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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lizgrisham1990
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

PayPal emails will only be from PayPal, or they will - seriously - give you a call if it's important.

 

Reverse this entire transaction, take my advice - Paypal DONT send emails from other ISP's emails, lol.

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lizgrisham1990
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

***Added Note:

 

Simply log into your paypal account, see if "Funds are pending" in recent activity, which i'm 99% positive they won't be from your post details.   But, on the other hand, if funds are pending - It's safe.     Don't click links in emails, open a browser and go directly to paypal.com to log in also, some scammers make up fake paypal log-ins.

 

 

*Paypal does hold funds on eBay payments received for 21 days, but will clearly show up in your account recent activity.

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PayPal_Olivia
Moderator
Moderator

Hi KalmanTyler, and welcome to the forums!

 

You got excellent advice from lizgrisham1990!

 

Olivia

If this post or any other was helpful, please enrich the Community by giving kudos to its author, accepting it as a solution, and/or coming back to assist others. Members make this Community great!
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KalmanTyler
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you all so much! after posting this, i went looking through more threads, and saw one names "nigerian scam" i was like WOW THATS WHERE MY BUYER IS FROM TOO!! after reading it, this person tried the same thing with them. I sent them an e-mail saying i shipped it out. then 5 minutes later, I sent another one saying HAA! just kidding! your scam fell through.

I havent heard anything back from them since, so thank you all, and for everyone else, WATCH OUT FOR THIS SCAM! DONT SEND ANYTHING OUT IF THEY MAKE YOU SHIP IT BEFORE PAYING!!!

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lizgrisham1990
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

Your very welcome, I'm glad we helped.

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WeLieInsanely
Contributor
Contributor

The Scam:  I had listed a car for sale on Craigslist for $2,000.  "*name removed*" wanted to buy it via PayPal and said she had deposited $2,800 USD into my PayPal account from her PayPal account.  However, I had to send her "agent" a Western Union money order for $750 before she would transfer her PayPal funds to me... 

 

The Phishing:  I recieved four direct phishing emails from PayPal about the transaction:  "***Your Money Is Safe With PayPal***,"  "Payment Notification from Pay Pal Fund Verification Team,"  "Follow the verification procedures below for a secure trading" and "***You Are Safe And Protected By PayPal Insurance Policy Regarding Shipment***."  All four had her name in them and the web site *email removed*.

 

After reviewing our ten cases, and two from Craigslist, I have developed the following profile about this person:  o She/he is a Marine Biologist, a Marine Engineer, a Petroleum Engineer or a Geologist.  o Consistant use of the small letter "i" instead of the capital letter "I" in all emails.  o Always wanting to buy your items to give to her father or son as a surprise gift.  o She is always at "sea" or on the "Pacific Ocean."  Hence, therefore, she cannot pick up the item herself but has a "driver," "hauler" or "agent" located in Greenville, SC to handle things for her.  o She does not use correct English sentence structure.  I don't think think she is an American Citizen.  In fact, she may not even be located in the U.S.  o You have to send the Western Union "moneytransfer" to her agent first.  o Then you have to email her the MTCN number with your name and address on it to the *email removed* before she will PayPal to transfer the money to you.  o You have to mail your Western Union money order to *name and address removed*, Greenville, SC, 29615, United States.  No telephone number shown. (There is an *name removed* located at *address removed* with an unlisted phone number, but I don't know if they are one and the same.  I have to send this guy a letter you know...)

 

I hope this information is useful to all of you.  Who knows how many other PayPal members she has tried to scam.  I plan on filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the FBI regarding this matter.  I'm a 69 yr-old disabled vet, an ex-cop and have a Masters Degree in Public Administration.  I would greatly appreciate your help investigating this scam.  You can contact me at *email removed*.

 

edit by mod: Had to remove email addresses and personal contact information. Please review Forum Decorum for more information.  Thanks for the op for posting this experience to help others avoid this scam.  Always remember to check your PayPal account for funds as email can never be fully trusted to have accurate information.

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lizgrisham1990
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

Ouch! I hate to hear that! What a loss because some low life punk..

I hope you recover from your losses, I'll say a little prayer! And thank you for serving our Country! God Bless.

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ozcouponlady
Member
Member

Thank you so much for posting this!!!  We actually had this outfit contact us in the last couple hours.  Thank you so so much!  I am sorry this happen to you.

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WeLieInsanely
Contributor
Contributor

I'm very pleased that my post on the Help Forum prevented you from falling victim to this very nasty scam.  Do look at my three posts and give me your opinion on my input.  Then I would like you to file a compliant about PayPal's lack of action to deal with these jerks.  Thank you.    Jerry.

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WeLieInsanely
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you all for replying to my post as noted above.  I need to clarify that they "tried" to scam me.  They did not get one dime out of me.  As soon as I saw the words "Western Union," I knew it was a scam.  I used to teach college criminal justice classes which included information on scams, phishing and fraud.  I'm International know for my research on certain topics.  And PayPal frustrates me because you cannot contact me directly on this quite serious problem.  Therefore, you will have to correspond with me via this site. 

 

I WILL NOT violate PayPal rules regarding emails!  However, they have to deal with hundreds of problems from around the world which doesn't allow them much time to deal with our minor little problem.  They told me that, "We are investigating and working on stopping stopping the fraud" in a "boilerplate" email to me.  I would almost bet that there are many more of you that have been contacted by the she/he scam person. over this past year.  Have any of you received an email from PayPal that told you the results of their investigation of your case?  I think not.  They need to group all of us together so our cases can be presented to the proper auththorities which will get their attention amongst the multiple cases they have to deal with daily.

 

Pardon me PayPal, but the addess shown on all of my emails from the "agent"  who was supposed to get my Western Union money order for $750, and the direct phishing emails from you, should NOT be editied out because they are now legally considered "public knowledge" information!  Hello Erik Thompson at 335 Pelham Road, Greenville Rd., Greenville, SC, 29615, United States.  That is very likely an invaild name for that address but I'm going to send him a letter anyway, along with the other guy of the same name who lives right up the road from him.  If he is a good man, then he is going to get really upset that some "agent"  messed with his name. 

 

I'm not going to let those rotten people get away with trying to take our hard earned money away from us if I can help it.  I have been a Planning and Research Advisor to fourteen criminal justices in one county, a U.S. Department of Justice Consultant to several police agencies around the U.S., a Certified Police Instructor and a former Deputy Sheriff on the admistrative staff.  Perhaps in my old age, I can help PayPal deal with this issue for all of us. 

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