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

[hawk86]

Today my husband received an e-mail alerting to him to a purchase on a paypal account.  That e-mail address is not linked to a paypal account.  I cannot find a way to report this issue to paypal.

[Tenbears]

Go to https://www.paypal.com/selfhelp=dbd135c82a to resolved your account. The security of your PaypaI account is important to use and we want to work with you to protected it.If you need help or want to ask for something, please call us at 800 56 330, Monday to Friday, at. From 09.00 to 17.30. Please note that opening hours may vary in connection with public holidays and public holidays.

[swissedi]

hi all 

I am novice to PayPal and do not know the how the Emails from PayPal and their security works..

My issue: someone outside Switzerland bought something from me and suggested PayPal -  so call Louise from FRANCE already sent money via PayPal. 

I got below email which say I got money and its actually in the my PayPall account visible, but there is a "disclaimer" ..  

about "money will be only be accessible if I enter tracking number and someone authorize afterwards the shipment.

My concerns:

- normal Economy-Post-Package does not have tracking number 

- Recipient (Swiss Address) is not Buyer (France)

-  What is suspicious to me is the "gmail" address 

---Orginal  Email from <removed>

Le paiement a été effectué avec succès vous devez procéder à l'envoi du colis dès réception de la notification PayPal. Pour ce faite nous vous prions de bien vouloir nous confirmer que vous avez procédé à l'envoi du colis en nous remettant le numéro de suivi/tracking par courrier mail à l'adresse :..... email deleted  afin de pouvoir débloquer vos fonds qui sont en instance sur notre Serveur International dans les plus brefs délais.

--

[Oregon11]

@swissedi

PayPal doesn't send emails from Gmail addresses. This is definitely a scam/fake email. 

PayPal emails will always address you by your first and last names or your business name. If you're ever unsure of an email, don't click any links in the email. Go to the website directly and log in to see if you have any notices or transactions in your PayPal account. If you're not seeing activity in your account, its safe to say you didn't receive any funds.

Here are PayPal links with details on fake emails and scams.

https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/scams-on-craigslist-and-other-classifieds-websites-faq30...

https://www.paypal.com/ch/selfhelp/article/how-to-spot-fraudulent-emails,-and-what-to-do-if-you-rece...

[matjmenard]

Selling something on letgo to someone who wants to do a paypal transaction. Email claims that I won't get paid until item ships and it's from <removed> I have to send tracking info to this email before the money transfers complete. Is this real or not? The logos and everything are there the email looks real, but I don't want to continue unless this is a sure thing. Here is the email content:

Hello (My email)

You are required to ship out the item and get back to us with the tracking number. Andrew <removed> has sent you a Friend and Family PayPal Payment, The PayPal Charges will be deducted from the buyer's Account. Click here to contact the PayPal Agent in charge of this transaction.(Agent. Shara <removed>) Express Checkout Payment Sent (Unique Transaction ID #0TR19308DU070732T) Original Transaction Date Type Status Details Amount May 16,2018 Payment To: (My Email) Completed ... $900.00 USD Related Transaction Date Type Status Details Amount May 16, 2018 Charge From Credit Card Completed Your transfer from your credit card to your PayPal account is complete. $900.00 USD Funding Type: Credit Card Funding Source: $900.00 USD Visa Card XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-<removed> This transaction will appear on your bill as "PAYPAL". You can report a transaction problem in the Resolution Center within 45 days of this payment.Have a problem with this transaction? Thank you for using PayPal

[PayPal_Michelle]

Hello @matjmenard!

I just wanted to jump in to let you know that this email is 100% not from us and please do not ship the item. As a general rule with these kinds of scams, if it is important enough for us to email you about, then there will be record of it in the PayPal account itself. If you possibly used the links in the email, please be sure to change your password and it would be wise to run a virus scan on your computer. I am so very sorry that you received this. 

😞

Thank you,

Michelle

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[Cyanic]

Hi Team, I sold an item using a platform called gumtree in Australia. I sent a "recieve" request for the value of 1400 for this item and it is still pending. The scam i believe is that i recieved an email from paypal acknowledging the payment had been made and asking for the shipping details to confirm the item was sent so the funds would be released. I did as asked and it looked legit. However i have noticed that the email addresses dont match the one from the initial request AND i have just been asked to pay money to settle a difference via Western Union to Cyrus.... The item has already been shipped and delivery. What can I do and coukd I recover my loss? Thanks in advance!

[jbag]

I received an EMail telling me that my accoiunt is unfortunately enrolled in Identity Verification Ticket, then a number.  The EMail is trying to get me to click on a button saying "Update My Account".  This looks like a scam to me.  When I go onto my Paypal account I don't see any reference to this problem.  Does anyone know about this?

[Anonymous_User]

Probably a spoof.

* Forward the entire email to:    spoof@paypal.com.
* Do not alter the subject line or forward the message as an attachment.
* Delete the suspicious email from your inbox.
* Never click on any links within the email or open any attachments.

Look at the email address domain and wording in the email, grammar, salutation, spelling, etc.  If any of these are questionable, it's most likely a spoof.

[bigoliviersammy]

I'm selling an item and the interested party has informed me that he sent the payment.  I have received an email from 'PayPal Service' asking me to send the shipping reference for the item before the money can be moved to my account.  They want the reference to be sent to '******@consultant.com'.  This was obviously quite odd.  The interested party would also like the item posted to London, which isn't like Nigeria or anything so i wasn't as worried. But am still cautious. What shall i do? Is this a scam? 

Does paypal use this address?