Examples of Suspected Fraud/Fake Emails

PayPal_Adrian
PayPal Employee
PayPal Employee

Hello everyone!

 

One of the greatest strengths consumers possess against fraud and phishing is education and collaboration.  To help support your safety online, I'm going to open this special thread up for you.  Here, you can post examples of what you believe to be attempts by individuals to defraud you or others of their hard earned valuables and money. 

 

Before we begin, a few housekeeping points:

 

  • We will be using this as a "master thread," so if we find an example in other areas of the boards, we may merge the post into this one.

 

  • For everyone's safety, please remove any last names or contact information (including email addresses) from your examples.  In many instances, the names provided by fraudsters are fake or may actually be the name of someone they already defrauded. 

 

  • On that same note, please don't ever attempt to confront a fraudster or attempt to track them down.  Instead, turn the information you do have over to your local authorities. 

 

  • Please also remove any links from your posts, as these could potentially go to spoofed or phishing websites.

 

Other than that, we only ask that you keep it productive and stay within the Forum Decorum and posting guidelines.  I'll be stopping in on a regular basis to clean house and comment on posts, so don't be surprised if you see my mug - or another moderator - stopping in to say hello! 

  

 

With that said, I'm going to start moving posts in, so you might see some older examples mixed in with the new posts.  I hope this thread becomes a great resource for everyone!

 

Stay safe,

 

Adrian

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1,005 REPLIES 1,005

greengolfer
Contributor
Contributor

I'm selling my car & put it on AutoTrader.com. I got the same email as you from 2 people; one was a "biologist" at sea and the other was from a "sailor" at sea. Thanks to these posts, I didn't do business with them. It's a scam but I can't figure out how it works for them.

Beware of buyers who want to pay only with Paypal and claim to be 'at sea' without access to phone or bank account and offer to buy your vehicle sight-unseen...  

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phbthh
Contributor
Contributor

proof of delivery. they will pay, pick it up with their carrier, or themselves, then claim they never received it. You will have no proof of delivery and paypal will refund the money. 

 

although, since paypal is so aware of this, I am not sure why they would allow this, regardless of their policies. 

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Temp20230526Z
New Community Member

Hello I have gotten 2 of these type of scams with trying to sell my truck on Kijiji in ON. 1 was a gentleman from supposedly overseas and he portrayed himself to be a lawyer representing and insurance company. He even sent me a cheque that looks official but when I tried to contact the credit union it was sent from they were no longer in business and the other I received just yesterday and the gentleman is insisting to pay by paypal. Oh ya the first guy wanted me to send him $4900. back. HA that will never happen as when I took the cheque to the bank they checked it out and turned it over to the authorities.

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RonMon
New Community Member

Add Oceanographer to the list of occupations used by scammers.  

My scammer first contacted me by sms.  I responded to the email address that she (he or it?) gave in the text and this is the reply...

Thanks for the prompt reply,I will like to know the lowest price for
it,i want you to get back to me with more picture and the present
condition of it because i could not come over to inspect it, i am
buying it locally here (in Canada) as a birthday gift for my Son that
is living in Malaysia.
I am at sea at the moment as i am an Oceanographer (i work  on the
St-Lawrence river in Quebec.my office: Pilotes du Bas-St-Laurent] and
due to the nature of my work, phone calls is restricted. It was my son
that check your advert and sent you a text to contact me (his mother )
on my email address because i am currently offshore.
I am really sure he will be more than happy if i am able to purchase
it from you because this is what he want and chose from the Advert.
You need not worry yourself about how it will get to him there in
Malaysia as i have a contact of shipping company there that will be
handling the pick up and all the paper work.

 

Stay alert and be safe ppl,

 

Ron

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Margi
Contributor
Contributor

That is word for word the same message I got when I put my car on Kijiji and auto trader.

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islandview
New Community Member

Thank you so much for posting these questions.

 

I have received a similar request on a farm tractor we had posted on kijiji for sale.

 

It started out fine just a few questions then I got the following 2 e-mails

 

Just wanted to make sure nothing has been left out
Happy to purchase at your asking price and do you have a PayPal account,as i will be paying the with PayPal and have pick up done from your location as i am away at the moment.In the meantime,can you send me more pictures?
Regards
James

 

I replied that we did not have a paypal account and that I thought the cost to use it through our business was to

expensive and he replied.

 

I am sorry but i can only get to pay you with PayPal.It is easy to get an account,just go to www.paypal.com,all they need from you is a valid bank account.

 

Thank you all again as our business could not afford a scam like this.

 

How do I forward the e-mail adresses that this person used to paypal so someone else doesn't get

SCAMMED.

 

thanks

islandview

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PayPal_Adrian
PayPal Employee
PayPal Employee

If you receive a spoof email, forward it to us at spoof@paypal.com.  This allows us to review the email and register it with our fraud teams. 

 

Thanks!

 

Adrian

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JoyG
Member
Member

Hi ...

Darn it anyway. I received a very similar email in response to my posting on Craigslist.

His first email to me was asking 'Is this still available?' I replied yes it is then received the email about him paying by paypal. 

I have responded back but didn't send any of my PP info. Wish I'd seen this first. I'm still waiting for another email back from him. I've got the one who's a (marine engineer) ...  I posed some questions to him so we'll see. I have a feeling this is one to be added to your growing list.

 

IF there is a legitimate buyer in the future, I would like to know if I can use PayPal to receive the money on a large ticket item or not. Mine was for a cemetery plot. Can we use our ordinary account to accept or do we have to purchase a business account?

 

Too bad these people have nothing better to do.

I will send his email address to the spoof email address you specified.

Thanks for the heads up.

Now I'm sad because I really need this to sell.

 

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GMCDUALLY
Member
Member
I was just about to make the payment when i had this little problem
with the picking up, I got an email from my agent, He said he won't
come and pick it up unless i pay him the agent commission fee first in
order to be able to schedule a pick up time. I find it very hard to
pay him from here due to my disability and i can't send it online
because i don't have credit card. So i will like you to kindly help me
with this.. i will include the $800 they charged to pick it up (1st
class Service) to the payments i will send through PayPal. I will need
you to help me send the $800.00 included in the payment to my pick up
agent through Western Union Money Transfer. I will also include $50
for western union transfer fees. Please I'm very sorry for any
inconvenience this may cause you.
I will get back to you as soon as i have transferred the money to your account..
Thanks for your understanding.


--
Hi
Is it still for sale?get to me back as soon as possible.Thanks
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laino
Contributor
Contributor
@islandview wrote:

Thank you so much for posting these questions.

 

I have received a similar request on a farm tractor we had posted on kijiji for sale.

 

It started out fine just a few questions then I got the following 2 e-mails

 

Just wanted to make sure nothing has been left out
Happy to purchase at your asking price and do you have a PayPal account,as i will be paying the with PayPal and have pick up done from your location as i am away at the moment.In the meantime,can you send me more pictures?
Regards
James

 

I replied that we did not have a paypal account and that I thought the cost to use it through our business was to

expensive and he replied.

 

I am sorry but i can only get to pay you with PayPal.It is easy to get an account,just go to www.paypal.com,all they need from you is a valid bank account.

 

Thank you all again as our business could not afford a scam like this.

 

How do I forward the e-mail adresses that this person used to paypal so someone else doesn't get

SCAMMED.

 

thanks

islandview


This is exactly like what is happening to me right now. Almost word for word, over an antique sideboard. When there ...
The second email to me said "Hi,i just want to make sure the ad complete,i will purchase at your listed price,Payment will be sent using PayPal and i will handle the PayPal surcharge as well.I will arrange with someone to have this picked up from your location once i have paid as i am out of town at the moment.pls send me more pictures (if available) since i won't be be able to see this in person,what's the PayPal email to send funds to in order for me to pay you ASAP."

 

The fact that they  said that they would pay through PayPal like it's just gonna happen that way and that I the seller, doesn't get a choice in the matter, made me uneasy.  When I replied that I did not have a paypal account (I lied) the response was..."
"I am sorry but i can only get to pay you with PayPal . It is easy to get an account,just go to paypal. com, all they need from you is a valid bank account..i hope you don't mind getting one.you can make one in mins.when you do i will be able to send the money instantly. It is the fastest way i can make payment.So if you can make a paypal account it would be really good. When you are done with the registration send me the email used for the registration with PayPal so i can pay in."

 

I also say thank you for these posts, I also believe my "buyers" are fishy.  If I  send their email addresses to Paypal  they will look into them??

 

Laine

 

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