Asked for money. Send to an account not the asker. Asked to take snapshot once done.

[Rglater]

Online acquaintance of two years asked for 25 dollars for parents. Odd, but not impossible question. However, he wants the money sent to a PayPal account not his own and then send a screenshot. That feels like a red flag I just don’t see where the angle is.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @Rglater, 

Thank you for your post and for your caution with an unusual request. It's good that you came here to ask about it.

When there's a situation with unusual circumstances, it's usually best to question it, and to listen to your gut if it's telling you to avoid it. The factors that are weird:

- The request is unexpected. This could be a result of identity theft. If your friend's social media account or email account is compromised, they could be reaching out to friends with this request. It could be others as well as yourself.

- The account is not theirs. This is another checkmark in the possible identity theft column. It could be the fraudster's account, or more likely, the account of a different victim, where the fraudster was able to access the account with the victim's password and exit the funds. It could also be a step toward another scam, where the recipient is a potential victim who is waiting for a payment for "proof" that they are dealing with a legitimate entity, before being taken in for a much larger scam.

- They requested a screenshot. This could be a screenshot that they intend to edit and use in another scam as "proof" that they sent a payment that they did not send.

These are just possible scenarios. Fraudsters are creative and new types of fraud are thought up all the time. The best protection besides the knowledge of existing common scams is that gut feeling of yours, where it tells you that something isn't right. Could this all be on the level? Anything is possible, but in this case, not probable.

I hope this is helpful!

Olivia