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

[PayPal_Adrian]

kdb,

Any time a buyer picks up an item or arranges for the shipping on their own, the purchase wouldn't be eligible for Seller Protection - and for $4,400 USD, that's a big risk I wouldn't want to see you take. 

I would recommend reading more in our Security Center here: https://www.paypal.com/securitycenter

A great article I recommend for anyone who uses the internet is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_fraud

Hope this helps,

Adrian

[carl2591]

another words     ITS A SCAM...

[angie0628]

Maybe this can anwer your question. I'm selling a four wheeler for $3000 on craigslist and just got a response from someone that I thought sounded suspicious so came looking on here for the same reason and this is what MY response said:

 Thanks for your quick response ,i will like to know if it is in good
condition cos am buying it for my Dad as a gift and he doesn't know
about it,so can you assure me that i will not be disappointed,also no
shipment involved as i have a mover that will come over for the pick
up and am satisfied with your firm/advert price,as am requesting this
transaction should be done via PayPal so the PayPal charges is on me
and Payment will be made via PayPal only(if you don't have an
account,its easy,safe and secured just log on to (www.paypal.com) i m
presently out of town for my new project,so am sorry i will not be
able to come over to look at it in person and that's the only reason
why PayPal is the only Payment option. I hope we can make the purchase
as fast as possible?

[cuervoz350]

Adrian,

I also just had a very similar situation where someone wanted to come pick up my waverunner with his shipping company.  He said he was unable to come himself, and the fact that he didn't even want to look at my waverrunner first made me feel something was fishy.  The verbage was almost identical to this person whose post you responded to, and suggested using Payapl because it was quck and easy to setup, and safe and secure.

I an new to Paypal.  I guess if there is not a valid delivery service that can be tracked and thus verify if the product has been delivered, anyone can say that they either "delivered" or didn't receive delivery of the product.  So, for someone new like me, I would always want to use my own delivery service that required a confirmation of receipt by the receiver? 

Knowing this seems to be an active scam, I think this should be posted for all your users so that they are made more aware of this. 

[Joe2468]

So if you get a response like this is there someone you can notify to help catch the person behind it?

[Treasury772]

No, most originate in Nigeria - a well know scam 3rd world country.

[kkootenay]

Canadians can notify recol.ca -- which is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

However, Phonebusters, a project of the Ontario Provincial Police, have become the North American clearing house for these scams.  As the name indicates they also handle telemarketed scams.

[P-S]

I to am selling an Item (Boat) on Craigslist for a large amount of money. Here is an email reply I received.  This guy wants to pay me 21,100.00 for an item site unseen. Really?   I finally sent him an email telling him I would not sell to him!

Thank for your mail. I'm satisfied with the condition of it as
advertised in the listing,i will like to add $100 to your final price
for you to keep off from all offer,and consider it sold to me alone as
i am serious with this.I would like you to know that i am really
interested in buying this for my father,payment will be through PayPal
and the pick up will be arranged by me as i will have my agent come
down to pick it up...i will be waiting to hear from you,and i will
like you to send me the name and email address on the PayPal account
to send the payment and send me more pics of this item if available
since i would not be seen it in person so i can pay it right away I am
a busy at work and do not have much time around me.Make sure you get
back to me so that we can arrange for pick up as i will like the item
to be picked at your residence,so no shipping

Thanks and reply asap.

Regards

[nerak]

I also received this after placing an add for my car.  

Hi there,


Just asking about it to make sure its in good condition. so can you assure
me i will not be disappointed? also want you to know that no shipment
involved as i have a mover that will come for it.Im satisfied with your
firm/advert price, As im requesting this transaction should be done via
paypal so the paypal charges is on me.Payment will be made via paypal
only(if you dont have an account, its very easy, safe and secured go to
www.paypal.com.ca) im present out of town for my new project, so im sorry i
will be able to come look at it in person and thats the only reason why
paypal is the only payment option. I hope we can make the purchase as fast
as possible?

After I asked for contact information, I received this:

Thanks for the mail..Due to the nature of my work,phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it.
Don't worry about the pick up,my shipping agent will be coming to pick it up, I'll like you to send me your address so that my shipping agent can figure it out and come for the pick up and other necessary things....more so,send me your PayPal details(PayPal email) so i can pay in.
Await your response.

[killkevdogg]

**bleep** i got the same **bleep**