Possible scam/phishing email

[mcdelaine2010]

Good morning, I have an advert for furniture and someone emailed me asking to buy via PayPal. They then advised that they needed a courier for pick up and would send their fees which I would need to transfer via Western Union before a date can be confirmed. Got an email from “PayPal” stating money pending and secure until I send £200 courier fees via a western union???? I’m thinking this is a scam? Never experienced this before. Thanks in advance for any help. Obviously I’ve not sent any money!

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@mcdelaine2010

This is a typical scam ..................

They encourage you to accept a 'direct' Paypal payment and don't quibble on cost or want to view anything.
No funds or activity of the transaction shows in your Paypal account and any emails 'may' go into your junk or spam folders.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't because they don't actually have a Paypal account and have no intention of paying you.
It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.

The 'fake' paypal email will tell you that the buyer has paid for the item + shipping costs but you must send those shipping costs to the courier/ shipping agent via western union, moneygram or walmart etc BEFORE the funds are released to you.
They are not interested in the item, they just want the western union etc funds and you will never see money in your paypal balance.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal NEVER expect you to use a rival money transfer service eg Moneygram or Western Union etc.
Also their is no seller protection on paypal for any item that is collected by the buyer.

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[Tintintin]

Oh dear, exactly the same situation here. I just posted my item this morning and someone emailed me saying she's purchasing for a family because she is disabled. Due to her disability, she needed to hire a courier to collect my furnitures and already sent the full payment plus the courier fee of £200. Now she is asking for me to pay the 200 to a money transfer BEFORE the said "paypal transaction" will be completed! I replied to her email that I'm no longer interrsted and blocked her. There was not a single transaction on my paypal account and the email is very suspiscious, with a return address of Gmail account named <removed>