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

[TiffGarrett]

Trying to do the same thing to us! He is so busted. Now he is pretty much harassing us and threatening  us.

[LMRidley]

Beware scam on Craig List person contacted me saying handicapped could not talk to me because can not speak loud and etc etc using ECargo for delivery, never would tell me where she lived and etc see others have reported her as well identical working for scam -I was selling electric wheelchair and really thought I had a buyer but I too am a skeptic and know if it sounds too good it is probably not lol just warning everyone on Paypal about this person, thanks

[stoutman1]

We also have an electric wheelchair for sale on Craigslist.  This same person contacted me this morning.  We thought it was a scam.  Told them we take cash only.  We asked for their address they have not contacted me since .

[redflag]

Same thing is happening to me over and over again!  Same story, same spelling/grammatical errors.  She won't say where she lives, but she wants my address.  She wants the item for sale (wheelchair) shipped to her and to pay via PayPal even though it's a cash only sale and u-haul only.  She says she "can't talk on the phone". 

Tracy emails from a gmail account.

She continues to email me... definately a SCAM!!!  I reported it to the FTC and to Google and to Craigslist.  PLEASE take the time to REPORT IT too so we can get this to STOP!

Craigslist: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/cgi-bin/emailForm.cgi

Gmail:  http://mail.google.com/support/bin/request.py?hl=en&contact_type=abuse&rd=1

FTC:  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/spam/

[stoutman1]

Thanks for the links.  Will definitely let them know!

[dukebluedon]

I too have a wheelchair on Craigslist and same story...................I just had a feeling, so when she asked me for my address, I asked for hers.  She sent it to me, but I am still skeptical.  I don't know if this is a real address.  I don't know what to believe.  I actually felt sorry for her.  It's sad you can't trust anybody these days!

[candysteel58]

I believe the same thing is happening to me also. I had a truck for sale on craigslist. A person by the name of <email removed> email account, had contacted me about buying it. They said that they were a off shore oceanographer and couldn't get access to come in person to get the vehicle. They also didn't spell right and wrote in incomplete sentences. My number one thought that it was a scam was if they was an oceanographer, don't you think they would be smart enough from all that college they had to go through to atleast write in complete sentences? lol After email after email, they wanted me to send $500 via. Western union to someone in Delaware to come pick it up. They also would never call me on the phone, never saying why. I got an email supposedly from pay pal, saying I had new funds in my account. It looked exactly from pay pal, but left me skeptical. I logged into pay pal and did not see any transactions referring to that email that was sent. Please look out for this person too!!! Lots of people out there scamming people!! Never trust anyone!

[melissa7187]

How does the scamming work? I've gotten a few responsed for a wheelchair my fam is selling where people want to pay through paypal. so long as I dont part with the wheelchair until I receive the money, what are the risks that I have? I always thought paypal was really safe that way. thanks.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi folks!

I wanted to pop in for a minute to explain why I have removed the names that were posted in this thread.

I'm actually going to quote Adrian, who summed it up rather nicely in this post: 

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Very often, the names, phone numbers, and addresses given to anyone by a fraudster is a real name, phone number, or address.  But whose information is it?

Well, most often, it's another victim.  It's not the fraudster.

I can't stress enough that by repeating that information in the Forums or elsewhere, you may be unknowingly victimizing or re-victimizing another person.  Individuals whose information is used in these scams repeatedly receive harassing phone calls, letters, emails, and in some cases, wind up in physical confrontations with people who think they're the scammer.

To all of our members, please don't track down, contact, or confront spoofers or fraudsters on your own.  In most instances, the person you track down has nothing to do with the fraud and not only are you harassing them, but if this is the real spoofer, you could be placing yourself at personal risk.  Do the right thing - if you have information that you feel can lead to the arrest of a real fraudster, don't confront them yourself.  Give the information over to the local authorities and let them take care of it. 

Your life, liberty, and well-being aren't worth losing over an email.

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Olivia