Steve Li/Hongyi Yang

Has anybody done business with this gentleman? I received an email from him asking about Diamondback Terrapins, told him I had one I could part with, gave him my Paypal address, and he paid me promptly. The payment came from a non-verified Chinese credit card. When I asked him about it, he replied with:

I am using a Chinese credit card so the billing address is in China. Do not worry. Please arrange a Thursday delivery, I can receive it in th morning that day. Thanks!

- The address he provided me with for shipping is in Ohio.
- The email address he is communicating with is: stevelijian@163.com
- He signs his emails as Steve Li
- The paypal address he paid with is: stellayanghongyi@hotmail.com
- The paypal name he paid with is: HONGYI YANG

Any wisdom or experience you can share about this situation would be appreciated. In the back of my mind there are some alarm bells and I am tempted to simply refund him and tell him that the deal is off. I'm supposed to ship this Wednesday, May 13th. Thanks in advance!

Never heard of the person but I'd run faster than Usain Bolt from this trnasaction.

Joel, why? What are the possible outcomes that could harm me if he has already sent money through Paypal? I'm wondering what the scam would be and how it would work?

well !! if it's a stolen credit card, your paypall account could take the funds back from you.
you would then be out of the animal and out $$$

it would usually take a few weeks before everything is said and done, by then the animal is long gone and so is the buyer..

same goes with money orders, your bank will give you the $$ but a few weeks later when it's dicovered that's it 's fake, they will take it out of your account or it will be in the negative..

a postal money order cashed in at the postal office is safer, but they have some good fakes out there.. it's hard these days to trust, sooooo many ways to get burn.


if in doubt, follow your gut instincs !! best to be safe.

if you do go with the deal.
have him call you
get his address
verify his address with his name
get his work # and address
get everything you can.. if he's legit, he shouldn't mind

His response to my request for a phone number:

I am trying to get a new number this weekend, so recently I can only use email as contact method. Please put some wet moss in the pack to make sure it won't be too dry during shipping, thanks!

Steve

I think I should probably just walk away from this deal at this point. Thanks all.

Originally Posted by turtledan77

Joel, why? What are the possible outcomes that could harm me if he has already sent money through Paypal? I'm wondering what the scam would be and how it would work?

Stolen CC as indicated above, though some scammers have figured out they can get away with theft using a valid CC. Sellers have zero protection using PP.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=490433

I think walking away is your best option..

if he really wants it, tell him to send you a postal money order that you in turn will cash at the postal office.. they should know right away if it's real or not . but ONLY cash it at the postal office.. if you go to a bank, they will not know it's fake for a week or so...
he can send it express post then once you have cashed in the funds, only then should you send the animal

not having a phone #, using a credit card from another country, not verified, short answer saying don't worry ???? nahhhhhhh i think he's a scam, to many red flags
and as Melinda said, PP id becoming a scam heaven..

Run away from that deal as fast as you can. Go to your PayPal account and click the refund button.
Great job investigating.

Originally Posted by turtledan77

- The address he provided me with for shipping is in Ohio.

If you want to, PM me the Ohio address and I'll dig on it.

Send the PPal back and tell him to send a postal money order.