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

[minty1]

Hi PepeLon. Unfortunately you have been scammed. The emails aren't from ebay/paypal they are fake emails from your scammer. Paypal don't credit tour account after you send an item, the money is always in your account first then you will receive a confirmation email from paypal to say you have been paid. Never send an item until you see cleared payment in your account. The user was removed for good reason, you could report it to ebay and ask for advise, but since you have already sent the item I'm afraid it's gone now. You could also report it to online fraud sites.

[PepeLon]

Yeah...  I'm afraid.

I still have the address, is there any legal way to sort this out?

Thank anyway minty!

[minty1]

I don't know it could be a fake address too, try any US online fraud sites for advice or your local police station

[minty1]

I doubt there's any legal way either, you're welcome

[PepeLon]

Do I have to reprt this somewhere??

Btw, the money is still pending....  😞

Thanks for your help!

[Mickster]

You can try this site :  http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/media/video-0054-how-file-complaint

[RTM1950]

Here's one I received today.  I had a diamond ring to sell on Craigslist.  Thank goodness I checked this forum before falling for it:

Good to hear back from you,can you assure me that it's
in good condition and
that i will not be disappointed with it.I'm ready to
pay your asking price
and to be honest I am always busy at work and do not
have much time around me
to make or answer calls. Moreover,I would have loved
to call but our
satellite server has been down in recent days which
restricts our calls.I
will be paying you through PayPal as it is the
only Medium at which i can
send Payment at the Moment.
I would appreciate if you email me with more
pictures (if available) too
since i won't be be able to see this in person.
And if you don't have a
PayPal account, It's pretty easy to set up a PayPal
account at
http://www.paypal.com/ it's just a few minutes away from signing
up. it's
safe and secure for both Parties and i have been using PayPal to
buy
and sell for years now without problems. Please get back to me
with
your PayPal email so i can proceed with the payment and contact
the
Pick up Agent who will come for the Pick up of the item.
I will need
these following details so i can proceed with the payment right
away


*Your PayPal e-Mail Address
*Home Address

As soon as
you get back to me with your PayPal email, I'll proceed
with full Payment. I
look forward to reading from you soon.

Regards

[gumby32]

I have been attempting to sell some antique marbles on Craigs list. proposed buyer wanted me to continue sending replys

asking to consider a lesser price. I did so and accordingly he agreed to price and wanted me to set up a paypal account to recieve payment. Having never done this before I became very suspicious of his terms, again it was the tyical instruction to send money in advance by western union to an address in florida before he would place the money in my account.

Having heard about these kind of scams, instead I sent him an invoice for the goods of course knowing there would not be a

response.

The email address he used was **removed** I have copies of all tranactions between us, should interested

persons IE local or federal authorities want copies forwarded i would gladly oblige.  

[Brandedsuccess]

I just recieved this one:

The e-mail had an extra l in paypal dot com.

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the system. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your 

account.

We requested information from you for the following reason:

A recent review of your account determined that we require some additional

information from you in order to provide you with secure service.

Case Number: Complaint-457-698-252

This is last reminder to log in to PayPal 

as soon as possible. Once you log

in, you will be provided with steps to restore your eBay & PayPal accounts access.

Be sure to log in securely by using the following link:

Click here to login and restore your account access

Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your

account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account

safety.

In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement, your account access will remain

limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your

account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result account closure. We encourage you to log in to your

PayPal account as soon as possible to help avoid this. 

To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to

make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution

Center. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further

clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal by visiting

the Help Center and clicking "Contact Us".

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that

this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We

apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank You,

PayPal Accounting Department

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you

will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account

and click the Help link in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

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PayPal Email ID Complaint-457-698-252

[outsider]

Whenever I suspect someone of trying this with me I just send an email stating that I wish all the people who are interested in buying my stuff meet in person to view the merchandise or state that any additional funds deposited into my account will be forfeit as part of the bargained price and will not be refunded.  This usually ends all communications....