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

[LHurt]

Beware - another scammer out there - have an elliptical posted on Craigslist - immediately had a response from a "military" guy named Paul, wanting a quick reply on buying the item (being deployed, of course). Didn't try to haggle w/the price, & wanted my paypal email address to pay that way; 2nd email from him came from a completely different email address, stating that he would be using an agent to pick up & that he would include agent fees in my paypal pmt.  I needed to hurry, b/c he was about to leave to go to "church with his family".  Wow, these guys will stop at nothing...military, church...nice way to tug at the heartstrings.   I responded stating that I felt it was a scam, that Karma is a B#@$%, & that I was reporting him for fraud.

[Smokeybear2011]

Nice to know im not the only one.. Ive had it happen multiple times on craigslist and amazon. And I can sniff these **bleep** out from the first message but you know I play along. They tell me they wanna pay with paypal then I get an email say you cant have the funds untill you send the item... Now tell me is that how it wotks? Cause I dont think paypal would enforce that...

[a1981sweetheart]

I have a van for sale on craigslist and got a response from this guy saying he doesn't have access to email or internet very often because he's "at sea" as a marine engineer but that he can pay through paypal etc. Is this a scam? I didn't have paypal before and just set up an acct for this guy (I did not email him back since I figured it was a scam). What is the point of it?  

[mmmk511]

This guy is part of a huge ring hitting everyone. Do not send him any money or give him any more info.

[Sue777]

I received email from man saying he is a marine engineer  that

wanted to pay with paypal, has an agent for pick up and he would pay original asking price.  he also asked for:

1.Your Full name.

2.Your PayPal Email Address.

3.Your phone number.

and instead I sent an invoice via paypal, and then an email saying I could not release item till money had transferred to my personal account.  We'll see what he says in a few hours.

[hardwork]

Recieved a phishing email today that caught me off guard. It looked legit on my first glance (via iphone) and since gmail didn't mark it as spam I opened it and logged in but luckily realized something was wrong before entering any more information. Changed my password immediately. They need to create a feature on smart phones where they don't even allow you to open a suspected, fraudulent link like they have on pc's.

Sender: PAYPAL

Subject: Update Your Information.

(Paypal logo)

It has came to our attention that your PayPal billing information are out of date.
 
Update your information now
 
 
 
Kind regards,
PayPal
Help Centre
 
 | Safety Advice
 
 
Copyright 1999-2012 PayPal Australia Pty Limited ABN 93 222 195 389 (AFSL 304962). All rights reserved.
PayPal Email ID PP1393

 
...that your paypal billing information "are" out of date; I should've knew right then and there shame on me

[desotoginny]

Just received this e-mail  Is this a scam?  ( I removed the links)

Dear valued PayPaI® Customer,

We've temporarily limited what you can do with your account until the issue is resolved.

What's the problem?

We noticed some unusual activity on the credit card linked to your PayPaI® account.

Case ID Number: PP-001-212-055-698

How you can help

It's usually pretty easy to take care of things like this. Most of the time, we just need a little more information about your account.

To help us with this and to find out what you can and can't do with your account until the issue is resolved, please proceed to our secure webform by

[DisquietNight]

I received the same email. I logged into my Paypal account (without clicking on the links in the email) and could find nothing about my account being limited or needing any issues resolved. I am assuming it's a scam but would like verification of this. 

Thanks!

[reachworks]

Recently sold an item on eBay to a "new" buyer (meaning 0 Feedback) which always raises a flag for me but I realize we all at one point had 0 feedback.

So, the buyer pays for the item by eCheck payment through PayPal; of course I'm not shipping the item until the payment has been verified as completed, but then I get a request from the Buyer to send a Payment to them in the amount of $200.00! There is of course, no "Details" associated with the request, just a request for the money.

Called PayPal and worked with an agent to Cancel that request but that still leaves the unanswered question of why the Buyer would request money from me, and, how often does this happen that someone seemingly randomly requests money from someone for no apparent reason? The concern is that scammers can use this ploy to send these requests to busy people who may not (unfortunately) be paying close attention to the Transaction history and send the payment by mistake.

I just wanted to raise this concern to the community.

Thank you.

[mmmk511]

Definitely a scam. Paypal never asks for any personal information in emails. You should always call Paypal with any concerns over emails.

Also, the dude wanting to buy cars is still at it, off-shore working still, and wanting to put money into your paypal account (needs your info) and will have shipping company pick it up (by the way, send money to shipping company). What a scammer.

Never give personal information to anyone asking for it in an email. It is ALWAYS a scam!!!!!!!!!!