Fraud, Nigeria

[gdowling1992]

WATCH OUT!!!
Fraud from 23401 Nigeria.

Have rang so many companies and nothing can be done even if you have insurance.  Never send to Nigeria.  Ever. You lose your money. I have lost 340GBP

[TwanaPassee]

Dear Financial Ombudsman Service,

Re: Paypal, Fraud and no compensation or claim

I have been a customer of Paypal for a number of years now and I am absolutely disgusted with their lack of response to my issue.

I sold an camera on Ebay for £285.00. On ebay there was a different address to the official sending address.

Once the payment was made, I received an email from paypal email address informing me that I have received this payment and if I want to get access to the funds I need to reply back to this email address with a tracking number due to the high number of fraud.

Looking at the email address, its hard to believe that it was not legitimate.

I then logged into my pay pal account and saw the funds within my account. This said pending. I then posted the item soon after and emailed the tracking number and didn’t received and acknowledgment after so I called paypal.

They then confirmed to me that nothing had gone in or out of my account at this time and that I was then a victim of fraud. They didn’t advise me of anything! Of course paypal are super users and have full access to my account but when im looking on my account it clearly says that the funds are in there. Does this not make them liable for a claim?

They just told me that they had no dealing with Nigeria and sent me an email about “how to prevent yourself from fraud”.

Which I felt was absolutely pointless after ive just experienced a great loss. My professional camera was worth £500 and sold it for £285.

I then spent hours in 3 different police stations, collection crime references, calls to royal mail trying to get my parcel stopped.

Today I called paypal who are refusing to hold any liability because they say they have no dealings with Nigeria.

As a customer, how would I know if pay pal don’t have any dealing with Nigeria until something like this happens?

Paypal advertise as being the most safe and secure method of payment and in their policies it shows that I am able to claim my money back.

I had called paypal to report this and constantly they told me there is nothing they can do. I was then advised to upload the evidence on the website and I did. Over a week had passed and I had not received any response.

I then contacted them again and they told me there is nothing that I could do.

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security  > paypaL POLICIES

Why isit possible for a stranger to have access to pay pal to send fraudulent emails from the official paypal email address and also make it look as though i have the funds in my account? I want paypal to take liability and compensate me for my loss. I dont understand how they could advertise being so safe yet i was not protected at all.

[tish18]

those kind of emails are not sent by paypal, paypal have no responsibility for them. They are completely fake and usually if you read them fully you will notice grammatical errors/spelling mistakes etc. Just always make sure you check your actually paypal account without following a link in an email and be aware that you should never ever send an item till the money is actually in your account

[Clairehmll]

I had the exact same thing happen to me I had no idea this was a thing. I am absolutely gutted that's happened, they need to get this stopped! I don't get how people can sleep at night knowing they've scammed many people. They should get an actual job and earn their own money instead of scrounging from other people and stealing. I went to many places and called the police because I sent out my camera the day before and royal mail or the police couldn't do anything about it, it is absolutely disgusting how their getting away with scamming people with these fake emails. Something needs to be done about these cretins.

[kernowlass]

What could be done?

They are normally in another country ie Nigeria where authorities over here have no jurisdiction.

The best thing is NEVER send items unless the funds are showing in your paypal account. 

[theginger06]

This is almost identical to emails I had received all that is changed is the name and I was selling an Ipod touch for £250 that money was going to help me through this university term I can't belive people would do this

[20lee_88]

The same e-mail a got today just the name is different ,the zipe code city everything is the same ,i hate this guys

[FlorentinaAndro]

It has just happened to me.. 

[Charlotte_c]

I have had the exact same expierience.

on ebay the user ghaihsaghass won the item i was selling.

In his orignal email through ebay he wanted the item sent to his USA address. He the requested a payment request through paypal which i did.

I didnt recieve any emails from PayPal to confirm payment had been made, and he started to chase me asking me to send the item as he had paid. He told me to check my junk mail which i did, and low and behold i found emails sposedly from PayPal and ebay confirming the money had been paid and was pending until i sent the item and replied with the tracking number.

He also gave a Nigerian address and said it was for his sons birthday.

I cancelled the listing on ebay and cancelled money request on paypal. I emailed him to say i know its fradulent and as of yet i have not heard back from him.

Never trsut anything that comes into you JUNK and always check with PayPal directly on the phone before sending anything.

[Aggy]

OMG, it sounds like my case which took a place today. This scammer apparently from USA " bought" the phone on ebay, but demanded to post it as a gift to his cousin to Nigeria. Using fake paypal emails. Thank God i contacted the paypal straight away and found out it was all fake. His letter:

Hello Mate,
    Sorry for the late responds,It is my pleasure to inform you that I have carried out the payment via PayPal and have add you the sum of £40 for the postage cost and i also have the payment receipt as a prove,I want it sent to my Cousin for her Christmans Gift,I would have asked you to post it to my eBay address in United State,but i don't know it will be urgent for me to be on a business trip, I've gone for a business trip, here is the delivery address below,I'm very sorry for the inconvenience i might have cause you I want you to ship the item today via ROYAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL SIGNED-FOR so that the item will get there as soon as possible, Please wrap the item carefully, write GIFT on the paper. Please use only ROYAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL SIGNED-FOR.

JOHN <removed>
<removed>
<removed>
<removed>
<removed>
NIGERIA

[245]

I had exactly the same