The Great Ebay Scam

I have nearly been the victim of a horrible eBay scam. I had put a mobile phone up for auction and it came to an end last night. And it went for more than I was expecting. Yippee I said. But then I looked at who had bought it. They had only 2 feedback. One positive from years ago and a recent negative one. Ok. They were also American which is odd as I had stated UK buyers only.

So anyway I invoice them and I get an email this morning from 'Paypal'. This basically said the buyer (though the name of buyer they gave was different from the eBay name?) had paid me using Paypal. (Though they had apparently paid £80 more than they should have. And the shipping address was for Nigeria!) Then the email said that as a security measure the money would not be transferred to my Paypal account until I had posted the item and emailed them the delivery code. This is where I got really concerned. I had never seen this before on Paypal.

So I go onto my Paypal account and there was no mention of me being/going to be paid anything. Then I looked at the email again. I had read that the email was sent from a paypal email address. But when I looked at it again I realised it was actually sent by some random email address and whoever had registered it had used the Paypal email as their name. Hence why it came up. The email looked rather convincing with all the Paypal graphics etc. But was definitely a phishing email. I sent a copy of the email to Paypal who also confirmed it was fake.

So before all this I had got a rather confusing email from eBay saying they had removed my item listing. I didn't really get why. But then when I read it later I made more sense of it. Apparently whoever bought my phone did so using someone elses eBay account. So eBay had removed the item so as I couldn't get negative feedback etc. They knew nothing about the Paypal scam nor did they advise me not to go ahead with the transaction. Had to use my own wit to work that one out!

So there we go. Feel a little disappointed. I've used eBay for a while now and have never had any problems. Was interesting to see just how convincing these people can be. If I hadn't already been familiar with Paypal I probably would have been scammed out of a mobile phone. The moral of the story? Never trust emails from these companies. Cause they may not be from these companies. Any emails from eBay are also sent to your eBay account inbox so you can trust what it says there. And never post an item unless you actually have control of the money. No matter what an email from 'Paypal' might say.

So what else is fun. Well HMS Bounty (aka The Black Pearl!!!) is currently docked in Derry! Look. How cool is that! I quite fancy going for a wee look some time.

Got my tickets to see Duke Special today. Still not sure how I got these. I had tried to get tickets a couple weeks ago but every night was sold out. Then out of boredom I tried again a few days ago and it worked. Yippee. I've never seen him in the Empire so its quite exciting.

I see its been over three weeks since my last blog. At which time I was in Beijing. Actually haven't had a chance since then to write anything. Actually was going to bother writing anything anymore anyway. But I have since been inspired to carry on thanks to Mr Alcorn. So there you go.

Flip where do I start?

China (post-Beijing)
So the last thing I wrote on this was that I might be visiting the "Summer Palace" in Beijing the next day. And you know I did. So did Steve. We jumped on this almost random bus which took like 2 hours. Thought we were actually never going to get there. ( Bus cost 3RMB( aprox. 45p ) return btw ) . Summer Palace was much bigger than I expected. Was actually quite awesome. Enjoyed walking around it more than the Forbidden City. Though when I say walk I really mean run. Thans to the bus taking so long we only had like an hour there. Plane to catch you see. Def worth it though.

Day after we got back from Beijing we went to visit Giant Budha in Hong Kong. He was very impressive. Hong Kong is like the biggest smallest place I've ever been to.

Trying to remember what else happened the next week. Hmm probably shouldnt write about that on here. Hmm that would take to long to write about. Hmm. Well we went to visit Changsha. Which is the capital of the province where Mao is from. Very exciting. I visited a house where Mao used to live! Actually seen his bed etc. They love him over there. Or at least they think they do. Odd country. Randomly met a pastor and this australian 'missionary' while we where there. Was very interesting and definetly the highlight of that trip. They told us a lot about what they do and what is going on there in the underground church in their area. They were very open. Some of their stories about what is happening there where just awesome and I know really encouraged me. Maybe I'll write some stuff I learned in more detail some time.

Also went to a city called Kunming. Second time there. Lost my bag on the way :-(. First and only time. Was a rather boring trip to be honest. Maybe we were just tired. Visited this zoo. You have to see my photos. They had wee monkeys all chained up etc. Was rather sad. Actually thought Steve might start to cry! Then that night we stumbled across this computer place. (When I say stumbled what I really mean is we were guided to it by a very nice hotel worker person. She well made up for the four star hotels lack of four starness. Also Steve, for whatever reason, left his wallet on the counter at the computer place. So like 30mins later she comes running back looking so worried. We had no idea why. But apparently someone had found Steve's wallet and the hotel card inside and rang them up. So she came, informed us of this and sorted it all out. Think she was the only peron in that city who spoke English. Well her and that student who seemed to think we should be able to speak chinese and translate some english for her. Odd indeed.) There were actually at least 200 computers in there and everyone was playing lan games. Was hard to find playable games thanks to the Chinese but it was fun. We went back 2 more times. Was also dirt cheap. 2RMB an hour I thing. About 30p.

Then the sunday before we returned home was the 10th Anniversairy of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. Went to this festival thing in Stanley was pretty cool. There was a huge fireworks and lights show planned for that night. We were gutted we had to go home...

So that was that. Oh flying back me and Steve had to sit seperate again. What is with that? We were there 2 1/2 hours early too.

So what have I learned from my 2nd China experience. Lots. Unfortunately I can't really write it up here! But I seen some really amazing stuff happening. And I'm sure there was amazing stuff happening that we have no idea about. It really excites me to think of what is happening to all the stuff we were able to leave all over China. Big difference between this trip and my trip 2 years ago is we were able to meet more relatives and hear first hand about the needs. And they are big! So glad I was able to go and do my bit. Hearing what is actually going on out there is amazing and even bigger than I had really imagined. Example - this person is able to give out books in schools. On average 2/3 people who get one change. That is big!

Maybe they need to restrict stuff here too...

England
So I got home monday morning and then tue morning was off to england for some family caravaning fun. I didn't want to go. Wanted to stay in bed. But it was good. Probably spent half the holiday in bed.

Today
Today I spent too much tme on the internet. I'm addicted. Not having any access for the last 2 weeks nearly killed me. Nearly have all China photos uploaded to flickr now. Check them out. Bed was good last night too. I like my bed.

Tomorrow
Tomorrow I join Portsterart CSSM. Never done CSSM before so not really sure what to expect. Bit nervous infact. Don't really know anyone doing it either. But maybe thats not an entirely bad thing. Probably haven't given this week as much thought as I should. When you go away somewhere far away you tend to not think of stuff going on her as such a big deal. Which is rubbish of course. I should put more importance on doing stuff her saying as its my own country. Anyway.

China, England, Today, CSSM, Relient K and Spot The Difference

I see its been over three weeks since my last blog. At which time I was in Beijing. Actually haven't had a chance since then to write anything. Actually wasn't going to bother writing anything anymore anyway. But I have since been inspired to carry on thanks to Mr Alcorn. So there you go.

Flip where do I start?


China (post-Beijing)
So the last thing I wrote on this was that I might be visiting the "Summer Palace" in Beijing the next day. And you know I did. So did Steve. We jumped on this almost random bus which took like 2 hours. Thought we were actually never going to get there. ( Bus cost 3RMB( aprox. 45p ) return btw ) . Summer Palace was much bigger than I expected. Was actually quite awesome. Enjoyed walking around it more than the Forbidden City. Though when I say walk I really mean run. Thanks to the bus taking so long we only had like an hour there. Plane to catch you see. Def worth it though.

Day after we got back from Beijing we went to visit Giant Budha in Hong Kong. He was very impressive. Hong Kong is like the biggest smallest place I've ever been to.

Trying to remember what else happened the next week. Hmm probably shouldnt write about that on here. Hmm that would take to long to write about. Hmm. Well we went to visit Changsha. Which is the capital of the province where Mao is from. Very exciting. I visited a house where Mao used to live! Actually seen his bed etc. They love him over there. Or at least they think they do. Odd country. 'Randomly' met a pastor and this australian 'missionary' while we where there. Was very interesting and definetly the highlight of that trip. They told us a lot about what they do and what is going on there in the underground church in their area. They were very open. Some of their stories about what is happening there where just awesome and really encouraged me. Maybe I'll write some stuff I learned in more detail some time.

Also went to a city called Kunming. Second time there. Lost my bag on the way :-(. First and only time. Was a rather boring trip to be honest. Maybe we were just tired. Visited this zoo. You have to see my photos. They had wee monkeys all chained up etc. Was rather sad. Actually thought Steve might start to cry! Then that night we stumbled across this computer place. (When I say stumbled what I really mean is we were guided to it by a very nice hotel worker person. She well made up for the four star hotels lack of four starness. Also Steve, for whatever reason, left his wallet on the counter at the computer place. So like 30mins later she comes running back looking so worried. We had no idea why. But apparently someone had found Steve's wallet and the hotel card inside and rang them up. So she came, informed us of all this and sorted it all out. Think she was the only peron in that city who spoke English. Well her and that student who seemed to think we should be able to speak chinese and translate some english for her. Odd indeed.) There were actually at least 200 computers in there and everyone was playing lan games. Was hard to find playable games thanks to the Chinese script, but it was fun. We went back 2 more times. Was also dirt cheap. 2RMB an hour I thing. About 30p.

The sunday before we returned home was the 10th Anniversairy of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. Went to this festival thing in Stanley which was pretty cool. There was a huge fireworks and lights show planned for that night. We were gutted we had to go home...

So that was that. Oh flying back me and Steve had to sit seperate again. What is with that? We were there 2 1/2 hours early too.

So what have I learned from my 2nd China experience. Lots. Unfortunately I can't really write it all up here! But I seen some really amazing stuff happening. And I'm sure there was amazing stuff happening that we have no idea about. It really excites me to think of what is happening to all the stuff we were able to leave all over China. Big difference between this trip and my trip 2 years ago is we were able to meet more christians and hear first hand about the needs. And they are big! So glad I was able to go and do my bit. Hearing what is actually going on out there is amazing and even bigger than I had really imagined. Example - this person is able to give out bibles in schools. On average 2/3 people who get one become a christian. That is big!

Maybe they need to restrict religion here too...

England
So I got home monday afternoon and then tue morning was off to england for some family caravaning fun. I didn't want to go. Wanted to stay in bed. But it was good. Probably spent half the holiday in bed.

Today
Today I spent too much tme on the internet. I'm addicted. Not having any access for the last 2 weeks nearly killed me. Nearly have all China photos uploaded to flickr now. Check them out. Bed was good last night too. I like my bed.

CSSM
Tomorrow I join Portsterart CSSM. Never done CSSM before so not really sure what to expect. Bit nervous actually. Don't really know anyone doing it either. But maybe thats not an entirely bad thing. Probably haven't given this week as much thought as I should. When you go away somewhere far away you tend to not think of stuff going on here as such a big deal. Which is rubbish of course. I should put more importance on doing stuff her saying as its my own country. Anyway.

So thats my life at the moment.

Relient K
Relient K's tour bus burned down. I would definetly read this blog if I were you. I personlly think its a sign they should give up touring the US and come visit Ireland! Aparently they're touring with Switchfoot. Wow.

Spot The Difference

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