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

[gillen936]

this guy wont stop!!!!!!                        

Hi

   Well.. I was just told by paypal the reason why PayPal holds money not me,...they said its all for our security....OK? PayPal hold the money so that they can confirm that you are a legitimate seller of your item...and i can understands that the AD is for local purchase and thats why they told you that...OK? but i will like you to understand that the money is out of my account and i have already sent you an additional payment for the Pick Up fee so i will be happy if you can proceed with the transaction because this is secure and Legitimate.. so Kindly proceed and i can assure you that you are secure and safe when dealing with PayPal Ok? Kindly Understand my view and send the money so that they can Pick It up on time... and i shall appreciate all your great gestures by doing this....I really count on this transaction

Regards                     really?????

[gillen936]

here is a couple emails from this scam. they think people are that stupid?                                                                                                                                                                                                 Hello

  thanks for reply,i am at the sea presently.I am buying this for one of my client as a surprise gift.The Post Is Okay by me.I can  only pay through paypal at the moment as i dont have access to my bank account online(i don't have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my paypal account, and this is why i insisted on using paypal to pay,all i will need is your paypal email address to make the payments, and if you dont have a paypal account yet, you can set one up at paypal  it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your paypal email so l can pay.  I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after pay ..................................................................................                          I was just about to pay when i had this problem with the pick up, my pick up agent says i will need to pay for the pick up before they can schedule a pick up time, they charged me $900 for pick up and delivery and also with the insurance fee, and payments for pick up made through them is made to their corporate international headquarters which is in the WA and the payments is made through western union money transfer, i will add the $1,000 to the money i will send through paypal as soon as i have made the payments, i will email you and let you know and please i will need you to help me send the money to my pick up agent Hq in OLYMPIA through western union money transfer, this can be done from any post office ,there is always western union money transfer section in most post offices or at the bank. I would have done it myself but we cant bring some of our personal effects along, i am a little incapacitated.....I will appreciate your help here.ments has been sorted, and also do get back to me with your best offer. l will be waiting for your reply asap......   

Hello
   I will like to let you know that i have made the payment for your
item,hope by now you would have gotten the payment confirmation from
PayPal on the money i sent to your account,if not you can check your
spam or junk mail for the confirmation,I sent $5,000 as said,i added
$1,000 meant for pick up and delivery and the western union fee also
and the insurance,they said they have emailed you to this effect, you
will need to send the $900 to my pick up agent Headquarters via
western union money transfer,so that paypal can credit the $5,000 into
your account as soon as you have emailed the western union details to
them, i added extra $100 to cover the western union charges which
shouldn't be more than $100 Here is the pick up agent info needed to
get the money sent through western union money transfer:

United States
 
I will need the details of the transfer once you have sent fund . . .
1.The MTCN number that is the 10  digits number on the Western Union receipt
2.Sender's name and address used in sending the money
3.Actual amount sent.

[KBWFasano]

This is the same person who tried to scam me using a different name. The verbage he used with you is what he sent to me almost word for word. Told him the deal was over, I was no longer doing business with him. This just took place 3/11/11.

[delaney1970]

I have the same problem he keeps sending me emails, i got a paypal confirmation email from him, i know when i get a paypal email being that when it comes in my email account it tells me that it is a secure email from paypal and shows a little windows shield logo. I believe he is using a program to make it seem like the email is coming from service at paypal.com but when you put your mouse over the paypal email it shows a hidden email.

[PayPal_Adrian]

Hello everyone,

I agree - this appears to be a form of advanced fee fraud.  Good job on catching it!  To learn more about advanced fee fraud (and all it's not so glorious forms), check out this article.  To learn more about buying and selling safely online, check out our Security Center. 

That being said,  I've conducted multiple edits on this thread and the posts in it.

Please keep in mind that the addresses and names provided by scammers may be the names and addresses of other victims.  Repeating those names and addresses may subject previous victims to harassment at the hands of other victims, or needlessly damage an individual's reputation.

And that's why I've removed them.  For every name a scammer uses, there is likely someone out there who has the same name, and certainly isn't a scammer.  Posting the fake names these scammers use can put you at some serious risk as well, and we wouldn't want to hear about one of our forum members being sued by a real person who wasn't a scammer, now would we? 

Let's keep it clean everyone,

Adrian

[p0p0p]

This scam is still going on. I received an almost exact copy of the email when it came time for me to "help me out by paying my agent in Washington". I was suspicious of several of the issues involved with this deal, but when I got that one, it was an " I am in Nigeria and need help getting 40 billion dollars out of the country" moment. lol

[cabbage1]

I had a similar experience with the same person and will not longer correspond with him.   Same deal - he pays, but holds the money til you pay the agent to pick up ----   NO WAY.

[peoplearemean]

Almost the exact same thing happened to me except  Roland <removed> was the "pick up agent" and the person buying my trailer was a female, Megan <removed> and it was a surprise for her dad.  After asking me to wire money threw Western Union I knew it was a scam so I went to the extent of making up a story about my husband was out of state, I was on bed-rest with twins and that it meant so much to me to be a part of this surprise since my Dad had died last year (which he did die but it was 5 years ago).  The only thing this person could say was that I could send money threw Western Union over the internet.  I sure hope this POS is caught very soon before someone believes this person.  I am hopping I did my part by reporting it to the FTC and FBI.  Oh and I almost forgot the funniest part, they couldn't spell to save their life and you would think they would use spell check, especially the e-mails from "PayPal"

[myharley]

The lady that emailed me about buying our car off craigslist was "a marine chef at sea" and wanted to buy our car as a surprise b-day gift for her son.  Wanted us to send $1250 of our own money via western union.  She actually gave me a name and address to send it to in Canada - would it be possible to investigate this name and address?  Then came the fake paypal email, even had two different dollar amounts noted  in the email.  What a scammer.

[oscodapete]

Marines sail in Navy ships. The Navy has its own cooks, not chefs.