Examples of Suspected Fraud or Fake Emails

PayPal_Andy
Moderator
Moderator

Hey Everybody!

 

In an effort to make things easier to find and research, I'm going to consolidate as many threads as possible where we have examples of people trying to defraud hard working sellers (Craigslist emails, 'PayPal' emails asking you to send money outside of PayPal, etc).  This will also be used as a master thread for future posts regarding this same situation.

 

When you post your examples here, please remember to not include last names or contact information of whoever is sending these emails.  There's no way to confirm if that person has been defrauded as well and the name is being used fraudulently.

 

Thanks for your cooperation and remember, keep the conversation productive, on task, and above all, keep it clean. I know these things can be difficult and frustrating, but bleep filled posts or posts that look like government redacted files will never benefit anyone. 😄

 

Andy

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bethmeganxx
New Community Member

I was selling my Apple Watch on Ebay and had a lady ask how much the final asking price was. I told her and then she wanted to pay me £70 more on top of that! I didn't really question it at the time, I just thought if she wants to pay more then she can! She sent me emails claiming to be from PayPal saying that the money was on hold until she had recieved the watch. She even told me the story of how it was for someone in Nigeria who was her friend in the army. I thought she would have wanted it posted to the UK so she could forward it on. Instead the address was Nigerian. I then realised that the money had not gone into my account or even pending and poked at her to get answers. She kept pushing me to 'just send the watch and you'll have the money once its recieved'. I had to go to the Post Office that day anyways and asked about posting to Nigeria. The lady at the counter wasn't too happy about it and tried to warn me about posting there. I came back and done some research to find out it was indeed a scam and told the lady she can fob off.

 

The funny thing is I was selling another Apple product at the time which someone else queried about. Then they came up with the same story as the previous lady! Smiley Very Happy I have now become more alert when I sell things and always make sure the money is in my account before I send the item. 

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Seymour-
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

I have seen literally hundreds of variations on the same scams in the past 35 years. I put one of my emails on a bunch of spam lists...  & my email got around.  I receive at least 40 spam messages every day. many of them are duplicates of the same scam (from different senders). After more experience receiving them, you will find that you're able to spot the tell-tale signs of a scam from about a mile away.

 

N.B. I have been caught (scammed) twice (in 2 separate, unrelated scams) in the past 35 years. so, please be careful out there.

'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.'
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mareca
New Community Member

I read several of the attempted fraud issues.  I wanted to share one that's worth a chuckle.

I had a "Shiekh" offer me $5,300,000 for my plane that was listed for $150,000!!!!!

Pretty easy to figure that one out.  I didn't persue further b/c I've had, at least, 6-8 attempts at getting me to sell my plane and car using a PayPal account.  

I can't believe people fall for these scams.

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Seymour-
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

Actually, the Skiekh's offer sounds more legit to me than most of the others I've seen. Scammers usually try to make the transaction seem as normal as possible.  This one is way, waaay out there (in the overpayment scheme of things). Just be 100% certain the 5.3 mill is actually in your account. lol. maybe this idiot figures you've got a plane and a car to sell on eBay, you MUST be rich! (and jacked up the scam's limits accordingly)

'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.'
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Jeni1532
Member
Member
I suspect something like this happening to me. I'm selling a dslr camera on Craigslist and got a text from someone wanting to buy it, but they live in Ny, and want me to ship it to Nigeria. They told me that they would deposit an extra $100 for shipping. I got a confirmation email saying that the person had deposited $250 in my account, but that I needed to put the tracking number first in order for it to show up in my account! Then I texted them saying I couldn't get to the post office, and they didn't respond anymore, whereas earlier that I had texted them they responded immediately.
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Seymour-
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

Definitely a scam. I had to read no further than "live in NY, wanted it shipped to Nigeria." The rest of the message only confirmed it's a scam.

'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.'
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DMajor
Member
Member

Hello! New to the community, but have been using PayPal since the first year they were available as a payment method on eBay. Today, I received an email from clearly-not-PP with a Maylasian suffix (.MY) ... ... ... 

 

 

Receipt for your debit card purchase
Transaction ID: 8W9696903T625984L

Hello (MY EMAIL ADDRESS),

Thanks for using your PayPal Debit MasterCard. Here's a receipt for your records.

Please keep in mind that the amount below is what the merchant temporarily holds until the transaction is complete - it may not be the final purchase price. You'll be able to see the final amount in your account history once the transaction is
complete.

If you did not authorize this purchase:

(authentic looking but almost certainly hinky link)

If you don't want to receive an email every time you use your debit card, just change your notification preferences.

Amount: $9.17 USD
Merchant: PL* ITUNES.COM/BILL 866-712-7753 CA

Please note that the name of merchant may be different once the transaction is complete.

 

 

... ... ... What's curious here is there is no transaction showing in my account activity (nor at my bank), and there's no actual request for info etc. The URL is even close to believable. Is this leading people to a site asking for money or info? Has anyone else seen this? I have changed my password and security questions, it was a good time to do this, but Googling Maylasia Scam didn't bring up quite this model of email.

 

By the way, I don't have an iTunes account and I don't have a MasterCard debit on my PayPal account.

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Seymour-
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

You said it yourself. You don't have either iTunes or a Debit MC. They are simply phishing, hoping that you do and that you will respond or react. Ignore them.

'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.'
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NAnscombe
New Community Member

I don't usually take much notice of scam emails, as they stand out a mile. This one that I've just received, however, includes details which others haven't, so I thought people on here might be best warned by it. I haven't, obviously, made the transaction they speak of, so I know it's a downright fraudulent email. Anyway, here's the text:

 

Dear [my email address]

 

You have successfully made a payment of GBP 20.37 to (merchant name removed).

This transaction was made using your PayPal account ([my email address]) on 17/01/16 and the charge will appear on your account statement as a debit by: SKR*Skrill.com.

 

You have the legal right to cancel your order for items purchased through PayPal for 5 business days after the day you receive them.

 

Merchant Reference: Order ID 12936194420

 

If you need help with this transaction please contact (merchant name removed)


Thank you ,

PayPal Customer Department

 

I don't know who (merchant name removed) is, I've had no dealings with them in the past and I'm not afraid to name them on here, in case they're part of the problem. The 'legal right to cancel your order' text is a hinkey link and I haven't gone there.

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chayowl
New Community Member

I received the exact same email last night, " You have succesfully made a payment to (merchant name removed). I was about to blame the boys as it looked like it was payment for game codes, I did wonder though as no payments had be taken and it looked fake. Glad I came on here to see the same issue was being reported by others. Delete and ignore is the best advice I would take it then,

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