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

[utahmeg]

I am a little confused by this. I have been emailing with this same person all night because she was trying to buy an item from me on ksl.com. She said that she sent payment and paypal says that the payment is pending. What is the scam here? Is it that she wants to get me to ship the item before payment clears and it won't clear?? I was a little nervous about it, so I googled her and found this.

[surplusdealdude]

I'd have to see some of the emails to be able to tell you what the scam is.

You can copy and paste them here, just remove any personal information, like email addresses.

[utahmeg]

This is the initial email I received:

Hi thanks for mailing back,i really appreciate it, i am a petroleum engineer am offshore at the moment, i am buying it as a gift for my son who just graduated from the University of Auckland, i want to make it a surprise for him,he wont know anything about it until they get delivered to him, i can only pay through PayPal as i don't have access to my bank account online as i don't have internet banking,but i have my bank acct attached to my paypal account and this is why i insisted on paying you through PayPal, Thanks Amanda

Then, we sent several emails between (saying that I had invoiced her and that she sent payment). Then, I got this one:

Hi, i will like to inform you that the money was sent to you  and l want you to help me ship it through united state postal service (Registered Mail)here the is shipping address.
   
Name:<name removed>

Address: (removed),
CityOgun State.
State;Oyo State
Country:Nigeria.
Zip Code:121101.
Phone: (removed)

I will like you to get the item mail out asap and get back to me with the tracking number, is nice doing business with you

Note:Please Kindly use USPS for the postage. Please check this email
for payment confirmation from PayPal

The status in Paypal said the payment was pending and I didn't plan on sending the item until the payment cleared. But, the emails became less and less coherent and I got worried (which is when I checked this out and found this thread). I decided to cancel the transaction through Paypal and then received this email from "Amanda" (after I said that I found out this was a scam):

Sorry what did you mean by this after have paid you you're now telling me another thing that this is a scam please what is the meaning of SCAM i see my husband told that you want to scam if that is ok you will see my hand

So, I don't understand how this scam works. Who ships something out without the payment clearing? I hope I didn't assume too much and cancel something that was legitimate. It just didn't feel right to me...

[surplusdealdude]

Ahhh - it's called the Nigerian scam.

You would get a fake Paypal email, telling you that the money has been removed from the buyer's account, but won't appear in your account until you input a tracking number.

Of ourse, there never was any money to begin with, so after you ship the item, you find out you've been had.

Meanwhile, the parcel is out of the country and non-retrievable.

[surplusdealdude]

I always love this part;

i can only pay through PayPal as i don't have access to my bank account online as i don't have internet banking,

If he didn't have internet banking, he couldn't operate a Paypal account either.

[surplusdealdude]

By the way, always trust your gut - apparently you have good instincts on this, so follow them.

And, as you can tell if you read more posts in the fraud section, a lot of people DO ship out without seeing the payment in their account.

[rolandmorehouse]

Hey i just wanted to say yes you can have a paypal account with nothing attached to it you are just limited to what you can do with it. If you have credit card prepaid or otherwise then that lifts the amount you can withdraw out of paypal each day to unlimited. Because I have a paypal account without a bank acount attached but I do have a prepaid credit that is attached to it and I do business all the time with my paypal account. You don't need online banking to be able to operate a paypal account and do business with it.

[ladybugqt]

THANK YOU SO MUCH . I AMOST FELL FOR THIS ONE & GOOGLED HER EMAIL ADDRESS B/C IT JUST DIDN'T 'FEEL RIGHT'. THAT'S WHERE I FOUND THIS. SO GLAD I DIDNT SEND THE COMPUTER! gOT TO THE POINT WHERE SHE SENT ME AN EMAIL SAYING PAYPAL WOULDN'T RELEASE FUNDS INTO MY ACCOUNT UNTIL I PROVIDED A TRACKING #... i EMAILED HER BACK WHEN I RECIEVED THIS AND TOLD HER IT WOULD NOT BE SHIPPED TILL THE $ WAS IN MY HAND, THEN I FOUND THIS. THANK U, THANK U, THANK U!

[Piccolo]

This was the wording I received.  However when I went to FedEx/UPS to ship overnight the $30 he said he paid was not enough (it was $62) so I did it 2nd day, which when I discovered it was a scam actually helped me retrieve the package thru UPS.  I received the package back 5-7 days later (answer to prayer).

[rolandmorehouse]

I would have waited for the payment to clear through paypal and then check your account to make sure it was there and then thransfer it to a bank account or credit card of some kind that way you know you got your money and that she was real. I don't know if you gave up money because you found something online that said it was fake but I think you gave up a legit purchase. But I don't know for sure.