Estimates and receiving payment

[Blondeshorty202]

My customer has requested they pay via PayPal. According to the customer, they have sent me an estimate, which I have received an email about. The sending email address is completely not relatable to PayPal, with the word messenger repeated within the address (I won’t post the actual email) Are all estimates sent from PayPal and if so, what would the address be? The “estimate“email states I need to purchase £200 BitCoin before I receive the estimated payment, once I purchase the Bitcoin, it will be held for verification purposes and refunded once completed. Is this the legitimate process? Please help me as it’s a big payment that I’m owed.

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Blondeshorty202 

You never pay any upfront fee as a seller.

Ignore scammers that send fake Paypal emails telling you that you need to pay an upfront fee to verify/upgrade/or any other reason to 'accept' a payment.

You would certainly never have to send funds via another payment processor/bitcoins/ or tokens/vouchers of any sort.

Any fee is auto deducted by Paypal at the same instant the remainder of the payment is credited to your Paypal account balance.

No funds in your balance = you have not yet been paid, even pending/held payments will still show in your Paypal account activity.

[Blondeshorty202]

Thank you so much for your help!! Advice noted and acted upon! I’ve reported all details to the relevant teams. Will not be fooled. Thanks again!