Twist on an old scam?

[cvpd]

Hello thanks for reply, i am a marine engineer, i am at sea right now. I am buying this for my son as a surprise gift. However,does it have any history I should be aware of? and why are you selling if you don't mind my asking and I will really appreciate if you can email more info and if possible more photos. I can only pay through paypal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i dont have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my paypal account, and this is why i insisted on using paypal to pay,all i will need is your paypal email address to make the payment, and if you dont have a paypal account yet, you can set one it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your paypal email so l can pay and your phone number. I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payment has been sorted, l will be waiting for your reply asap.

This started out with a text on a crank I have for sale and evolved to the above email. I've seen the scam before without the paypal reference. Just curious how it works that he insists on paying with paypal. If the scammers weren't getting cash or getting access to my account it can't do them much good. Just curious what I'm missing here.

Thanks

[lahotrod]

I got one that looks similar to that also.

From: Scott Trail [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2014 5:58 AM
To: Astleford, Lance E (GE Power & Water)
Subject: Re: Altered

Hello thanks for reply, i am a marine engineer, i am at sea right now. I am buying this for my son as a surprise gift. However,does it have any history I should be aware of? and why are you selling if you don't mind my asking and I will really appreciate if you can email more info and if possible more photos. I can only pay through paypal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i dont have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my paypal account, and this is why i insisted on using paypal to pay,all i will need is your paypal email address to make the payment, and if you dont have a paypal account yet, you can set one it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your paypal email so l can pay and your phone number. I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payment has been sorted, l will be waiting for your reply asap.

[BigBlockMark]

Did you ever notice most all foreign scammers use g mail?

And anytime they do not describe what you have for sale in their inquiry you know its generic one.

And what do they gain by just getting you to reveal your email?

[zx11diesel]

I get the same text and email when i use to post on craiglist. How it was explained to me, is that the will eventually send you a conformation of payment from paypal, but it will be from a paypal site that they created, and when you input your username and password to check status of payment, they receive your information.

Derrick