The Scams We Weave

So.. I'm tryin to sell my PS3 on ebay, yes? Easy matter, or at least it should be. My buy it now price is pretty good, considering all you're gonna get with it.
So anywho..
Almost a day after I first put it up.. I get an e-mail from one Angela Bowness (or that's teh name I'm given). And this person says if I take my PS3 down and get ready to send it to her.. she'll give me $900 for it. Wow. Sounds awesome, right? But right away.. soemthign didn't feel right about it. I couldn't say what it was.. something in the back of my mind just wasn't registering this. So I checked out the user.. farmingjimangie. Now up to 2 years ago, this was a great buyer. All positives. But then the feedback stops, and doesn't start again till just a few days ago. And that one is negative.. saying that this user didn't pay, and the originating place was Nigeria. Yeesh. So I contact the buyer and ask them about this.. and they say it was a whole misunderstanding, and I 'dont have to worry about it'. Yes, I do have to worry about it. So I'm not gonna give my PS3 to this person. I just dont trust them.

But the fun doesn't end there!

Last night, my PS3 sold for the instant buy thing. Huzzah! Oh.. uh.. wait a sec..
I get a notification from PayPal about this. Apparently, they had a couple red flags thrown up. They said that they took the funds out of the buyer's account, but won't credit me with it until I ship it out, and give them a shipping number. For the buyer's protection and mine. So I'm wrestling with how I'm gonna do this.. when I get yet another e-mail saying that my listing and the results of it have been deleted! And that's because.. well the person who bought my PS3, they weren't the owner of the account! From what I understand, they hacked the account and made this purchase. Lol.. So it's a wash. I don't think I'm supposed to do anything more.. but ebay said I should relist my PS3 again.. which I might.

And then..

This morning I got yet another e-mail. From someone on behalf of the person who 'bought' my PS3 last night. They said they made a payment to me, and I should 'ship out the item immediately!!!'. Again, the address is Nigeria. All of these have been! So I reported this person, also. To both ebay and paypal. I dont think I should do anything more.. I'm not sure, really. For sure I'm not gonna be sendin this thing to Nigeria!

From what I remember.. Nigeria and all of west and southern africa is a haven for these kinds of scammers. And they'll run any kind of scam they can on anyone they can. it just so happens I'm educated enough about this sort of thing to be able to recognize when something is up. I know what to look for, and where to look. And luckily, ebay and paypal are on their toes about this kind of thing.

So I don't know what I'll do next. Maybe I'll put it up on ebay.. maybe i'll just try on Craig's List.. I'm not sure yet.

Let this be a lesson to ya, kiddies. Be careful when you're dealing with any kind of commerce over the net. You can never be to careful.. there is always someone out there trying to rip you off or make their lives a little better at the cost of your things.