Email to ship before payment received?

[jdgrce]

I received an email that says I need a tracking/reference number before I get credited for payment.  This does not right, anyone else seen this?

[mb2]

I got the same email today. I'm hesistant to ship the order because I want to make sure I receive payment for it. I'm not sure how PayPal could scam us, but it still worries me.

[MRILEY]

Just got the same email yesterday, and regrettably shipped the item today without thinking over how odd the whole thing was. Have either of you received payments for your items? I sent a tracking number to that email address it told me to and still no payment received.

[wandershde]

I got the same email. Haven't shipped yet. Don't know if should or not. Would paypal hold the money.

[MRILEY]

My vote is don't ship the item until you work out the money officially credited, or a response from a valid PayPal employee (service@ paypal .com, not service@ paypal <--- that is a scammer). I just lost posession of a 600 dollar camera. Don't risk it.

[katysims]

For those of you w/questions on getting an email from your buyer with what appears to be a forwarded email from paypal stating that the payment has been received but wont be released until a shipping label and tracking number is received, here is the response i got from paypal:

Dear ---, I ran a search with this receipt ID (redacted) and this transaction ID (redacted), I saw no payment associated with those information. It means that notification you received was not real. If you really received a payment, the receipt numbers and transaction ID must be registered in our system. None of those were registered. It means no payments were made with those IDs. It's the reason why you didn't get any notification from us that you were paid. If you were really paid, you should be notified. Please never ship your item instead forward the email to our Fraud team so we can detect those people. We will catch them so no other sellers will be victimized.

[Kschnepf]

I to had recently "sold" an item and got an email stating that the trasaction had been made but in order for the money to post to my account I need to send confirmation on shipping and tracking number.  I was sending the package to a guys son in Nigeria. I thought it was odd that it wasnt showing in my PayPal account as pending so I called my brother who deals with paypal all the time. I sent him the emails I got from paypal ( i thought) he immediatly said do not ship the item. It was a scam.  The guys stated he paid me $520 to include shipping, but still nothing.  I went into paypal to request payment from the guy and it came back that there was no account for that person.  Now this guy keeps asking me to send the package today and is very insistant that the money will be there once i send the tracking info into the email address provided in the letter.  I tried to click on the email to see where it took me if i was to send a tracking number and it didnt open anything.  The guy I have been dealing with is *removed* I guess he is from TX and I had only posted something online on craigslist for columbia, sc; very confused on how he came across my ad?

[merra1]

Yeah its a scam....Unfortunately I was wasn't so lucky I too shipped to nigeria and ended up taking a lost....I also went through craig lists and now Im out of my product with no way of receiving my money or my product....So listen to your brother and dont do it...

[katysims]

Has anyone gotten any response on this situation?  My email came directly from my buyer- appears to be a forwarded email from paypal.  I did pay for and print a shipping label but there is no way i am clicking on the buyer's link to provide the shipping label and no way i am shipping the item until paypal confirms that a payment is in my account, pending or any other status. Would really like to know if anyone has any info on this. Thanks!

[Granger]

Some criminal in Nigeria is getting rich.  For everyone of you that posts here about this, ten others have shipped the item.  It all started when everyone became complacent about shipping items with funds being illegally held as pending.  Most criminals figure if Americans are stupid enough to go along with that scam, most of them will probably go along with shipping an item without any payment at all.