Examples of Suspected Fraud or Fake Emails

PayPal_Andy
Moderator
Moderator

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

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fossildiver
New Community Member

Received an email from Frank <removed>, an oceanist. He wanted to buy an ATV I had forsale on craigslist. He wanted me to send $900 dollars to a pickup agent in order for me to receive the money I wanted for the ATV. If that doesn't raise a red flag there's something wrong. Watch out for this scam. I've read other posts with similar wordings. He's out to sea and wants to buy it for his father.

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Bluebird51
New Community Member

  I have a Frank <removed> wanting to buy my truck. He says he's out to sea and wants to buy it for his Dad. He is going to have someone pick it up. It's very suspicious. He says he will pay by Paypal which I trust is secure. Can someone pull money back out of Paypal after paying into it? Maybe he thinks he can. Anyhow, he's on Craigslist and I think I will have him flagged somehow if I decide to stear clear of him.

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cowgirl1963
Member
Member

I had the same thing happen to me only he is going by Scott. and his agent is from Ohio. This cowgirl's just a little smarter than he thinks.

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AsiaBuys11
New Community Member

So, a lady named Vivian <removed> from the UK inquired about a classic truck we had posted on Craigslist.

She tried to tell me that Paypal was withholding the funds to my account, even though I saw no activity in my Paypal account.  Also, that I had to first pay the shipping fees for her agent out of pocket via Western Union and then submit a reciept of my payment before the total funds would be released into my account.

Seems like I've seen this scam before but just in case, here are the emails from her.

 

First email:
 
Thanks for your response,I really love it and willing to pay your asking price but not cash in person because I'm on a missionary program attached to St John Cathedral,Norwich here in UK,which will end in couple of month. I can only pay you by paypal because i can't access any other form of payment online,so get back to me with your paypal email so i can process the payment,and if you are new to paypal,you can easily set up your paypal account at www.paypal.com and link your bank account to it so you can get your cash after i make the payment.
I have a shipping agent that will handle the pick up and shipping to my home address here in England,so get back to me with your zip code in other for my shipping agent to estimate the shipping cost for me,your paypal email and your phone # in case i need to call you,and as for the paypal charges i will handle that.
Very best wishes,
Vivian

 

Second email:
  

I have made the payment some minutes ago,but before the payment i got a message from my shipping agent that picking up and shipping to my home address here in UK will cost me 550 USD and she gave me her info where the money will be sent to via Western Union before she can come to you for the pick up and shipping.
 
As I said earlier,I am very busy on the missionary field and i cant access Western union and also my shipping agent is in USA,so i include the shipping fee in the payment plus 50 USD to cover up the western union charges for you to send the shipping fee to the shipping agent after you get the payment. Immediately after I completed the payment,I got a message from paypal verification team that the payment was successful and the total fund has been deducted from my account including paypal charges,and that a temporary hold has been placed on the transaction been an international payment that has to undergo verification so non of us will loss money or goods.
 
I checked my balance and notice the total fund has been deducted and they told me its on hold at there desk that you need to follow the verification procedure by sending the shipping fee first and email them the proof for verification before the total money will be released to your account.
 
I think this is fair for both of us because the total fund plus paypal charges have been deducted from my account and as of yet I have nothing to show for it,so please try to understand why PayPal put the total money on hold and want you to pay the shipping fee first before they release the total fund to your account.Also because I lost my money to a man in Canada last 2 weeks because paypal did not secure my payment to him,he got the payment and ran with my money and the goods i paid for.So you should see why paypal is holding this payment and want you to front the shipping fee and send them proof before they release the total fund to your account,doing this will give them guarantee that I will get what I paid for if they release the total fund to your account.
 
My Shipping agent name and address:<removed>.


Let me know when you sent the shipping fee and email paypal verification team the receipt copy for verification so they can release the total fund to your account and we can fix a date and time for the pick up.


Vivian

 

Third email:
 
You are to send the shipping fee out of pocket first, and email paypal fund verification team at " fund verification team - cash4u " with the Western Union money sent details or scanned receipt copy for them to verify it and confirm you have truelly sent the shipping fee to the shipping agent and they will release the total sum of 1600 USD to your account .. So i urge u to go and send the shipping fee as soon as possible.


Vivian.

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leenestale
Member
Member

Someone wants to use paypal to buy something I have on craigslist I am aware of certified check scam but how about PayPal.  I haven't heard of this one, is this a safe transaction or not?  Please help. 

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cranberrycutie
Contributor
Contributor

be very observent when you get a paypal confirmation..I just went through this with some jerk who was sending me fraudulant PayPal notices and confirmation....I noticed that it said   Paypal and had an "r" trademark after the L.....

before you do anything with a message and you are not sure that it is really from paypal  forward the notice to  spoof@paypal.com.....it will come back and tell you if it is for real.

This jerk  would not give up trying to get my information and a wedding dress t hat retails for $3800.00..........He didnt get it. but there are handcuffs in his future,  He even had the nerve to tell me that because I would not mail the dress to him overnight with his fake paypal letter that I was scamming him........

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Cherishc24
New Community Member

Hi! I just got this account and someone wants to purchase my car. They said this way was a secure way for them to do so. How do I know for sure its a legit transfer and I get paid with a "real" check or money? I"m a little nervous about it since this is my first time using paypal and its a large amount

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PinecrestBum
New Community Member

We have a bike listed for sale on Craigslist...Below is the response we got.  Something just didn't sound right so I went online and pulled up "Paypal" scams.  Mulitple people have a slightly varied version of the following........ I couldn't believe that there were so many!!!  We responded asking this person for more personal info and told them that I'm sure your agent could bring cash...We've never heard from them again. PLEASE, BEWARE. The other folks had the Payments revoked due to "Did not Authorize payment" or "Didn't receive" item" and lost their items. 

 

Great. am glad to read from you ,will appreciate more pictures... i am a marine engineer, i am at sea right now.I am buying this for my son as a surprise promise Gift  so am willing to offer you the amount you required. I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i don't have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email address to make the payments, and if you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can set one up at www.paypal.com  it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your PayPal email so l can pay . I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been sorted.

l will be waiting for your reply asap

Regards Brine

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gregory2011
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

I put  on Craigslist ad to sell iPad and have got very similar email (see below)

 

I have created request thru PayPal, but now sure want to cancel it.

 

HOW CAN I CANCEL "REQUEST" WHICH IS STILL PENDING?

 

thank you,

Greg

 

 

 

From: elizabeth <removed>

Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011 6:48 AM

To: Greg 

Subject: Re: iPad 2 WI-FI 16GB NIB (New In Box) - $475 (Danvers, MA)

 

Hello,

          Thanks for the mail ,but i so much have interest in your item and that was why i mailed you about it in the first place,but if not about the way of my payment,i can assure you paypal is secure and reliable on when doing such transaction like this,cause it will protect both me the buyer and you the seller as well,so i will be more than happy if you can just log on to www.paypal.com and get an account registered with your private email address and kindly get back to me once the account has been verified so that i can make the payment and once you receive my payment notification then you can be sure the money has been deposited into your account and then you can proceed with the shipment ..i hope you get this done asap so that we can be able to complete this deal...i hope to hear back from you soonest..

 

Regards...

 

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BeantownBimmer
New Community Member

The EXACT same thing just happened to me....I am selling an expensive bike on Craigslist, and I received the same type of email.  Broken english, is buying it for an uncle, is offshore so he can't come with cash but wants to pay immediately to secure the deal, will send an agent to pick it up, etc.  I even offered to do the deal through Ebay (to get even more protection) but he "doesn't use ebay".   BEWARE!    Copy of email below.

 

For those of you who posted these warnings - THANK YOU!  My gut told me to look....so I appreciate your posts!

 

Hello Seller,

Thanks for the mail, I'm seriously interested in buying this for my uncle and am okay with your selling price, I'm an ocean engineering and currently offshore i really want this as a surprise gift for my uncle so i won't let him know anything about this until it get delivered to him and I will like to know why you are selling this item and i will like to know the condition of the item. You can mail me back with your PayPal email address so i can make the payment to you right now and if you don't have an account with PayPal you can set up an account today as it's secured and reliable visit their website on www.paypal.com... i will be responsible for the payment fees/charges on this transaction. Do not worry about shipping or picking up as my pick up agent will come and pick it up from you once have made the payment to you and i will also need your full Name,address and phone number.  Looking forward to read back from you asap...


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