Phishing/Scam/Fraud?

[_KO]

Hi... So I decided I was going to sell my prom dress on kijiji since I wasn't going to wear it again... I put my phone number in the description and so someone contacted me and asked me if I'm still selling it so I answered yes. Basically the person said she wasn't in town so they'd send a pick-up agent to get the dress but she never cared to mention that I had to pay for it... So she asked me to send her my paypal email and I didn't really have one until now so I used my sister's and she didn't mind... But I received an email instead of a notification on paypal and it said she paid 380$ which is 130$ more than my dress was and it said that I had to go to the nearest MoneyGram and send 130$ to an agent from Nigeria... I'm from Canada. Also there was no money transfers on my paypal. So I started to be suspicious of this person. I nicely asked her to cancel it since I haven't claimed anything. She kept on insisting she couldn't cancel it because paypal had her money and wouldn't release it until I pay the amount of 130$. She threaten me of reporting me to the paypal security and she did so I received a bunch of email and one of them said I'd be jailed for 4 months if I didn't follow the instructions. I started making research on known paypal scam and I decided to send a dispute request. Should I be worried? Is this clearly a scam? Or am I paranoid?

[kernowlass]

@_KO

THIS IS A TYPICAL PAYPAL SCAM.

They encourage you to use paypal and often ask you to send the item as a gift to a relative somewhere often Nigeria.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't.

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.

If the item requires shipping they will tell you that they will pay you extra and you must pay the agent via western union / moneygram 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.

They also threaten legal action...have a laugh at that one and ignore it as its rubbish.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send trackable, they advise it for seller protection etc but it is not compulsory.

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.

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[_KO]

Oh okay wow... Thanks a lot! So he can't hack into our stuff if he/she has my cellphone number and my sister's paypal email? 😕

[kernowlass]

@_KO

As long as they don't have your paypal password then you should be fine, once they know they can't scam you they will move on to the next victim.

[_KO]

THANKS! 😄