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

[Zanman]

Tried to scam me also,

Said he wanted to buy an inverter from me and I must send it to his friend in Nigeria who works for America Refineries,

I don't seem to get Amerca Refineries in Nigeria at this address on google or any America Refineries in Nigeria,

He wanted me to send the parcel to: 

Name: ****

Address: ****

City: ****

Country: ****

Telephone number ****

The guy that emailed me ******

He also said he would be paying in R2000 extra for freight via Paypal

[thomasb96]

This just happened to me twice in a row.

Here are the numbers:

****

and

****

[jimipeters022]

has anyone found a solution, i just got **bleep** over and im not happy about it. i would rather resolve the issue on my own rather than taking on the whole company with my lawyers. can anyone help me get this resolved..... Im out on rent money and im being threatened by my landlord to get moving soon... im seriously **bleep** 

[stephmuuff]

OOMMMMMGGGGGG!!! I have the same suituation!!!! I posted an ad on kijiji of Ipione 6 64 G silver, for 1170, he paid me 1400 and ask me to ship it immidiately. I was just on the way to shipping, and i randomly check this number <removed> and it shows this!!! OMMMGGG thanks your your information soooooo much!! 

Be careful every one!!

[Frenchie2]

I just got duped with this exact scam! I'm heartbroken but I'm lucky that is wasn't for more (I've seen some people have lost hundreds of pounds). I can't believe you posted this 5 years ago and the scam is still getting people. I'll be spreading the word about this, I'm just sad that I didn't find this thread before hand!

[hisshan93]

OMG I literally just got an email today for a necklace....the sending address is; 

(Removed)

I was nervous to sent it to Nigeria so I googled the address and found this! So glad I googled it now. so thank you!!!!!!!!!!

[tbrat]

Hilarious!! I just had a responce from a craigslist add EXACT SAME THING!! Im selling a 3d projector an screen he never mentioned the the actual product but asked * do you still have it for sale *  and then got an email from him asking for my paypal email so he can send me the money... i was asking $800 he offerd to send me $950 to pay for shipping. he left me his cell which is a northern cali area code .. i asked where he was and he gave me this address ...

(Removed)

and told me he called his * friend * that works at the USPS and confirmed and verified the address and that i must send it via express mail ... he said he needed it urgently for his daughters wedding!!! 

I'll admit i got a lil excited about the $950 ( coz i still thought at this time he was in No. Cal due to his area code lol ) so came to paypal to see what i needed to do to set up an account THANK GOD  my debit card has no balance so i couldnt link it lol ... an then something * clicked * so i googled the zip code for Lagos and thats not it!!!  So looking a lil further i see about all these * scams and frauds in Nigeria * and ALL SIMILAR STORIES!! Thank God for google and these forums!!!  😃  needless to say he wont be using my projector for his daughters wedding!!!!!  ill be editing my craigslist add to LOCAL SELLS ONLY!!!! LOL 

[clutchspawn]

I got the exact same adress to send it to except it was No. 1 mogaji st. There must be like a huge rip off scheme going on there. Unluckily for me I had actually sent a package to there losing an iphone 😞 I asked if I could be givin the money from pay pal since they faild to give me adequate advice against scam, when you make a pay pal account it should state that if you recieve an email that says it needs the tracking number then it's a scam and they told me they can't do anything. I'm very upset. I even tried contacting the USPS and they told me they can;t intercept an international package which is ridiculous becase they're basically ALLOWING scams to take place with that sort of measure. I can't believe I trusted the person who texted me, they were like "I'm a god fearing person" after finding out I was scammed and after calling the police  this person triewd to scam me AGAIN i recieved an email saying i need to refund the 356 dollars back to the person I honesyl took it as a huge insult to ,my intelligence. The person who texted me had a california are code and I looked up their number and they live in view park los angeles california, I told this to the police and they did nothing I was being screwed and I even tried the FBI and I emailed the nigerian postal service, jhowever I haven't heard back from them

[Claire-shorty88]

Hi. Yesterday I started up a new ebay account and listed my iPhone 4, within a few minutes someone had already clicked the buy now price and they had also just set up an account roughly the same time. I am in the uk and the buyer emailed me requesting payment information showing on this email that he lives in USA. Finding it all a bit daunting I didn't know how to sort the shipping and give payment details etc. I explained to him that as it was a Sunday I wouldn't be able to post until the next day. The Monday morning(this morning) I received another email from him saying that payment had been received and was in my PayPal asking for tracking number. Also he said he wanted it sending to his cousin for his birthday who lives in nigeria and gave his address. I checked my PayPal and it stated that there were no funds or pending amounts so I contacted ebay on a live chat explained why I was concerned especially as he wanted me to ship the iPhone to a third party. Ebay told me that the email I received sounded suspicious and a very possible spoof. I sent all the emails received to spoof@ebay.com. Just feel I should share my experience as it is a worrying and daunting thing for a stranger to ask you to do! So glad I didn't sent the parcel. You have to get up extra early to fool me. Don't fall victim and make them wait, if they want it tell them to come get it!

[Tan22]

Hi the same thing has happened to me I put up my iPhone 4 on eBay then received a message saying can they buy it out right and can I send them a request payment through pay pal. I did that then received a messaged saying my payment was pending and the lady sent the address. I sent the phone and then I received a message from pay pal saying my money is on hold because 2 payments have gone through so can I send £130 through money gram and il receive £260 in my account. I then called pay pal were they had told me it's not them. I think this is ridiculous how they can hack in to pay pal which is meant to be a safe way of sending money and rip people off.