Examples of Suspected Fraud/Fake Emails

[PayPal_Adrian]

Hello everyone!

One of the greatest strengths consumers possess against fraud and phishing is education and collaboration.  To help support your safety online, I'm going to open this special thread up for you.  Here, you can post examples of what you believe to be attempts by individuals to defraud you or others of their hard earned valuables and money. 

Before we begin, a few housekeeping points:

• We will be using this as a "master thread," so if we find an example in other areas of the boards, we may merge the post into this one.

• For everyone's safety, please remove any last names or contact information (including email addresses) from your examples.  In many instances, the names provided by fraudsters are fake or may actually be the name of someone they already defrauded. 

• On that same note, please don't ever attempt to confront a fraudster or attempt to track them down.  Instead, turn the information you do have over to your local authorities. 

• Please also remove any links from your posts, as these could potentially go to spoofed or phishing websites.

Other than that, we only ask that you keep it productive and stay within the Forum Decorum and posting guidelines.  I'll be stopping in on a regular basis to clean house and comment on posts, so don't be surprised if you see my mug - or another moderator - stopping in to say hello! 

With that said, I'm going to start moving posts in, so you might see some older examples mixed in with the new posts.  I hope this thread becomes a great resource for everyone!

Stay safe,

Adrian

[Tw1ser]

Hello, same issue... I tried selling my laptop. A buyer was found, but the payment did not come in. They texted me from the number that was in the buyers account info asking for my PayPal email to pay me. I sent it to them, an hour later received a fake email from online_sales_safety at mail.com that looked like a legit PayPal email, it said that they paid another 200$ if I ship via USPS to 

Mike <removed>

<removed>

Ageg Lagos,

10005,

Nigeria.

[tilla99]

i have recently had the exact same thing happen to me, i was selling the item on ebay, i received multiple emails from paypal (which were not actually paypal) saying that the money has been sent. After sending the item i then received emails from a nigerian customs telling me i have to pay an additional 320$ otherwise the item will be destroyed. i contacted the postal company trying to get the item sent back, to find it has not even left the country!!! paypal will only address emails to your first and last name nothing else and the emails will definitely not go to spam!

[AshleyKuzatko]

Same thing happened to me today. Man going by the name of Kiddie <removed> who lives on <removed> in Brooklyn, NY, wanted to buy my new beats headphones. He was stationed in New York which seemed legtimate to me since he lived in the US but as soon as I said I was good with giving them to him he decided he wanted me to send them to his nephew in Nigeria going by the name of Johnson <removed>. who lives on <removed>, Agege, Lagos, Nigeria. So being a first time seller I did not know about all the scams that come out of Nigeria and he was willing to give me $100 just for shipping, when I knew the item would only cost me $25 to ship. When I was at the post office the man taking care of me began questioning if I knew this person and all the scams. Luckily he held my package for me and I contacted PayPal and they were amazing when helping, as was Ebay. The key to knowing if it is a scam is if the money is not deposited into your account right away. If it is legit, the money will be placed in your account but you cannot touch it until the transaction is complete. Also, if any of the emails you recieve don'y simply just have "service" as the opening heading for the email it is a scam because my emails started with <removed> which is fake. Hopefully this helps someone in the future!

[Elhamf]

I got exactly the same msgs from exactly the same person. This time he was using the name Kenneth <removed>, and bought my $280 worth headphone. He told me he wants me to ship it to the same address that you said--Johnson <removed>k, <removed>, Lagos, Nigeria--as a birthday gift for his neice, who is an international student. He said he will pay an extra $150 for the shipping cost so that I would be happy to help him. I'm very upset. I trusted him, and sent the package paying for the shipping cost out of my pocket--$78-- and then I told him that I would prefer to return him the rest of $150. He told me you can buy a $50 itunes card and keep the rest. You can't beleive I did it!! I lost my $280 headphone, paied $78 for sgipping, and paid $50 for gift card.

[Meganjanellx]

I have gotten this scam TWICE in ONE day today! I posted my iphone 7 for sale on ebay and like 2 seconds later someone bought it so i was like ok cool and waited for his payment and they were like I need this sent to my son who is at university overseas I was like ok well where are they at and that they would have to change the shipping address to reflect the shipping charges and to protect myself in case you try to say that you never received it they were like hes in nigeria and then tried to tell me that they can trust me and a bunch of crap I was like nope and cancelled the order. Now I'm getting ready for bed and its been about 5 hours since I relisted my item and I get another message requesting my paypal email bc they just bought my item smdh like really! I am just going to take my item down and sell it through my local facebook group or something!

[BlockerBrothers]

Here is another one:

Ademi <removed>

<removed>
Festac,+23401
Lagos, Nigeria

[Sophia05]

I received a message from cell phone <removed>. His name is Douglas <removed>. This phone number is registered in Chicago, IL. He also suggested to send package to nephew in Nigeria named Joseph for his birthday with $100 extra. I was buying time while a friend of mine was running their data. Everthing came back as false information. I texted him that I do not send international packages, so he sent me a P.O Box address (another look out) to his "sister" Edna <removed>, <removed>, Philadelphia, PA 19142. One dead give away is that they're very persistent.

[Sim31]

Get offer from Hamish <removed> who want Birthday gift for his son in Nigeria . Thanks god I found this page. Probably new address to post with new name. Now is Williams <removed> <removed>, Itire Surulere 23401 Lagos, Nigeria

[teamfloyd84]

How the heck is he sending our fake paypal emails? I just had someone buy a camera from me and they paid $150 extra and I got an email from paypal saying i received funds but when i go to my paypal there's nothing. i put his address into google and the first thing that popped up was this page. I'm not sending out anything until I see money in my account. That's crazy.

[mrothko]

Just talked to someone with the number 1-323-916-9217 (and I am from San Francisco). 

The name was "Samantha <removed>" and she wanted to buy the lens for her son who is in college. I kept asking where he lives and why she can't just pick it up, but she avoided those questions. 

The address she gave me via PayPal was 

Chris <removed>

<removed>
Festac,+23401
Lagos, Nigeria.

When I responded to her and told her I wasn't going through with this, she got very defensive and suddenly as texting back quickly. Avoid this scam!!