Examples of Suspected Fraud or Fake Emails

[PayPal_Andy]

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

[DPCreations]

You recognized the email correctly as suspicious.  NEVER click on a link in a suspicious email as it is a way for the perpetrator to collect information from you and/or your computer.

If you had lookedly carefully you would have seen that the email address of the sender was not a PayPal email address.

Forward to Spoof@PayPal.com

[tneazy75]

I received a transaction email yesterday, showing that I made a payment to New England Freezers Hockey for $525.00. I made no such payment, I did not click on anything within the email, but I did go to my Paypal account and was not able to find a trace of the payment. I most certainly did not make the payment. Is this a phishing type of email? When I hover over any links, I do not see any wacky web addresses, everything links to paypal addresses. If it is in fact related to phishing, what can I do to report it?

 Thanks in advance

[DPCreations]

Forward to spoof@PayPal.com

[tneazy75]

Excellent, done and password was already changed as a precaution.

Thank you

[SteveT852]

I have received two quite sophisticated phishing scams alerting me to Paypal purchases ( most recent a plane flight from Columbus to Denver) that I subsequently verify as not legit for persons probably fictitious. It contains links for cancelling (strange) or confirming the details that i caution as links to a probe for my personal information.

Any thoughts as to the root cause of these and am I right to assume that Paypal is as much a victim to this kind of thing as are I?  

[kernowlass]

@SteveT852

Well paypal have absolutely nothing to do with the spoofs as they just use paypals name to try and con you.

>>>

If its a spoof, DO NOT USE ANY LINK/ATTACHMENT.

Firstly if the email addressed you as ''Dear Member'' / ''Customer'' / ''Client'' OR your ''email address'' then that confirms its a spoof as paypal would address you by your full name eg Dear John Smith.

Secondly if there was a link OR attachment in that email to ''cancel'' the transaction or ''confirm'' any details then again it would be a spoof.

If there was a problem with your account paypal would not ask you to click on an unsafe link in an email or by downloading an attachment, they would direct you to log in normally and go to the resolution or the message centre for more information.

More info here >>
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/how-to-spot-fake-emails-faq2340/2

[SteveT852]

Thank you for response and link. Glad I am cautious.

[Berthais]

Hey, I just received this email. I am assuming it is a form of spam/phishing. Has anyone received this before?

[kernowlass]

@Berthais

Its a spoof, DO NOT USE THE LINK.

Firstly if the email addressed you as ''Dear Member'' / ''Customer'' / ''Client'' OR your ''email address'' then that confirms its a spoof as paypal would address you by your full name eg Dear John Smith.

Secondly if there was a link OR attachment in that email to ''cancel'' the transaction or ''confirm'' any details then again it would be a spoof.

If there was a problem with your account paypal would not ask you to click on an unsafe link in an email or by downloading an attachment, they would direct you to log in normally and go to the resolution or the message centre for more information.

More info here >>
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/how-to-spot-fake-emails-faq2340/2

[Amir_Issa]

Early this morning i recieved an email from <removed>. It says that I have bought a laptop for 981.91 USD but when I log in and check my paypal, it doesn't show me any purchases like that.

I did click the Dispute transaction in fear but didn't log in from that direct link.