Examples of Suspected Fraud/Fake Emails

[PayPal_Adrian]

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

[bigbuyz]

TOTAL SCAM!  Craigslist actually has security postings regarding this stuff. DO NOT send them ANY information! Legal threats are garbage, only a last hope for reeling in some sucker. To those posting on Craigslist, Kijiji, etc., deal only face to face, in cash. Verify buyers and sellers with a confirmed address. No PayPal!! (It's pretty much a scam tip-off). If you're required to complete a deal in a "parking lot", be wary! Get license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions, especially if you're not comfortable with identifying possible fake money. No checks!  Be careful out there. Too many thugs willing to rip you off. 

[Markdon]

Hi there,

Can someone help me with the following?

I'm selling my vehicle on Autotrader and someone wants to purchase it and pay through paypal. I've just been corresponding with this person via email. They claim to be out of country and can't view or pick up the vehicle so they want a third party to retrieve the vehicle upon sale. So, they claim to have put the sale amount in a pending payment to me via paypal. But first I need to send $750 to someone for them to pick up my vehicle. The buyer is including the $750 on top of the sale price.

The buyer said that once I wire the $750 to this other person and provide proof to Paypal of the wire transfer then the entire sale price amount will be released into my account.  Sounds fishy, right?

I'm pretty sure paypal doesn't do this but I'm checking to make sure. I've forwarded the various emails to Paypal fraud department for verification. The emails that I received from "paypal" are from some other URL.

Here is a sample of one of those emails... (this is supposed to be from paypal)

Hello:
 
               We want to inform you that the money has been deducted from the buyer's account but will not be credited into your account until we receive the information or proof that the said amount which the buyer requested has been sent out to the bearer via WESTERN UNION TRANSFER. A total amount of  $5000.00 CAD has been deducted from the buyer's account and will be credited into your account as soon as we receive the requested information above.
 
After we receive the payment details from you for security purpose, your account will be credited at once, Our system has witness new upgrades, Please don't be surprised if you see us requesting for strange information and forwarding you to new customer attendants, its due to the amount of fraud going on involving our name which we are trying all our best to limit and put a stop to. As soon as we receive the requested information from you, your account will be credited. 
 
All you have to do is go to any WESTERN UNION OUTLET OR A POST OFFICE closer to you with the cash as they make WESTERN UNION TRANSFER, send it to the bearer on the address provided by the buyer below, after which a receipt will be issued to you at the agency, you will then email a scanned copy of the receipt to our  customer care service at Onlinequiry @ consultant .com for verification purpose so as for your account to be credited. Below is the address provided by the buyer which the money will be sent to:
 
Edward <removed>
(address given is in Texas somewhere)

----------------

I appreciate any input that can be given here.

Thanks,

Markdon

[Chicki]

This is a scam!!!!

Also, when paypal emails you, they include your name, so thats one way to tell. But anyways paypal has no partnership type thing wwith western union. If you send that money, you'll never see it again.

[Daimos]

Hi, I posted an ad on craigslist for the Toronto region.  I received an email back from someone who claims to be in St.John's New Foundland.  She says she'll buy the product because she deems it affordable, and she'll pay 50$ for shipping(which is actually what I'd charge her anyways).  She has requested my paypal email address.  In turn, I have asked her for her paypal address and plan on sending her an invoice instead.  Am I doing the right thing here to protect myself?  She hasn't asked me to ship it with some nonsense company either.  I'll choose the shipping and go with UPS. 

[Daimos]

Actually, she wants me to send it via Canada Post.  Sounds safe, right? 

[cLopez]

I got the same girl , is her name Janet <removed> ? she asked to send my shoes via ups and she'd pay 60$ shipping on top of 100$ shoes which im selling , she asks for the tracking number which i did give to her after i sent the shoes , so i gave it to her and all of a sudden she cant send the money cause her account is a "business" account which has a minimum of 500$ that she can send out ... so she sent 160$ and now its saying she only has a min of 500 and she asked me to send another 340 to her which apparently ill get back along with the 160$ payment she owes me ... is this a scam ? what can i do ?

[Sampson5]

I had some fun with Janet <removed> the past two days.

Daimos, don't ship it, she is a fraud.

cLopez, stop right there and cut the loss.

She offered to buy my Alienware m11X laptop and asked me to ship to her cousin in Malaysia.  After I sent her my payment request at her co.uk email (strange how a St. John person has a UK email?  She claims it's her finance's email).   I received 2 email from paypal.ca requesting that I enter shipping confirmation in order to receive the funds.  I called up Paypal CSR and they confirmed that the email address is a spoof and it's not Paypal's practice to withhold funds.  There are no Paypal.ca, only paypal.com with "intl" somewhere in the line.  She tries to lure you to ship the item then she will not pay you for it.  In the future, always try to have payment confirmed and cleared in your Paypal account before you ship your goods.  Otherwise it might be too late.  I have already reported her to Paypal, I am not sure what actions they will undertake.

Let me know how it goes, hope it's not too late.

[ollie0822]

I just got hit by Helen.   She said she sent the money but I have not shipped the product.     What do i do?  I just read this thank god!!!!

[Sampson5]

Ollie

Depends if your situation is identical to mine.  For my case, even though she claims she sent the money and I received 2 emails from a spoof source that money was sent, I did not receive confirmation from Paypal that money was received.  Afterall, you got to receive money in your Paypal account first right?  Therefore, don't click on any links from emails (critical) but go to your web browser and manually key in the Paypal web address.  Log in, and see if the money was delivered as promised.  If it is delivered, then you should honor your side of the deal.  If not, then let the buyer know you simply can't ship until payment is made in Paypal and cleared.  Once the money is cleared, you should be in a no loss situation.  Shipping before you receive the money will put yourself at a very high risk.

I am working on a site that will improve on these sort of scam, hopefully it will be available by the fall.

Hope this helps.

Sampson

[phbthh]

I really hope you people are posting here just to pat yourselves on your backs. Really? Is it a scam? You have to question it? 

Here's the deal.

1. If they haven't sent money and want you to ship..... it's a scam.

2. If they say they sent money but it's not in your account.... it's a scam.

3. if they say you need to send them money.... it's a scam.

4. (this one is a little more difficult). If it circumvents Paypals buyer protection.... it's a scam.

Is there any business out there that would do these things? If not, why should you.