Possible scam?

[RobertB30]

Hi everyone, I recently received an email from a certain David (removed) from Nigeria, who agreed to buy headphones that I was selling. He asked for my paypal account and he said that payment was complete. Please see his email below: Dear seller, I have made the payment and am sure paypal have contact you with the confirmation of the payment...I will like you to check your email inbox or spam folder. Beside,I will like you to help me in shipping this item to my child address in Nigeria as a gift. I also paid extra money for shipping. So get the item packed very well and get it ship to my child address, I will like you to get the item ship via Post office (phil Post / ems delivery) please mark the item as gift and do not put the real price on it put a lower price tag on it because of custom so they wont request a large sum from my child before collecting it, I hope I can count on you? Here Is the address you will ship the item to: (removed) Get Back to me as soon as you get the item ship and don't forget to email me the shipment tracking number for confirmation Please make sure you do the shipment using ems or phil post because dhl and fedex are not very reliable in Nigeria because the address system is not reliable so that they don't deliver it to the wrong address. But the ems people will contact the phone number to inform my child once the package has arrived and then they will just go and pick it up OK? Please email paypal immediately for the confirmation This is paypal email (removed) Thanks and kindly keep me posted - I have browsed and already there are red flags regarding this cash4u website, I would just like to ask the paypal community if there really is a third party like cash4u handling some payments. Thank you guys! Robert Thank you! Rob

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@RobertB30

THIS IS 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.

(If the item requires shipping they will tell you that they will pay you extra and you must pay the agent via western union / moneygram BEFORE the funds are released to you.

They are not interested in the item, they just want the western union etc funds and you will never see money in your paypal balance).

They also threaten legal action...have a laugh at that one and ignore it as its rubbish.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send trackable, they advise it for seller protection etc but it is not compulsory.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.

Paypal NEVER expect you to use a rival money transfer service.

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[RobertB30]

Hi, Thank you for the tip, I have also read somewhere within this site that I can send spoof emails to paypal so that everyone can be warned. Good thing I had a bad gut feel when a third party site was mentioned, and also the email from "paypal" had a lot of grammatical errors which made it quite suspicious. Thanks again and cheers!

[dlstopks]

can anyone show the fake notice from paypal--it includes a" paypal website" the wording is just a little different than paypal's help line,but the letterhead and everything else is the same.  be careful out there folks,and don't be afraid to use the phone to check on something fishy on line.          r          

[PayPal_Randy]

Hi RobertB30,

If you receive any further emails of this nature, please forward them to review@paypal.com. 

If you happened to click on any of the links in the emails, please change your PayPal password and security questions at your earliest convenience by following the steps listed here: https://www.paypal.com/selfhelp/article/FAQ1440 .

Thank you!

- Randy

[RobertB30]

Thanks Randy, will send the emails I received from these scammers.

[RobertB30]

Hi everyone, I can't log in to my Paypal account now, it simply says that Paypal can't log you in. Is it possible my account has been breached? Thanks,

[DPCreations]

@RobertB30

Perhaps, but not from a simple email if you haven't clicked on any links or opened and attached files.

Since there is no password error it could be browser issue, some connectivity issue, or something else.

When you suspect a hack it should require urgen attention; that means contact PayPal by phone as soon as possilbe so it can be investigated.

Why wait for someone on the forum to speculate a problem that could get worse with delays.

Why do you even think there was breach?

[RobertB31]

Hi, This is Robert. I am in the Philippines so the paypal number is not readily available, besides, Paypal keeps asking me to log in which I wasn't able to do because it keeps on rejecting my access to my account. Here's what I did: 1. Emailed Paypal (though I only got a generic reply) 2. Changed password (I was able to do this because all I needed to answer were security questions) thus I was able to log in. 3. I logged out and tried to log in again, but again I wasn't able to. 4. I repeated steps 2 and 3 for about three times and still wasn't able to log in 5. To my frustration, I closed my paypal account 6. I signed up for Paypal again (using the same email address) and was able to log in and out without the same problem I have encountered. 7. I secured all my credit cards at my local bank. I did not input any bank detail in my paypal account once I signed up again. 8. It may me a dumb decision but at least I know that my cards are still secure for the meantime. I am really new to Paypal and just signed up because of this guy that was insisting to pay like this, which turned out to be a scam. I don't know if I did the right steps though. Thanks for the help.

[DPCreations]

@RobertB31

Why do you think this is a scam?