Adam is learning an adult lesson at a young age. The 15-year-old decided to sell his laptop on eBay after he got a new iPad. He listed the computer for $500 and got a buyer right away.
"I got an email from PayPal saying we have your funds," Adam Perkins said.
The buyer asked Adam and his mother to send the laptop immediately.
"He said it's my son's birthday and we'd love for you to overnight it, so we broke our backs trying to send it," Susan McConnell said.
Fortunately, they missed the Friday deadline for overnight shipping, which helped them unravel a massive scam. When they took a second look at the notice allegedly sent from PayPal, it was full of grammatical and spelling errors. Now, they knew there was a problem.
"I was angry. I spent 48 hours sleuthing," Susan McConnel said.
Here is how the scam works. First, the suspect buys an item.
"She would use a 'buy it now' option. She would find out the sellers email address and send a phony mail pretending to be from PayPal," Laura Carter a U.S. Postal Inspector said.
The note would say the funds had been sent to the sellers account. In reality, no payment was made. The suspect ends up with the merchandise without paying a cent.
"See if there is anything from PayPal because they do send you an email to your account not just your email," Carter said.
Adam and his mom also learned a valuable lesson.
"I've learned you have to check someone's user rating, their history on eBay," Adam said.
The suspect involved in this case was caught and returned the merchandise.
