Potential scam? Seller asking for passport and national insurance details before posting!

[hugsi-ri]

I have just bought and paid for a laptop for an auction I won.  The seller is asking for my passport and national insurance details before they post the item.  They are stating that the reason for this is because I am based in Northern Ireland they need to provide a customs declaration.  Any insights into what may be going on here?  Or any suggestions on how to proceed?

[rusticrye]

They don't need a Customs declaration for NI. NI is in the UK, as, I presume, are they. And even if they were shipping out of or into the UK and EU and therefore needed to complete a Customs form, they certainly don't need your passport details and National Insurance number....! That is information that a criminal gang would ask for, in order to clone your identity (ie. identity theft).  All that's required on a Customs form is the desciption and the value of the item - none of your details are required AT ALL.

This is an attempted SCAM (by a criminal gang that's hijacked some innocent seller's account, no doubt) and there is no laptop - of that I'm quite sure. (Either that or the seller is a few slates short of a roof, which I don't believe for a minute.) My advice is to tell them to cancel the transaction. If they don't, simply open an Item Not Received case as soon as you can (a couple of days after the delivery estimate on the order) to get your money back.

@hugsi-ri 

@pixiesen2012