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

[cumber1137]

Hey guys,

 Just came over here after an email exchange tonight after I posted my xbox 360 for sale. I went as far as telling them my paypal email address and then backed out and told them I felt uncomfortable sending it to them. Then I came here and read up and I'm glad I did. I also went and changed my password and security questions out of paranoia. haha

So, here's the email that didn't sit well with me.

Thanks for getting back
>
> I'm ok with the price and condition of the Xbox. Do you have a pay pal
> account? I just set up one. Payment will be made Via My Pay pal Account
> because its very secure and safe to receive money in an online
> transaction. Get back to me with your Pay pal email or a pay pal
> invoice. I will make payment while you will help me with the  shipping
> in which i will cover the cost.
> Sorry I won't be able to set up a meet

>
> Compliment
> J. J

Weird grammar, capitalization on certain words, and who says "Compliment" as a closing salutation. When I first read it I chalked it up to being sent from a phone but then I asked a couple times what city in my state were they from and they never acknowledged the questions. So glad I didn't go through something I didn't feel confidant in.

[inmyopinion]

I also got a scammer from Craigslist. She wanted to buy a heavy duty carpet and tile cleaner we are selling. The payment was to go to my son's paypal account. She also said she could not get here to see it but she wanted to buy it. The only email address my son got was a paypal addy. She said the money was in the account and so I had him login to his paypal account to check. Well, he found no money but she emailed him and wanted him to send her $800 for shipping. Anyway, to make a long story short, we got no real email addy but her name is Susan so beware of this name if you run anything for sale on Craigslist.

[Alma2]

I just had a bad feeling about this "handicapped" buyer and began an online search. The e-cargo e-mail was filled with typos and supposedly came out of Indianapolis, IN, the buyer had a cell number from Missouri but the item was to ship to Colorado Springs, CO. It just didn't sound right. Then I found a number of you that had the very same buyer e-mail including the typos and all. That changed my mind in dealing with this at all. I will also report this to PayPal as a scam attempt. However, I did get what I thought was a contact from PayPal as a representative that was handling the purchase of my deceased wife's electric wheelchair. I will follow-up with PayPal to see if this guy even exists. Thank you for the support.

[citywind]

I also just had someone try to use Paypal to send me money so I could send money to a third part via Western Union.  This person wanted to buy a wheelchair I posted on craigslist & had a sad story about paying $200 to have it shipped because she's too incapacitated to pick it up herself.  She would send me over $250 through Paypal & all I would have to do is send it via Western Union to a shipper.  The shipper actually sent me an email but it contained no business address or phone number in the signature.  When I did an online search of this suspect company (E Cargo) I was brought to scam & suspected fraud forums.

The warnings are true!  Do not ever agree to wire anyone money if you're trying to sell something!  Money should be coming to you, not the other way around.  Seller beware... the value of the chair was only $35 yet she was willing to spend over $250 to have it sent to her.  Nonsensical.  I hope no one falls for this scam.

[almostscamed]

i was contacted from someone wanting to purchase an item i have on crg list,he said he would send payment through pay pal.i agreed on the price,so i gave him my e-mail address.all this was done by texting,that should have been a red flag there,but i agreed.the next day he texted me that he would deposit $2750 in my pay pal acct. for my item which i was selling for $2150, then i said why that amount,he said once he deposited the money i would send $600 to his buyer and $100 to the shipper to have it picked up and shipped to him.so now i'm freakin out.so 3 days of this and still no $$,so i called the number again and said deposit the $2150 in my acct.and when it clears and is in my ckg acct.i will send the item.what i found out is when they deposit the $$ and you pay the shipper and the buyer,,they cancel the pay pal payment and you are out the $$.luckily i did not fall for this crap.so beware if it gives you a bad feeling,stop the process,and do what i did,tell them you will contact pay pal like i did,,never heard from him again lol

[ihatescam]

I will do the same thing. Thank you so much.

[XxtwinkletoesxX]

So i was gulliable and now i think its a scam... they sent me this... do you think its a scam???

There isnt anything in my paypal of anything pending!

Dear Tarren ,


We were at the final stage of crediting your account when we received the correspondence of the Nigerian Custom Duty regarding the package you sent being held and you as the sender needs to pay the custom charges before the package
can be released for delivery.

This is the final procedure to crediting your account and as soon as we confirm the charges payment to the custom duty we have no further delays to completing your transaction and credit your account immediately.

We therefore advise that this be done immediately and get back to us with the confirmation of the charges payment as soon as possible. We look forward to your immediate response soon.

Thanks for your understanding and co-operation with us.

The PayPal Team.

Copyright © 1999-2011 PayPal. All rights reserved.

PayPal (worldwide) Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United States of America as an electronic money institution.

PayPal FSA Register Number: 226056.

PayPal Email ID PP307

[XxtwinkletoesxX]

Also this one!

Dear  Tarren,

  
We would like to bring to your notice that there has been a problem with the delivery of the item shipped to the buyer's address.The Nigeria custom duty are now in possession of the item and they are requesting for the sum of $80 as a custom charge and as part of our rule and regulation so we deduct the sum of $80 from the buyer's account creditable to your account together with the $180 making it the total of $260 thus go to any Western Union money transfer agent close to you to pay the custom charges as it has deducted from the buyer's account creditable to your account as soon as we confirm that you truly pay the custom charges .The custom charges of $80 should be payable to the Nigeria custom info below via Western Union Money Transfer.

[XxtwinkletoesxX]

This it the rest of the message:

Name: <removed> Address: <removed>  State:<removed> Country: <removed>  Test question: custom? Answer: for bill

Please get back to us with the info below so we could confirm the payment and credit your account with $260 as soon as possible Your account would be credited as soon as we receive the info above to confirm the payment of the custom charges

Thank you for using PayPal!

The PayPal Team

Copyright © 1999-2011 PayPal. All rights reserved. PayPal (worldwide) Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United States as an electronic money institution. PayPal FSA Register Number: 226056. PayPal Email ID PP307

[PayPal_Adrian]

Xxtwinkletoesxx -

Yes, that's a scam.  Here's the immediate tip offs for me:

1.  The emails are not from PayPal

2.  PayPal does not offer services in Nigeria

3.  They're asking for advance payment from you to receive a payment

4.  There is no payment visible in your account

5.  PayPal will never ask you to use Western Union or another money transfer service to receive a PayPal payment

This is known as Advanced Fee Fraud. If you have shipped an item, I would recommend attempting to pull it back via the shipper.

I've also removed the personally identifiable information from the posts.  For everyone's safety, we remove any last names or contact information (including email addresses) from examples.  In many instances, the names provided by fraudsters are fake or may actually be the name of someone they already defrauded.

For more information, I recommend the following:

How to tell if an email is from PayPal

Checklist: Before you Ship

PayPal Security Center

Thanks!

Adrian