Examples of Suspected Fraud/Fake Emails

[PayPal_Adrian]

Hello everyone!

One of the greatest strengths consumers possess against fraud and phishing is education and collaboration.  To help support your safety online, I'm going to open this special thread up for you.  Here, you can post examples of what you believe to be attempts by individuals to defraud you or others of their hard earned valuables and money. 

Before we begin, a few housekeeping points:

• We will be using this as a "master thread," so if we find an example in other areas of the boards, we may merge the post into this one.

• For everyone's safety, please remove any last names or contact information (including email addresses) from your examples.  In many instances, the names provided by fraudsters are fake or may actually be the name of someone they already defrauded. 

• On that same note, please don't ever attempt to confront a fraudster or attempt to track them down.  Instead, turn the information you do have over to your local authorities. 

• Please also remove any links from your posts, as these could potentially go to spoofed or phishing websites.

Other than that, we only ask that you keep it productive and stay within the Forum Decorum and posting guidelines.  I'll be stopping in on a regular basis to clean house and comment on posts, so don't be surprised if you see my mug - or another moderator - stopping in to say hello! 

With that said, I'm going to start moving posts in, so you might see some older examples mixed in with the new posts.  I hope this thread becomes a great resource for everyone!

Stay safe,

Adrian

[Worldrider]

This scam is alive and well!  Received ths email yesterday:

Hello
 
Thanks for your reply, How i wish to come and view it in person but am out of town now if you notice with the number i text you with,am a marine technician and am always busy at sea, I work offshore in US, So i won't be able to come and do things personally, I'm satisfied with the condition and the price. I will be paying you through PayPal which is a fast, safe and reliable method of  payment and i will arrange a shipping courier that will pick it up at your door step as soon as you receive the payment, I have a Private courier  agent that will handle this for me. I'll add the 2.9% PayPal surcharge to  the total amount I'm paying you. If you could just send me a PayPal payment  invoice or create an account atwww.paypal.com  
if you don't already have  one and set it up within 5mins, Please Get back to me with the details below :

Name:
PayPal Email address:
Cell Phone No:
Total Amount:

Once i receive the details i will proceed with the payment via PayPal and  contact my shipping company after you get the payment. I will need your  home address for the Item to be Picked Up by the Shipping Courier.

[Kristak]

I just receiveD an email saying my account has been limited until they hear from me. Is this a scam?

[Fathead10]

Received email saying account has been frozen and to click on a link to update my details,is this a fake ?

[kernowlass]

@Fathead10

Probably as paypal never tell you to click a link in an email to enter sensitive financial and log in info.

Log in normally to your account and go to the resolution centre and if all ok you are fine.

Also read this  >>>

https://www.paypal.com/selfhelp/article/FAQ2061/2

[Fathead10]

Thanks,sent it to my trash where it belongs 🙂

[HoodyTJ]

Ha! Here's another one for you.

I was selling a Trek mountain bike in Australia. Price was very good. Was contacted about the "Item". It was never referred to as the bike. Wanted my PayPal email. I actually sent this person a money request. Two days later this email:

Dear   xxxx , 

   This email confirms that you have received an Instant payment of $2,700.00 AUD from xxxx   (xxxxx) via PayPal MERCHANDISE Payment Service.

Reversals : This method of payment cannot be reversed.

Status : PENDING - Moving Agent Awaiting Payment.

View the "NOTE" of this pending transaction below

Payment Details

Merchandise Amount:		AUD      $                      1,900.00
Transport Charges: Money Gram:  Total:		AUD      $                            750.00 AUD      $                              50.00 AUD      $                        2,700.00
Transaction ID:		1Q353850MY990893Z
Quantity:		1
MERCHANDISE Title:		Goods	,

Transport Company Name: "Move It" Company

"Move it Company" (Head Office) Money Gram Payment Address:

       Receivers Name: xxxx

       Address: xxxx

       State: xxxx

       City: xxxx

       Zip code: xxxx

       Country: United State.

Please note: Until payment is received before the moving agent nearest to your location in (Australia) will be assigned to xxxx  .

The above sum includes the transport charges & tax as we and the Transport Company quoted for the buyer (as per PayPal MERCHANDISE PAYMENT POLICY). You will receive a Message from us shortly informing you on how to send the Transport Fee and Tax to the transport company.

Please do not reply to this email because we are not monitoring this inbox. To get in touch with us, click on [contact us] at the bottom of any page

Copyright © 1999-2016 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved.

Consumer advisory: PayPal Pte Ltd, the Holder of the PayPal™ payment service stored value facility, does not require the approval of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Consumers (users) are advised to read the [TERMS AND CONDITIONS] carefully.

PayPal Email ID PP1478 - dfd19574cc8e3

Then after some correspondance this is how I ended it:

Hey xxxx. Sorry. Too much like a scam. I’m not paying a **bleep** thing till money is in my account. PS the PayPal email wasn’t sent by PayPal. If you had any idea what you can buy this bike for in the states, you wouldn’t have wanted to buy this bike. If I get the money, great I’ll send. If not well take your so called unrecoverable payment up with [THIS_EMAIL_ADDRESS]

Have a great day.

On 25 Jul 2016, at 7:31 AM, Rita <removed> <xxxx> wrote:

Thank God you got it, I made a pending payment of $2,700 into your account and I added the movers fee for safe delivery of the item. So as advised by PayPal to make both parties secured doing the transaction, You are required to pay my moving agent coming for the pick up in your home address. Also i cannot cancelled or reversed the transaction. So all you have to do now is to visit any nearest Moneygram outlet which can be located at any 7 eleven or  cash store to make the payment of $750 to the shipping agent that is coming for the pick up. You are to forward the Moneygram receipt to PayPal by clicking on contact us at any page on the notification of payment you received from PayPal for verification. After PayPal verifies the Moneygram receipt, your account will be credited with your funds of $2.700. After you have been credited, my moving agent will come for the pick up. I would like this to be done today so that my moving agent can come for the pick up as soon as possible after you have been credited. Thanks.

So take care everyone. It's easy to have your guard down and be sucked in. I have had very witty freinds been scammed on the phone and averything. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn't.

[Dennyy]

Hello,

I recieved an email claiming that they were paypal and the subject of the email was fake since all of the emails from paypal have @intl in them claiming that my account was limited due to my activity

Unfortuently i didn't know this before hand and i clicked the check my account button they provided, i have a picture of the email if anyone wants but i can't post it becuase the this website won't let me. Anyway I entered my date of birth city and half of my postal code untill i realized it was fake  (I didn't click next, i just typed in the information but didn't click next to the next procedure) especially when the page asked for mothers maiden name i istinatly knew it was fake. I'm worried about my account and computers security if my account is compromised if they put in a key logger or something 😕

Anyone else get this email?

[JPlang]

I get emails from intl.paypal.com every week it seems. 

The payment for your subscription to Vec..........failed because you do not currently have a back-up funding source for your instant transfer payment.Vec............ has been notified of this failed payment.

We will try to make payment again on Aug 4, 2016.

To correct this problem, you must update your funding source to be a debit or credit card.

Please change the funding source for this Subscription by clicking this link and following the steps below:

........

[RV88]

I received a fake Paypal email on 9/17/2016. 

[dreamangelcore]

DO NOT click any links in a email! This is scammer basic behaviour. Go to another web page (preferably private browsing) and check your account. No notifications? The email is fake, mark as spam and delete. Or take it a step further and report to your local authorities.