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

[Goodandyou]

Several comments below relate to my recent experience. I was almost excited at the thought that my items might be sold. Not!!

I have been contacted by the same goofball trying the Western Union scam. His (her) English grammar and writing skills are really bad. He or she writes like someone from Russia, or somewhere in that part of the world. Either that - or he or she is really uneducated and stupid ... to say the least. He or she is asking to send $ via Western Union before my $ for the items that I am selling will be funded to my Pay Pal account.

This scammer need to serve many years in prison for what he or she is doing. The gas chamber is another option.

[You should see what I replied to this low-life of a human in an email after I realized this was a scam!! It wasn't pretty].

[MillTime98]

I'm selling a motorcycle on Craigslist and got an e-mail from somebody pretending to be interested who wanted me to send money to **Name removed** as a "pick-up agent."  They even went so far to send a spoofed e-mail appearing to be from PayPal claiming that I had received the funds in my account including $900 to pay the transportation fees.  Pretty slick, but no cigar. 

Look out for **Name removed** folks... Sellers beware!

[PayPal_Lilly]

Hello Milltime98,

I have edited your post to remove the name information listed. 

Here's why:

Many times, the names, phone numbers, and addresses provided by a fraudster are real names, phone numbers or addresses--most often the information of another victim, not the fraudster. 

Thanks,

Lilly

[rolandmorehouse]

Please people do not think that this person is the one commiting the fraud because they are usually the ones that are the victim trust me I now. I have been in the position that this person is in or was in at this time. So please do not go jumping to conclusions until you have all the fact and for crying out loud don't bye motor cycles or cars through Paypal thats just stupid. Go out and ask to see the vehicle first before you pay anything.

[joby-22]

the same thing just happen to me right now june 2011 with the agent pick up people becareful dont trust no one online only accept cash!!!!

[rolandmorehouse]

I agree if there is only one way to pay for items don't do it people please.

[VTX1800C13]

This just happened to me as well today. Here is a copy of the email.

I have just made the payments now and i expect PayPal to have  emailed by now, i sent $1,800.00 usd in all, To(XXXXXX) i added $500 meant for pick up and delivery and $100 for the western union fee also, they said they have emailed you to this effect, you will need to send the $500 to my pick up agent via western union money transfer,so that PayPal can credit $1,8000usd 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 that$65-85, Here is the pick up agent info needed to get the money sent through western union money transfer:

This guy even went as far as calling me and I actually talked to someone. They called me from area code 760 which I believe is California and he said Detroit. He told me he was buying the item for his son as a surprise. This guy does not know how to add either, it would of been $1900 not $1800. Red flags all over the place!!!!

Thanks for reading and helping other honest folks out from the Great State of TEXAS!!  JF

[lina_03_09_89]

I recieved an email telling me that I need to send a tracking number before I recieve the payment.  after the tracking number has been sent wait 24-48 hrs for your payment.  has anyone recieved an email like this before?

[Temp20230816A]

You can probably thank people like Dukelucifer1987 - sold me an item, probably turned around and sold it for a better price to someone else - and then just quit talking to me.

Paypal did refund my money, but not my time or frustration, and certainly I am not compensated for the use of the items I obviouly wanted more than I wanted the money.

Some people either want a really good solid stars rating or proof that SOMETHING has actually been shipped.

It does take a while to get the reimbursement.

If you have a good stars rating, I would tell the person to either pay the item OR consider a mutual cancellation.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi Verycutewawa, and welcome to the forums!

Thank you very much for your information about the scam emails you have received. Your motive in posting it is completely understood. Your hope is that putting the information out there will allow others searching on the same names to find it, and prevent them from falling for the scam. There are a couple of reasons I had to delete the identifying information.

One reason is that the scammers contacting you may be using others' identities and/or contact information to commit their fraud. If this occurs, posting that information can serve to further victimize someone who has already been victimized by the fraudster. Another reason is that any posting of another person's contact information is a violation of the PayPal Community Help Forum posting guidelines.

I'm glad that you've followed lizgrisham1990's advice and gone to ic3.gov!

Olivia