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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angelnut
Contributor
Contributor

  I have these emails or a version of them.  I have attempted to alert Apple to verify that they illegitimate or not but cannot seem to find the right box to click for a response.  Glad to find out from this source that it is a phish

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ChrisD06
Contributor
Contributor

i  received an email from: <removed> claiming i've received payment for an item i was listing.

But there is nothing in my activity section supporting this transaction.

I clicked the Transaction ID Link: 4L645138ST906306E  but it shows up as mail.com

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DPCreations
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

So, you didn't receive money.

NEVER click on a link in a strange email.

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ChrisD06
Contributor
Contributor

yeah i know. i contacted customer service already...

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patriot12234
New Community Member
A person claiming they have paid me may have sent an email saying I need to provide a tracking number for a shipment for the payment to come through. Do you think that the email is fake?
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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@patriot12234

 

If its the below scam then yes

 

>>

 

 A TYPICAL PAYPAL SCAM.

They encourage you to use paypal and often ask you to send the item as a gift to a relative somewhere often Nigeria.
You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't.
It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.
They will tell you that the payment is released when you provide paypal with a tracking/shipping number......this won't happen.
They also threaten legal action...have a laugh at that one and ignore it as its rubbish.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal do not tell you to send trackable, they advise it for selling protection but it is not compulsory.





Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@patriot12234

 

Your welcome !!!


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RaeRae11
Contributor
Contributor
Hey All, Not really asking a question more than a word of advice. ALWAYS CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOUR EMAIL IS FROM PAYPAL! Not a gmail account. Tried helping my dad sell a boat on Craigslist.. someone got in contact with us super fast like 3 hours after we posted it. He said he wanted to buy it.. used a friendly name and was texting my dad weird hours of the night.. then sent a text to him from a California number at 1am saying the funds were sent and we should be getting an email.. Since it was to my email, I noticed their were 3 different emails it read the email was from "Service PayPal". Said the funds have been sent.. but the email was originally from a gmail.com account and then when I hit reply it was from a weird gmx.com account.. and.. Surprise.. no funds shown in PayPal either. Wanted us to use Money gram to send a "shipping fee" to a Courier Exchange Service that returned to the UK. And said we needed to pay this fee out of pocket before the whole amount paid could be transferred. Please please please be vigilant when doing online sales. Report ANY suspicious email to spoof@paypal.com.. Don't give any personal info/money info to these people! Stay safe!
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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@RaeRae11

 

That scam has been ongoing for about 15 years and is all over the net and this forum.

Glad you were not caught out.


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Kudos / Solution appreciated.
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eva-zoe
Contributor
Contributor

I just received a email from paypal saying i purchased a item from trivia crack saga £49.99
iv never heard of them let alone play games
its not showing on my account yet but how do i stop them taking my money?

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