A COUPLE who fell victim to an elaborate Internet and email scam have issued a warning to others selling items online.

Emma Gunn and her boyfriend Rob Pardy were targeted by fraudsters after they put their laptop up for sale on Internet auction site eBay.

Police and Trading Standards both warned people about falling victim to scams.

The couple, from Claymond Road, Barton, Oxford, received an email confirming they had sold the Samsung computer for £324 to a buyer from Hertfordshire, who said she wanted to donate it to her church pastor.

But Miss Gunn, 18, was then contacted by the buyer via an email which bore the logo of PayPal, a recognised Internet payment site.

She was asked to send the laptop to an address in Lagos, Nigeria, instead.

The buyer also informed Miss Gunn she would not pay for the laptop until she had received it, so in good faith Miss Gunn paid £90 in postage and packaging fees for the laptop to be sent to the Nigerian address.

Soon after she was contacted again by the buyer, who claimed it was now stuck in customs.

That email, which was also headed with the PayPal logo, demanded Miss Gunn paid a release fee of £130 on the buyer’s behalf through an outside website.

Miss Gunn said: “The ‘buyer’ told us they wouldn’t be putting the money into our account until they received the laptop.

“And because the emails seemed to be coming from PayPal, we believed them.

“But when we received the emails claiming the laptop was stuck in customs, and they needed us to pay for it to be released, alarm bells started to ring.”

The couple contacted PayPal and were told the company had no record of any transaction and the emails were coming from a faked website.

The couple then contacted the police, but were told there was nothing they could do.

Police spokesman David Paull said they were aware of the fraud but could take little action as the address the laptop was sent to was abroad.

PayPal confirmed the emails were fraudulent, and an eBay spokesman also said it was aware of the scam and had suspended the buyer.

She added money transfer websites were banned on the eBay website and said: “We would also strongly recommend that any user who receives an email purporting to come from eBay or PayPal reports it to spoof@ebay.com “We will then quickly let them know whether or not the email is genuine.”

Miss Gunn said the money from the sale had been intended for a holiday to Ibiza for her and her partner.

She added: “I’m never going to buy or sell anything over the Internet again. I just don’t trust anything anymore. It’s very upsetting. We would just warn people to be careful and think twice when using the Internet.”

Oxfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards team said this sort of scam was typical.

Team leader Davina Walkin said it was also very unlikely Miss Gunn or Mr Pardy would get any money back.

She said: “This is not one we have come across before but it is fairly typical of these sorts of scams.

“People should be aware that when they make transactions through outside websites, it is possible their information can be picked up.

“In this case there is probably not much chance of Emma seeing the laptop again.

“People selling computers or laptops should also make sure all of their personal information is wiped from the memory before it is sold on.”

The Trading Standards team can be called on 0845 0510845.