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

[julalp21]

Hi Minty1 , I already did that, I'm pretty much done with eBay at the moment, Won't be back there for awhile!

Thanks though!

[minty1]

Good glad u have done that at least u know what to look out for!

Unfortunately some scammers do slip thru the net!

[kernowlass]

Pointless adding them to your blocked bidder list as they are normally hijacked ebay accounts and once used discarded. 

[bomb4play]

first of all I want to thank each and everyone of you for your post. I listed my vehicle on Craigslist so I could purchase another one and I'll pay for medical co pays. unfortunately my x doesn't thinkhe needs to help support his children. Cancer treatments has forced me to sell to get by.., i almost fell for tje okie dokebut decided to follow my gut feeling and investigate further. Here is the email they sent Thanks for your mail. Am very much interested in buying it and I'll paying you the asking price so please consider me as your favorite buyer. I would be glad to pay for it as soon as possible though i will not be available to come for an inspection due to my flexible schedule,but I've an agent that will come to your place for the pickup once the payment has been clear and she will take care of the title for me with POA.   However i have few questions to ask from you. 1) What is the condition? 2) Are you the first owner? I will be paying you with my PayPal Account because it's attached to my Bank Account and its safe and very secure way to make payment online. If my mode of payment is accepted kindly email me with the information below to proceed with the payment. Respectfully sent, Erin.

[musicalred]

I thought it was fishy when the name sounded very American but the e-mail sounded like it was written by someone that was Asian.  They would not release my funds until I paid the $600 to the "shipping agent" from NY.  I was trying to sell my dining room set locally.  Scammmmmm

     A temporary hold has been placed on your funds, Follow the verification procedure below so we can release the funds to your account
 

The payment has been deducted from the buyer's account but will not show up in your account balance due to the temporary hold placed on it.The total fund is being held at our fund verification team desk for verification due to the large amount of money involved..Below is the verification procedure you are to follow before we can release the total sum of $1,500.00USD which is on hold to your account.

                                              
Fund Verification Procedure
1:You are to send the added shipping fee upfront to the shipping agent's name and address below via Western Union at any of their offices. 

2:Forward the Western Union money transfer confirmation copy to us at <removed>

,after sending the shipping fee or the scanned copy of the Western Union receipt if the shipping fee was sent at a Western Union office so we can proceed in our verification process and release the total fund to your account few minutes after we get the requirement from you.

                                            
Note:The Buyer will not be permitted to reverse the funds before or after you have sent the shipping fee of $600.00USD to the shipping agent's name and address below via Western Union.This means that you are also safe and secure by sending the shipping fee upfront to complete this transaction.                                  

Name:



Address:  

<removed>



CITY: <removed>

STATE: <removed>

ZIP CODE: <removed>

COUNTRY: <removed>

[treblesinger]

I got a suspicious looking email today claiming to be from paypal. I'm copying it below. I'm not clicking on anything. I'm sure it's a scam. Un-Authorized Access - Your PayPal account have been limited temporarily. Dear Valued Customer, Our state-of-the-art security system have detected what could be an intrusion from an un-authorized user. Our security team analyzes accounts individually after the security system have marked them as insecure. Please download the form attachment in this email and fill in your personal details in the form in order to keep your account in a verified state. Please do understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you, PayPal Support Department Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. Furthermore, should you require any assistance, you may log in to your PayPal account and click Help in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

[minty1]

Hi treblesinger

Genuine ppal emails:

 Always address u as Dear Full Name

Never ask u to click on links/downloads/attachments

Never ask for personal/sensitive info

So the email sent to u was a phishing/scam email, always log in via the official site

If ever unsure send to spoof@paypal.com for confirmation then delete

[yueyunpp]

i almost got scammed . he wanted me to send money first to the shipping company. He claims that he's sending it to UAE Dubai. i copied and past the transaction ID : 5KD849375694INT

and found the same one on this forum.

he said that he had already transfer 400 (for the item) plus 500 more of the shipping fees so i could send to the shipping agent for him.

But i nvr seen he money in my account. 

WHO WILL SEND MONEY TO HIM BEFORE EVEN RECEIVING ANY MONEY.

im so glad i found this forum. 

[ARCreation]

i just got an email I know is fraud because me PayPay account  is not under that email account, I always go to my email I use with my account and log in from that email to be  extra safe, as well as keeping my business apart from my main email meaning PayPal that deals with my personal bank and payment information is not the same as my shop so I know that if I get these emails in this email account it is a fraud and I can report them.

I hate all these people that do these knid of things.

Dear PayPal user,


As part of our security measures, we regularly monitorize 
activity in the PayPal system. We have recently contacted you 
after noticing an issue with your account.

We have requested information from you for the following reason:

We have recently received a report of unauthorized credit card 
use associated with this account. As a precaution, we have 
limited access to your PayPal account in order to protect against 
future unauthorized transactions.


Case ID Number: PP-503-472-569


This is a reminder to restore your account as soon as possible.

Please download the form attached to this email and open it in a 
web browser. Once opened, 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 in further limitations or eventual account closure. 
We encourage you to restore your PayPal account as soon as 
possible to help avoid this.


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.

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department

[Tiredofscammers]

My daughter made a deal to sell her piano and received a fake Paypal confirmation that the money for the piano plus $800 (supposedly for the moving service) was on hold in her Paypal account.  The scammer told my daughter that Paypal required 1) the buyer to add the moving cost to their payment,and 2) the seller to send the moving costs to the "mover's" Paypal account before the piano payment would be released. My daughter checked with Paypal before she did anything and learned it was a scam. The email from the scammer is below.

Subject: Re: Reply to your "Yahama U2 Beautiful Piano in great playing condition!" Ad on Kijiji

Thank God you got it, So as advised by paypal to make both parties secured doing the transaction, you are required to pay my moving agent coming for the pick up in your home address, and I also cannot cancel or reverse the transaction. So all you have to do now is to visit the nearest money gram outlet which can be located at any post office or cash store, then pick a form. Fill in my moving agent name and address. Make the payment and forward the receipt to paypal by clicking on contact us on the notification of payment email received from paypal. After paypal verifies the money gram receipt, your account will be credited with your funds. After you are credited, my moving agent will come for the pick up. I would like this done asap so that my moving agent can come for the pick up latest this evening after you've been credited.