Urgent advice needed-it's killing me

[littlemeow]

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.

[Whac-A-Mole]

Dont give away your bank account number,another scam is to send out bank checks drawn on your bank account,

I have received 2 of these bank checks,they look very real with magnetic ink on the bottom,security logo and signed by the treasurer and drawn on major banks.

They pay for these checks and not cheap,someone has the machine to print these checks.

One common scheme is to send you more than you asked for,claiming his accountant made a mistake and ask you to western union the difference to another seller.

I show one check to my banker at Chase and he said he has encountered these cases before and he told me if I deposit this check ,Chase may close my account and never to do business with me.

I went to Wells Fargo bank and show them the other check  drawn on WFC and the personal bankers at the lobby all claimed it is a good check and I should not have problem cashing it,then they turned it over to a fraud investigator and he said it is fraud,they kept the check and I turned over the envelope which has a return address and the email I received from the buyer.

The buyer and the name of the person on the return envelope are different and live in different states,there is a ring involved.

They can print bank check,money order,even postal order.and dollar bills. 

[vajtravels]

It's 2017 now and I was sent the same email from this same Thao person who wanted to rent one of my rooms in London. When she was soo adamnet to pay 3 months rent and security I smelt a rat and found these threads helpful to uncover the scam.

Thanks everyone for sharing....

[Sumta]

Lol, she is trying( i think it is a she, doesnt really matter)

i just sent her a invoice using paypal and trippled the price on her, she didnt blink (also added non-refunable to the invoice)

is it bad to play with scammers?

[Rebecca_Keep]

I got the same email . Did she send you pictures?

[Rebecca_Keep]

I got the same email and she sent me pictures