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

[2012hicks3665]

Thank you for the info. It was very helpful. Can I get verified eventhough I don't have a bank account. All I have is a debit card.

[ecliprc02]

I have someone who bought a phone from me. I was asking 100.00. He said he would pay 200.00 if I sent the phone to his son in Nigeria. He says he is military in North Carolina. My question is, is this a scam? why would he have me ship to his son when he could ship to his son? Never done this before so I need some advice.

[PayPal_Andy]

Hi ecliprc02-

Welcome to the community!

I'd say there's about a 99% chance that's a scam.  If you look at some of the other posts to this thread, I think you'll see some similiarities.  Beyond which, who pays double the asking price for anything?  Sometimes it definitely is too good to be true.

Andy

[tita14us]

Im selling my watch on craigslist and a guy named Kelvin ********** wrote me saying that he sent me the funds through paypal but in order for the funds to go through I have to send the item first. I actually received an email that looked from paypal stating this as well but when I saw that he wanted me to ship it to China I knew something was not right. I went to my paypal account and didn't see any pending payments or anything so that's when I knew it was a scam... Can't believe I almost fell for it! They are soooo tricky!!!!!

[Kelvin2897]

Hi I'm buke any questions let me know .

[Not_My_Name]

Hello Paypal community,

This is my first post here and yet sadly I come here with a possible phishing scam?  I received this in my inbox today...

Original text...

DRS : Direction Régional de PayPal

Cher (e) Client (e) PayPal :

En procédant sur le serveur à un contrôle concernant les paiements effectuées, nous avons relevé l'erreur suivante :
Ce mois-ci en date du 23/07/2012 vos frais mensuels d'abonnement ont été prélever en double ( 32.75 * 2) un montant de 67.50 Euro.
A cet effet, vous êtes priés de vous rendre sur l'espace abonnée et remblaie le formulaire de demande de remise
en cliquant sur le lien ci-dessous pour bénéficier d'une remise immédiate.

Appelez simplement ou Accéder votre formulaire en ligne en cliquant ici

Merci pour votre compréhension.
Aucune réclamation ne sera acceptée à défaut d'une réponse immédiate de votre part.
dés réception de votre fiche nous vous contacterons sur le numéro que vous allez fournir.

Très Cordialement,
Direction régional .

Tous vos emails en 1 clic avec l'application Mail sur i Phone et Android

__________________________________________

And with the help of google translate...

DRS: Regional Directorate of PayPal

Cher (e) Client (e) PayPal:

Proceeding on the server checking on payments made​​, we found the following error:
This month dated 23/07/2012 your monthly subscription fees were collected in duplicate (32.75 * 2) an amount of 67.50 Euro.
For this purpose, you are requested to visit the area and backfilling the subscriber application form submission
by clicking on the link below to receive an instant discount.

Simply call or Access your online form by clicking here

Thank you for your understanding.
No claim will be accepted if no immediate response from you.
upon receipt of your form we will contact you the number you provide.

Very Sincerely,
Regional Directorate.

All your emails in one click with the Mail application on i Phone and Android

___________________________________________________________________

As you can expect, I went to my PP account straight away and found no pending payments. I have only had 2 transactions this month and have never dealt with a french dealer so knew something was fishy for the Regional Directorate of PayPal to be contacting me. 

[Nlohoft]

I listed my car on Craigslist and got this response to my ad from "jenniferkate619".....

Thanks for your email..i am willing to pay 3,000 through PayPal as soon as possible and i will handle paypal charges or fees during the payment,because it's attached to my bank account.Though i will not be available to come for an inspection due to my flexible schedule because you dont need to worry yourself about title transfer and shipment as i will instruct the pick up agent to handle that,therefore do get back to me with your PayPal ID and you can set up an account at www.paypal.com  so that I can make the payment immediately in order to complete the transaction...Awaiting for your quick reply!

I am fairly certain this is a scam, I have never had anything like this before but I am glad I came here first.  I would appreciate someone else's thoughts.  I mean who buys a car without looking at it?!?  Thanks all

[JTB713]

The one below looks alot like yours....I even got a paypal message forwarded from a gmail account saying the funds were being held until I paid the shipper....fat chance

Thanks for the details provided for the payment,am about to make the payment after which i  have forward the pick up address to the shipping company immediately i got your response. But i just received the shipping quote right now,but the only problem am having now is there  means of payment which is only by cash/western union money transfer. Which none of it is impossible for me to handle at the moment,so i just suggest to include the delivery fee in your payment which is $700 + $50 western union money transfer charges. So the total payment i will be transferring into your account will be $6,594 + $750 = $7,344. And once i transferred  the fund into your account you will have to deduct the shipping fee and help me to send it to there accounting department,so they can come for the pick up asap. Thanks and get back to me before i proceed with the payment.

Best Regard.

[KarensJewelry]

I need to share that I was recently in a scam from Indonesia.  The person contacted me through email wanting to purchase $300 in merchandise from me.  He did not wnat to use PayPal (should have been my first clue).  I used my other merchant account (now closed) and he sent me the information through emails.  Once I processed the purchase he started asking me to purchase I-phone & I-pad merchandise to send with his order.  I was going to cancel the transaction at this point because I felt something was wrong.  TO shorten the story, I sent the merchandise and a month later received a chargeback for the purchase.  THis cost me even more in fees.  I should have listened to my instincts!!! So I am sharing in hopes that someone else can benefit from my mistake.  I did not have a signature confirmation on the transaction and since it is overseas there is no proof of delivery.  So I was not protected from the scam.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.  I was very disappointed with how my merchant treated me through this ordeal and I am letting PayPal handle all of my transactions now.  They have always been great for me and the new card reader will be awesome.

Thanks,

Karen

[cbell939]

Here is another scam:

Someone buys something from you on ebay. They want the cheapest shipping. The sale goes through and the seller ships the item. All the buyer has to do now is claim that they did not receive the item. THEY REFUSED any form of tracking of the item since they pay shipping. Without tracking info PayPal sides with the buyer. No other options. The buyer does not have to respond to anything other than the initial claim they did not receive and just wait it out. 

Anybody have a similar story?