The woman in her 60s, who does not want to be named, advertised an old Viscount pop-top caravan for $5500.

She was then contacted on her mobile telephone by a man calling himself Donald Harrison. 

He claimed to be working off-shore on a New Zealand oil and gas rig but wanted to buy the caravan and have it transported to his Darwin home.

Mr Harrison said he would forward $6950 through PayPal to the woman and asked her to forward $1350, which was his agent’s fee, through Western Union to the agent in China.

Without confirming the money had been forwarded to her via PayPal, the woman forwarded the $1350 to the Chinese address.

She was then asked to forward another $2550 for insurance.

“That’s when the alarm bells started ringing loud and clear. I feel a bit stupid and very gullible,” she said.

“All the emails I received were on very official looking documents with official looking email addresses. I was certainly taken in. I had dealt with PayPal in the past without any problems.”

The woman said she contacted PayPal, which explained they never used Western Union and had not received any money from Mr Harrison.

The money sent through Western Union had been forwarded to the Chinese address.

“I just wanted to warn people that these things can happen very easily,” the woman said.

“It was a sickening experience and I’ve still got the caravan. I had received a number of emails. I just thought I was doing the right thing. 

“I’m sure if I had paid the $2550 insurance it wouldn’t have stopped there. Fortunately I didn’t reveal any bank account numbers or anything like that — no personal details.”

The woman said that her future caravan dealings would be all done face-to-face and involve cash.

“It’s been a very nasty experience,” she said.

Most other caravan scams reported to police and consumer affairs in the past have involved people trying to buy vans.