Scam?

[frodriguez8705]

I Just received this e-mail today and I wasnt sure if it was a scam or not. The first sign that this looked fishy was that it sent the e-mail to my secondary email account and i haven't received anything in my primary (which is where I ALWAYS get paypal emails)  This is what it said:

Dear Member,

As part of our efforts to provide a safe and secure environment for the
online community, we regularly screen account activity.
Our review of your account has identified an issue regarding its safe use.
We have placed a restriction on your account as a precaution.

To lift the restriction we will require some further information from you.

We have sent you an attachment which contains all the necessary steps in order to restore your account access.
Download and open it in your browser.
After we have gathered the necessary information, you will regain full access to your account.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

PayPal Review Department

[dascoyne]

I got a similar email:

I presume this one's the same scam, right?

Dear PayPal Customer,

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal 
system. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.We 
requested information from you for the following reason:

Our system detected unusual activity.

Case ID Number: PP-316-510-611

This is a final reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible. Please click 
the link below to continue:

http://www.paypal-sr.com/us/?cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-submit

Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access. 
We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.

In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement, your account access will remain 
limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your 
account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further 
limitations or eventual account closure. We encourage you to log in to your 
PayPal account as soon as possible to help avoid this. 

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that 
this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We 
apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department

[platonicbomb]

paypal-sr.com? it's not even a paypal address.

[pinaybags]

i also received that messages... i really thought its from paypal, here is the address ...service@PayPal" <onlinehelpcentres*******>

imagine that! if i didnt googled tha shipment address that the buyer sent me i will not realize that its a scam... good thing i checked... yeah they are offering $650 for the item and $80 for the shipping...

i am just a newbie and all i received are from scams... all of them are from nigeria and same listing... telling me that i should send the goods to their cousin in  west africa.. im really depressed for what just happened. good thing its not too late.. i hate them

[surplusdealdude]

Well, scammers concentrate on newbies because they're the "low-hanging fruit", so to speak.

If you're selling on ebay, especially with high-scam items, you need to do some research as to what an acceptable price is, then sell it in Fixed price, with the "Immediate Payment Required" box checked off - then the listing stays up until the item is really paid for in Paypal.  And only sell in North America.

It's really good scammer repellant, all you have to do is turn down the offers to buy it outside ebay.

[pinaybags]

thank you big time! reallly have to be careful now. im selling to earn money for my kid not to be scammed by someone. thanks thanks!

[anthonypanto]

same deal here.  my first time using paypal and ebay, i got the onlinehelpcentres *****.  his email is FrankAustin01 *****what held me up was of course a long line at the post office, I was actually rushing to ship it out.  but i received three emails with many errors and he was rushing me.

then he sent other emails answering the wrong questions.  and messed up twice with the zip code info to Nigeria.

glad for the long line at the post office.  over paying for the item and extra for shipping, i should have known..

Anthony

[gardenguru]

Wow, somehow I thought using PaPal was secure and I am finding out that nothing seems to be and you need to rely on your intuition to use or not use anything on line.  I guess the credit card is safe because you can cancel discretely when you do not receive the merchandise.  Reporting fraud to the credit card company pulls more weight than what I am seeing on PayPal so far.  Somehow these scammers need  to get shocked into reality when using corporate logos and corporate signatures as in PayPal.  What will be the safe answer? 

[surplusdealdude]

---

@gardenguru wrote:

Wow, somehow I thought using PaPal was secure and I am finding out that nothing seems to be and you need to rely on your intuition to use or not use anything on line.  I guess the credit card is safe because you can cancel discretely when you do not receive the merchandise.  Reporting fraud to the credit card company pulls more weight than what I am seeing on PayPal so far.  Somehow these scammers need  to get shocked into reality when using corporate logos and corporate signatures as in PayPal.  What will be the safe answer? 

---

Paypal IS secure if you follow the rules, but you are always your own first line of defence against scams.

Put a security key on your paypal account so it can't be hacked - it's in the security center, costs $5.

ALWAYS use a credit card to pay for goods - it's an extra layer of protection.

NEVER use an email link to signin to Paypal, always go from your browser.

If it looks too good to be true, it's a scam.  Not every single time, but the odds are NOT in your favour.  Scams work on GREED.  If you aren't greedy, they won't work.

Never ship an item until you see the money in your paypal account, no matter what an email says, no matter what a buyer says.

[ElenaW]

Me too, I got the exact same letter from "her" on my Craigslist Ad. He, he, I smelled it right away and goggled the name... imagine a missionary riding a heavy BMW R1150 GS? Yea right!!!

So far I had 3 scamers on this one add on CL, getting tired of it!!!

[gardenguru]

Great that you smelled the rat.  Liked your story and hope you find a real buyer.