Scams/phishing

[Wh48]

Hi require some help selling something online sent a paypal invoice request for payment the buyer has emailed me with a request to pay western union some money before the agreed amount will show in my paypal account is this a scam. Have repoted to spoof. Buyer is still emailing says money will not show until i email paypal with proof of payment to western union. Very unsure.

[MTS_Jennifer]

That is indeed a scam. PayPal will never require a Western Union Deposit to process payments. You did the right thing in sending the email to the PayPal Spoof Team. The way that PayPal works is that the buyer pays using a funding source from their PayPal Account. PayPal sends the funds to your PayPal Account minus the rates and fees. We will never require a deposit to Western Union to receive funds. 

Thank you,

Jennifer

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Wh48

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

They may buy on Ebay but they use an anonymous or hijacked Ebay account and DO NOT have a Paypal account so they can't use Ebay checkout. They encourage you to accept a 'direct' Paypal payment and may ask you to send the item internationally.
No funds or activity of the transaction shows in your Paypal account and any emails 'may' go into your junk or spam folders.

They don't quibble on cost and may also say they can't view the item as they are disabled or working abroad etc etc but they will arrange a shipping agent to collect it.

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.
They will tell you that the payment is released when you provide paypal with a tracking/shipping number......this won't happen.

OR
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 do not tell you to send trackable, they advise it for selling protection but it is not compulsory.
Paypal NEVER expect you to use a rival money transfer service eg Moneygram or Western Union etc.

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[Wh48]

Thanks i thought so.

[jrallen66]

These are the fake emails I was sent. Asking for a bank transfer for £300 to pay courier! <removed> <removed> If they wasn’t so obviously greedy, I may have fallen into the trap. They also had a convenient help link which unbeknown to me that being fake I emailed and said I want to cancel the transaction. Suspicion arose when my reply was, it’s not the buyers fault and money was pending (98%) on the basis of me transferring money to a given account. Which no way was I going to do. Therefore replied to fake buyer and said I was cancelling and reposting my item for sale. He then replied to me that he was going to report me to Paypal as I was not following their fake request and their fake confirmation that it is 100% secure and in both interest. Also report me to the police! Obviously this is now scaremongering tactics and one last ditch attempt for me to buckle. I just replied and said do what you want, your not having the money. Never had another email reply. SO BEWARE!! These horrible Phishing Scammers are out there! Thanks

[kernowlass]

@jrallen66

Best once you know to ignore them and do not reply.

Then they just move on to the next victim, otherwise if you call them names or tease them etc they have been known to sign your email address up to some unsavoury websites.