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

[nikkii_07]

The same thing happened to me with craigslist, except the girl told me she was a marine engineer at sea, and she would have to have a pick up agent come get the merchandise. She told me she would send me my money via paypal, and include $300.00 for her agents fee and $100.00 for western union fees. She wanted me to pay for the agent fee myself and her money would pay me back through paypal. So then, she wrote me and said she deposited the money via paypal and I should recieve a confirmation email from them, and I did! BUT, the email was a fake!! It had the paypal logo and all, but the spelling and punctuation was terrible. I called paypal and nothing had been sent and they said the email was a scam, and I had to forward them to the scam dept. She was really smooth and the emails looked pretty legite but Paypal told me The Thompson guy, who's signature was on the email as the president, was the president but he never has his name on emails. Also, the email told me not to call paypal customer service phones, because my transaction was being completed via email and customer service would know nothing. So Watch out for ANYONE who says they will have someone come pick anythign up, that is the first sign its a scam!

[NotABank]

Sellers Beware!  I was told that my car was purchased for the full asking price plus an extra $770.00.  The buyer could not pick it up and requested that I Western Union $700 to the person picking up the vehicle for him.  He also stated there was a hold on the PayPal transfer until I wired the money.   On top of that he sent me a fake e-mail from PayPal stating the money was in there pending my wire confirmation.   Thank God my husband knew someone who was scammed like this.  I returned an e-mail stating I was not a bank and would be glad to wire the money once is was in my checking account.  I checked my PayPal account and there are no pending USD payments.  Watch out this guy is slick!

[Notfooled]

This person is preying on older folks since I am selling a motorized wheelchair used by handicapped or elderly people.  This is how the email message went:  All you have to send me is your PayPal email address so I can make the payment immediately. Also I will be including the pick up cost with the total payment which is $400 so you will help me send it to the shipping company via Western union money transfer as soon as you receive the payment from PayPal. I would have done it myself but I'm an handicapped and am at home and the only method of payment they accept is this,i cant walk and that's why i ask for this help.Note i will also send addition of $70.00 USD as western union charges,i am a little incapacitated.....I will appreciate your help.

Beware.  I send an email to Craigslist too so they are aware of this kind of trash going on.

[lilplaynurse]

Here is another one!

....checking the condition of your item......i promised my brother-in-law at the first of the year i'd buy him this (a piece of furniture i had listed). I am unable to pick it up as I am overseas and unable to disclose my location. I am unable to send money to my shipper because I cannot acces my bank account nor do I have any credit cards with me. I just need your paypal account in order to transfer funds. I ask you to remove the item, i will include $50 for you to make note that it is sold and I will need you to send my shipper $800 that I will include in my paypal payment plus an additional $50 for th western union fee.

Once i have received the western union information, your money will be available.

Not done!!! I actually trusted my gut on this one and reported it to craigs list. Beware!!

[sami54]

I guess I ran into the same thing. I was trying to sell some jeans. I couldn't for the life of me figure why anyone would pay $200 to have $45 worth of merchandise sent. SO IT IS A SCAM. FOR WHAT PURPOSE???

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@lilplaynurse wrote:

Here is another one!

....checking the condition of your item......i promised my brother-in-law at the first of the year i'd buy him this (a piece of furniture i had listed). I am unable to pick it up as I am overseas and unable to disclose my location. I am unable to send money to my shipper because I cannot acces my bank account nor do I have any credit cards with me. I just need your paypal account in order to transfer funds. I ask you to remove the item, i will include $50 for you to make note that it is sold and I will need you to send my shipper $800 that I will include in my paypal payment plus an additional $50 for th western union fee.

Once i have received the western union information, your money will be available.

Not done!!! I actually trusted my gut on this one and reported it to craigs list. Beware!!

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[rpastor7]

I was selling a hot water heater on craigslist and this person told me that she wanted to buy it.  She told me that she likes to do business through PayPal and wanted my account name so she could deposit the money.  Then she told me that she was going to have her shipping company send me the shipping cost and that I need to send this person money through Western Union so I could ship the item to this person.  I didn't send any money.  Should I close out my account with PayPal becasue this scammer has the account name?

[MRII_noturbo]

Thank you soooo much, i just had a scammer also. same thing being said "I will be buying your items for sure, i ask that you remove the ad." etc etc Then I get these emails from his shipping company "Shipping Company" and claim to have made a payment via paypal and that she included an extra $430 for the shipping. i immeditly went to my paypal and noticed no money, and i was left dumbfounded because they said send the shipping money first via western union, and i'm like, with what money.  tyler day was the name. omg im so mad! i hope this helps any1 else out!!

[rpastor7]

The name of the person that tried to scam me was Mary and I was to send the shipping money to Lakesha.

[rick4001]

here's another:

From: Myer

Date: Fri, May 13, 2011 at 2:14 PM
Subject: PAYMENT COMPLETED ! ! !

Hi,
I have made the payment now. You will be receiving the payment
confirmation message from PayPal regarding the payment. The shipping
company wants $600 for pick up and delivery. So I made a total payment
of $1,650. $1,000 for the Wardrobe Tansu, $600 for the shipping
company, and $50 for whatever Western Union will be charging you to
send the money to them. Please let me know as soon as you send them
the money ASAP. Here is the shipping company details for you to send
the $600:

Myer

Regards..

[korsakov]

I found a buyer for a rather expensive item I posted on Craigslist. He agreed to my terms not to file a claim with Paypal. He wants to send his own shipper to my home and wants to get my PayPal details now. Does anybody see a threat for me?