scam "'  so we can release the funds.  Tracking SCAM !! obviously should have been Tracking SCAN !!  not sure if they were taking the piss or it was just a Freudian Slip ?

Replied mentioning the tracking SCAM error and surprisigly have had no further emails

Anyway it made me laugh

If you are new to Paypal !!!  -  not teaching anybody to suck eggs - BUT if you recieve a Payment by email DON'T  !! ever under any circumstances send anything until you have INDEPENDANTLY logged direct into your account to check the payment has been made.

Also NEVER log into Paypal from an Email NEVER !!

And as an aside don't get involved with any payments via Western Union. Fraudsters can create excellent payment accounts which look very good and end up in you inbox.

I have a gullible friend who lost an item worth about £1300 2 years back and despite somebody been caught last year hes got absolutely no chance of getting his money back !!

Lummox