Hi all,

I want to let others know--I have been scammed by someone saying they were going to buy my dresses through the ballroomdancers.com classified section.

If you receive an inquiry from someone claiming to only be able to use paypal and needing help paying a 'pick-up' agent, this is a scam.

I hope this will help others avoid being scammed as I was.

Hi! Saw your message about the scam asking to pay a "pick up agent." I think this same person has contacted me. How did you realize this was a scam? What happened with this interested buyer? Thanks for any information. Just trying to make sure I don't get scammed as well.

I found out the hard way--I loss money and didn't realize the 'paypal' emails were fake.

The real paypal will never hold funds waiting for confirmation from 'Moneygram'. Payapl and Moneygram are competitors and don't work together.

I have since gotten 3 more email inquiries.

Each one comes from someone using no capital letters in their name and always asks if I accept paypal in the first inquiry.

The second email usually mentions they are buying the dress as a gift for someone and says not to worry about shipping because they have a 'pick-up agent'.

If you get a third it asks if they can send you extra money to cover the cost of this 'pick-up agent' and pay them through moneygram, since they can't access moneygram (the excuse I got was that they were an oceanographer at sea).

When I respond that I prefer to take care of shipping it myself and won't send any money without confirmation of funds from paypal, I usually don't receive any more emails.

A true buyer will ask specific questions, and if a payment is sent through paypal your paypal account will show it. Paypal does not require your address or phone number to process payment, just your email.

I don't think there is such a thing as a 'pick-up agent'. If there is, they don't cost almost equal to what you are selling your dress for.

I hope this helps. Every inquiry I have received about my dresses has been from this scammer.

Thanks for the reply. I've now gotten several aggressive e-mails from this scammer, and I just received a very fake looking check in the mail for thousands more than I was selling for. This whole thing is very bizarre, and there were several red flags. I was able to see through the scam, in part, because I read your warning on the message board. I won't be depositing the check or communicating with them anymore. Thanks for your help!

This seems to be a common scam. I have a friend with an online dress shop. She received the same sort of e-mail from a guy claiming to want to buy 2 dresses as a gift for his girlfriend. She was very suspicious because a) he didn't even inquire about sizes and b) when she e-mailed him back he couldn't answer any questions about where she dances or what kind of dancing she does. She was lucky because her assistant was prepared to cash the cheque and mail the dresses when she stopped her. You might want to try asking where the person dances and who their instructor is just to get a feeling if they are legit next time.