Every now and then I bring some stories from online trading in this blog. There are plenty of people in this world. Some of them are just a pain in the ___ to deal with while others are out to cheat your money. Yesterday I encountered the latter type.

Disguised under the id of ktwpsg, this fellow seemed like a local who joined the online auction business more than 4 years ago. He sells his unwanted DVD and other junk online since 2004 and does not seemed likely to be a Nigerian scammer. He placed a bid on my old laptop at buy price and contacted me very quickly to try to conclude the deal. But after a few email exchange I'm 100% sure that he belongs to the category of a Nigerian scammer even though he had a decent track record.

I felt like a detective when I collect clues upon clues on this fellow and almost can't sleep due to excitement once I blow his cover. Here are some telltale signs of a Nigerian scammer.

1.) Real Singaporeans are very kiasu... they will die die try to ask for >20% discount from your asking price. They will die a terrible death if they part $0.01 more for any item. This fellow offered to pay $150 more than what Singaporeans are willing to pay for the same item... Fishy.

2.) The nick and history of the bidder points to me that he is local, but his English used was clearly not Singlish. In addition, all the email had titles along the "MOST URGENT", "URGENT MESSAGE" line which extinct since the Jurassic era in Singapore.

3.) He wanted to pay using Bidpay, but when I said I only accept paypal, this fellow (pretended to) agreed, so it nullifies the above doubts for the moment. Afterall, this guy might be borrowing his friend's established account to bid as it is easier to do so compared to a brand new account.

4.) They will try to lure you by greed as he sent another email offering $100 more for my laptop because he felt that it is worth a little more than my asking price and urged me to use Bidpay for payment.

5.) When you reply to insist on paypal and state that bidpay is prone to scammers, you will never hear from him ever again.

6.) If you fell for their tricks, they will send a bankdraft to you in 4 weeks and get you to mail your item before you get your money. 4 weeks later, you will realize that it is a bankdraft from monopoly and you get con. And you can't get to the scammer anymore as they move on to look for other victims.

What's most to happened is that this ktwpsg guy's computer has a worm that allowed the scammers to steal his account information. Or that he got tricked by phishing mails and his account was stolen. Then scammers will use this established accounts to look for victims and cheat them off their expensive products (Laptops, handphones etc) using the method above. When their cover is blown 4 weeks later, they will move on to the next phishing victim and start using his account instead.

So beware! Unlike robbers and pickpockets whom you have a chance to apprehend them if they steal your stuff... these scammers will take your money and you would not know what and who hit you.

singapore auction scam