I got the same message yesterday in response to my car:
"Thanks for your response. Please understand that I am not around for inspection due to the nature of my job, I serve in the U.S Army as a CAS(Civil Affairs Specialist (38B)) currently on active duty and its been quite busy on the field these days with lots of restrictions, strictly no calls for security reasons but we have secure access to the internet as our major means of communication for now. I am OK with your asking price and if you don't mind, I can only pay through PayPal at the moment be cause its the most secure way to make or receive payment online this is why I'll prefer using PayPal to pay you, all I need is your PayPal email to make the payment and if you don't have a PayPal account, its pretty easy to set up at www.paypal.com. I have a few questions for you.
Are you the original owner? How long have you owned it? Whats its condition, any damages and what is your reason for selling?
I hope you consider my offer. I am ready to buy. I'll arrange for pick up after you have confirmed and received payment.Thanks for understanding, hope to read from you soon."
I thought it seemed strange that he was ready to buy after no test drive from his "agent" first. But I went along with it.... I mentioned there was a dent in the bumper, so he requested photos of the damage. After I sent him photos of the car (though I thought it seemed strange he requested them because he should have seen them in the actual ad),
He responded in less than 10 minutes, ready to pay:
"Thanks for the pictures I have taken a good look at them and i am satisfied.For record purposes please send an invoice or payment request from your PayPal account to
[email protected] so I can make payment. I will need your address or an address where the agent can meet you for pick up please include your cell number. Regards."
Without even a test drive??? Just seemed too easy for me, to be real.
Then when I didn't respond within 2 or 3 hours I get:
"Hello any progress?"
And again this morning:
"Hello do we still have a deal here?"
Well I looked him up and find this....and it's no surprise.