Urgent advice needed-it's killing me

littlemeow
Contributor
Contributor

Hi everyone,

 

I have a situation which I am not sure how to handle.

This is my first time using paypal.

 

I am a Singaporean lady just trying to rent a room by posting an ad on our local website. Then I got an enquiry from a Vietnamese girl who claims to be a cruise doctor and intends to relocate to Singapore. She said she would like to send me 3 month rent plus deposit so She could show her employer and the immigration of Singapore. She suggested me to use paypal to send her an invoice. I figured nothing wrong with that. I did what she told me. Then she suddenly ask me for an urgent favor regarding her mover . She needed to transfer her mover money but she does not have time to do so.( ?)  So she said she would like me to do it for her . All I have to do is go to my local post office to send the money through western union.  she sent me an echeck include the rental money plus her mover fee.

 

Then I realized that echeck take time to clear , I can only be sure it would be in my own account after 3-5 days.

See below:

 

Hello (my full name),

You have just been sent a payment by eCheck. You will receive the money in about 3-5 business days (estimated: 12/25/2015-12/29/2015). We'll email you when this eCheck payment has been deposited into your PayPal account. You are to reply back to this payment notification for any further information regarding your transaction.


eCheck details


Amount: $4,036.00 SGD
Transaction ID: 03B15247598221109



Payment details

Sender: Thao Vu

Subject: You've got money!

 

 

 

She begged me to do it yesterday. I told her I can not help her because it would mean I would be using my own money. I dare not risk that.

Now today I got this email, asking me do it ,so paypal would release the fund to my account.

 

 

Your Fund is Now Available:

Hello my full name,

Your Funds has now been processed and it is now available and ready to be released into your PayPal account, but we were informed by Thao Vu that the amount paid including the additional payment is for her rent and the Mover Agent fee. Therefore, Our Security Department and our User Protection Policy suggested that you are to wire the additional payment ($726.00 SGD and $100.00 SGD for western union charges) to the Mover Agent and send us the proof (Scanned Copy of the transfer receipt) for Verification so that we can be sure that both you and Thao Vu are very safe. The total sum of $4,036.00 SGD will be released into your Account immediately after we verify that the fee has truly been transferred.

 

 

 

I find it strange the email says "you've got money" and " Funds is now available "both went to my junk mail.I want to help her but I really do not want to fork out my own money first to help her - a stranger before I see the money is transfered to my own account for sure. But now she made it such a way ,if I do not help her to pay the mover using my own money, paypal won't release my fund.

 

Can anyone advice me whether these emails are real.Are they scam? . Is there any simpler solution to this situation. If she is not scam, I still want to rent the room to her.But I need to protect myself first.

 

 

Many many thanks in advance.

 

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34 REPLIES 34

DPCreations
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

This is a SCAM, big time.  Hopefully, you did not send any money; it would be unrecoverable!!!

The emails are NOT from PayPal.  Check your PayPal account; there are not funds being paid.

It is best to NEVER EVER respond to this type of email; never ever disclose to the scammer that it is your email address.  You fell for the first email by responding; hopefully, the only thing the scammer got was confirmation of your email address and gullibility.

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littlemeow
Contributor
Contributor

OMG ! Your reply scared the **bleep** out of me.  

Smiley Surprised

 

I did not send the money and did not intend to. This person made up a very believable story . I almost fell for it. Thanks to my always super kind heart. I just want to give this person benefits of doubt as I have never used paypal prior to this experience.

 

Thank you so much for reading my long winded question and the quick response.

 

Now I have another question. Now the scammer know my real name and email . Is there anything I can do to protect my account ?

Or Is there anything I have to understand / to make sure should I have any other transaction on paypal? 

 

Any advices are much appreciated. 

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littlemeow
Contributor
Contributor

Or is there any way I can do on my setting to ban this person from accessing my info ? 

 

 

This person is so good a con aritist.The email reads very much like an vietnamese. I'm so innocent.Woman Mad

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DPCreations
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

As long as you did not provide any passwords to your account you're OK.  Hopefully you did not provide any mailing address, either.

You should check your PayPal account and make sure there is no unknown activity.  There should not be.

It is so easy for scammers to mass mail to e-mail addresses because even if one out of 1,000 gets hooked, the scammers make money.  When it's your money, just go by the facts, no emotions and no big heart; that's just what scammers play on--emotions and free money.

 

What you can do is make sure this type of email is caught by your e-mail spam detector so you don't see it.  A good email spam filter can be very beneficial.

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raje0004
New Community Member

Hi,

 

Thanks a lot to littlemeow & DPCreations, literally I was in stress about holding someone's money in my paypal account until I read this thread. Really a big thanks to you guys. In fact, I thought of doing police complaint by today, if she did not move back her money. Just checked my PayPal account, her money was not there. I had received similar mail from same person claiming her name as (name) working as Cruise doctor. Mail received as below.

 

"

Your Fund is Now Available:

Hello (my name),


Your Funds has now been processed and it is now available and ready to be released into your PayPal account, but we were informed by (name) that the amount paid including the additional payment is for her rent and the Mover Agent fee. Therefore, Our Security Department and our User Protection Policy suggested that you are to wire the additional payment ($726.00 SGD and $100.00 SGD for western union charges) to the Mover Agent and send us the proof (Scanned Copy of the transfer receipt) for Verification so that we can be sure that both you and (name) are very safe. The total sum of $3,226.00 SGD will be released into your Account immediately after we verify that the fee has truly been transferred. 



Transfer Details:

                                Sender:    (name)

                 Transfer Method:    eCheck

      Amount:

 

 $3,226.00 SGD

Transaction ID:

 

03B15247598221109

     

Fund Status:      

 

Available

         

 

Sincerely,

PayPal "

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DPCreations
Frequent Advisor
Frequent Advisor

This type of email is signal of a big scam and not from PayPal.

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6842
Contributor
Contributor
I just got the scammers email. Same procedure as mention above. Please take note.
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ignatiuslau
New Community Member

Yeah. It's a scam. 
I just got it too. And i'm in Melbourne. 


Thanks for the heads up. 

Think i'm going to **bleep** around with her. 

 

 

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Peli
New Community Member
Hi Littlemeow and all, I received this email yesterday after posting an ad to rent out my room. When surfing the net, I came across your discussion. Anyone can confirm if the email content seems familiar? Will appreciate your reply. "Hello, Many thanks for your response,let me introduce myself. I am Thao Vu, 29 years nonsmoker Vietnamese lady coming to Singapore,I am doctor on cruise ship and I have limited time to surf the internet but I will find time to call you. I will like you to kindly calculate the total cost covering my first three months’ rent together with deposit but I will be staying long as soon as your room is available. I will also like you to kindly get back to me with some pictures of the room and your address for me to forward it to my mover agent to calculate the total cost of moving my stuffs to Singapore.I had attached a copy of my passport data page for you to have a picture of me. I will be waiting to read back from you."
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