Overpayment / Shipping Refund Scam

This is a classic overpayment scam adapted specifically to shipping and courier arrangements. A buyer purchasing an item, often through an online marketplace or classifieds site, sends a payment that exceeds the agreed price, then explains the excess was accidental, or was intentionally included to cover a courier's collection fee, and asks the seller to refund the difference before the item is shipped.

The scam relies entirely on payment timing. The original payment — whether a check, a card payment, a bank transfer, or a marketplace payment platform — initially appears to clear or show as available in the seller's account, but has not yet been fully and irreversibly settled. Once the seller sends a genuine refund of the 'overpaid' amount, often via a hard-to-reverse method like a money transfer service, the original payment is reversed, cancelled, or revealed as fraudulent, leaving the seller having sent real funds while receiving nothing.

This scam specifically targets the shipping stage of a transaction because the courier fee justification gives a plausible, ordinary-sounding reason for the extra funds and the request to send money elsewhere, which a simple 'I overpaid, please refund me' request might not as easily provide.

The scam begins with a buyer agreeing to purchase an item and sending payment through a method that appears to clear quickly but can later be reversed, such as a personal check, a card payment later disputed as unauthorised, or a bank transfer from a compromised account. The payment sent is deliberately more than the agreed price.

The buyer then contacts the seller, explaining the overpayment was a mistake, or that the extra amount was meant to cover the cost of a courier or freight forwarder who will separately collect the item, and asks the seller to send the difference back — often to a different account than the one the payment came from, or via a money transfer service that is difficult to reverse or trace.

Believing the original payment is genuine and already in their account, the seller sends the requested refund. Days or weeks later, the original payment is reversed by the bank, marketplace, or payment processor as fraudulent, unauthorised, or as a bounced check, and the seller discovers the funds they thought they had were never really theirs to keep, while the money they sent back to the buyer is gone for good.

The scam exploits the gap between a payment appearing to clear and it actually, irreversibly settling, a distinction most people do not fully understand, particularly with checks and some card payments that can take days or weeks to be reversed. Sellers see funds appear in their account balance and reasonably assume the transaction is complete and safe.

The courier fee justification for the extra funds gives the request a mundane, logistical framing rather than an overtly suspicious one, making sellers less likely to question why a buyer would want money sent back through an unusual channel rather than simply correcting the original payment amount.

A seller on an online marketplace agrees a sale and shipping arrangement with a buyer, who then sends a payment that is noticeably more than the agreed price, claiming it was an accidental overpayment or that it includes extra funds for a courier to collect the item. The buyer, appearing apologetic, asks the seller to refund the difference directly to a different bank account or send it via a money transfer service before shipping the item, explaining that the courier they've arranged needs to be paid separately in cash-like funds. The seller, seeing what looks like a cleared payment in their account, sends the refund promptly. Days later, the original payment is reversed as fraudulent — often because it was made with a stolen card, a fake check, or a chargeback-prone payment method — leaving the seller having sent real money to the scammer while the original 'payment' evaporates.

Sorry, I accidentally sent you too much — could you refund the extra [amount] to this account?

I've included extra funds to cover my courier's collection fee. Please send that portion directly to them here.

My payment should have cleared now, please send the difference back so I can arrange collection.

Please refund the overpayment via [money transfer service] as soon as possible so we can proceed with shipping.

Never refund an overpayment until the original payment has fully and irreversibly cleared, which for checks can take one to two weeks, and for some card and bank transfer methods may take even longer to be confirmed as final. Contact your bank directly to confirm a payment has genuinely and permanently cleared before sending any money back.

If a buyer claims an overpayment was for courier fees, ask them to arrange and pay the courier directly themselves rather than sending you the money to forward on their behalf. Any request to refund money via an untraceable transfer method to a different account than the one payment came from should be treated as a serious warning sign.