got (fake?) email saying I got the money but It not showing in my account (scam??)

[campbellswv]

I got 2 emails saying James Just Sent You Money with PayPal and Transaction Has Been Confirmed !!! Ship Now !!!  They said from googlemail.com on behalf of Paypal.com  I checked my paypal and there is no payment received and the buyer wants me to send the expensive item NOW...  Is this a scam??  Shouldnt the money be in my account??  The whole transaction is just off.   Thanks for any help.

[PayPal_Jason]

Hi campbellswv-

There are different things to consider here.

1.  Were you expecting a payment from someone?  If so, do you have multiple email addresses registered to your PayPal account?  If an email address is unconfirmed, the funds won't post to the balance until you've confirmed it, although you would get email notification of the payment at your email address.

2.  If you weren't expecting a payment, then you can disregard the email.  In fact, you can forward it to spoof@paypal.com to have PayPal verify whether or not it was legitimate.  Do not click on any links in the email, as those could be used by a phisher to download harmful content onto your computer or at least confirm that it's a valid email address for future phishing attempts. 

The bottom line is, unless you see a payment with some sort of status within PayPal (Completed or Pending), then an email saying you have a payment is not the only source you should use to confirm a payment has been received.    

Thanks,

Jason