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

[kernowlass]

@counterywoods

If there is a link for you to ''cancel'' the transaction or ''log in'' for further info then its a spoof.

[CATOWEDO]

I've been trying to sell something on the Canadian Kijiji site and this American with the Illinios zipcode was very pushy on getting my email, and thankfully I've googled about this and similar plans... but I want to report the e-mail: [removed due to privacy concerns] and I'm too shy to call in or really..

[ShiningBlack]

Hi, I'm from Vancouver, BC.

Yesterday I put my old iMac on local craigslist.

This morning, I got text from Californian-area-code-telephone-number at 5:00AM.

It said that this guy "Tommy <removed>" wants to buy my iMac for his cousins birthday present.

He will pay me with extra $100 thru PayPal, if I send it directly to his cousin.

California, 5:00AM, old iMac for BIRTHDAY PRESENT?

It's already suspicicious, isn't it?

But I didn't realize at that time, so I sent my paypal.me link.

Then this "Tommy" said he need email address to send money.

Then this "payment confirmation email" came into my inbox.

It said that his payment is pending by PayPal, and to receive it I need to send shipment tracking number.

LOL

Here's the address of his "cousin":

<removed>

Hmm....Nigeria.

Let me check how much shipping cost it will be......$1441!!

No deal, man!! lol

Then I checked the "confirmation email" thoroughly,

and it had these super-suspicicious email address for "support".

<removed>

.ru! .ru!! .ru!!! RUSSIA!!!!

Why in the **bleep** PayPal be using Russian domain name for support!?

So I googled the email address and found out it was confirmed fraud.

I just forwarded the email to spoof@paypal.com, and they assured it.

Yes it was a fraud!!

Everyone who read this, Be Aware!

There is no easy extra $100!

[Carsonmelo]

i received an email that said this and then it made me log in and there were no problems... this was the messege

 Review your PayPal account limited statement

Hi,

We understand it may be frustrating not to have full access to your PayPal account. We want to work with you to get your account back to normal as quickly as possible.

Download the attachment to verify your Profile information and restore your account access. 

Regards,

Paypal.

[BrendaJo71]

paypal Sep 13, 2017 13:24:29 PDT Transaction ID: F9A833A00DC2AB326 Hello, You sent a payment of $62.85 USD to Nations Photo Lab LLC <removed>If you did not initiate this transaction, we recommend that you go to: Manage/Cancel Transaction It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in your account. Merchant Nations Photo Lab LLC info at nationsphotolab dot com Instructions to merchant You haven't entered any instructions. Shipping address - confirmed Shipping details The seller hasn’t provided any shipping details yet. Get a credit decision in seconds. With the PayPal Cashback Mastercard, earn 2% cash back on everything you buy. Description Unit price Qty Amount Nations Photo Lab $62.85 USD 1 $62.85 USD Subtotal $62.85 USD Total $62.85 USD Payment $62.85 USD Charge will appear on your credit card statement as "PAYPAL *NPL" Payment sent to <removed> Invoice ID: WEB851470296 Issues with this transaction? You have 180 days from the date of the transaction to open a dispute in the Resolution Center. Questions? Go to the Help Center at &amp;lt;a href="&lt;a href="<a href="http://www.paypal.com/help" target="_blank">http://www.paypal.com/help</a>" target="_blank"&gt;<a href="http://www.paypal.com/help&lt;/a" target="_blank">http://www.paypal.com/help&lt;/a</a>&gt;" target="_blank"&amp;gt;&lt;a href="<a href="http://www.paypal.com/help&amp;lt;/a" target="_blank">http://www.paypal.com/help&amp;lt;/a</a>" target="_blank"&gt;<a href="http://www.paypal.com/help&amp;lt;/a&lt;/a&gt;&amp;gt" target="_blank">www.paypal.com/help&amp;lt;/a&lt;/a&gt;&amp;gt</a>;. Get verified - Pay from your bank account and you're 100% protected against unauthorized payments sent from your PayPal account. Log in and click the Get verified link below your name. Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click Help in the top right corner of any PayPal page. You can receive plain text emails instead of HTML emails. To change your Notifications preferences, log in to your account, go to your Profile, and click My settings. Copyright © 1999-2017 PayPal, Inc. All rights reserved. PayPal is located at 2211 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95131. PayPal PPX48B77F4E:A514E54BF But its not showing in my summary and I havent used paypal in months

[H_Bizzle420]

I received this same email on the same day as you. I never even used paypal in my life! I was kinda hoping someone ordered me something and just used my email or something. Lol. Sad to find out it was a scam. Even though I had an idea thats what it was

[PayPal_Rich]

Hi BrendaJo71,

I can certainly understand how fake emails can be unsettling, especially when they are very well done. The following article has excellent advice for identifying and reporting these threats. 

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/brc/safety-and-security-phishing

Remember, if you are worried something is wrong with your account it is always best to sign into your PayPal account. Any updates or urgent messages would be available there in your secure Message Center. 

I hope you find this information helpful in your protecting yourself and your account. 

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters always point in the right direction. 
- Irish Proverb

[KeybladeMaster]

I got this email yesterday and i freaked out, the "Upgrade your account" button leads to some "gutti" syte that i'm not going to visit.

I'm pretty sure this is an scam, but i want to be sure.

By the way, this was sent to my main email and not to my PayPal email, if that helps.

[kernowlass]

@KeybladeMaster

If its a spoof, DO NOT USE ANY LINK.

Firstly if the email addressed you as ''Dear Member'' / ''Customer'' / ''Client'' OR your ''email address'' then that confirms its a spoof as paypal would address you by your full name eg Dear John Smith.

Secondly if there was a link OR attachment in that email to ''cancel'' the transaction or ''confirm'' any details then again it would be a spoof.

If there was a problem with your account paypal would not ask you to click on an unsafe link in an email or by downloading an attachment, they would direct you to log in normally and go to the resolution or the message centre for more information.

More info here >>
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/how-to-spot-fake-emails-faq2340/2

[AnthonyG28]

You are advised now to go to any western union Outlet/Office and send the excess fund of $180.00 USD to (Augustina <removed>) and get back to us with the western union details so we can verify and get your account credited without any further delay. We are sorry for every inconveniences this might cause you. Below is the Western union payment detail provided by your buyer which the excess fund ($180.00 USD) will be sent to: Full Name: Augustina <removed> City: Westerville State: Ohio Zip code: <removed>