email "Notification of an instant payment"

[GrammyBrenda52]

I was selling an item on Facebook Marketplace and I received an email that said Notification of an Instant Payment had been made and that I needed to go ahead and ship the item and send the tracking information, them the money would be released. Then the buyer said that PayPal asked them to pay more money to build my account up and that I was to send that money back to them. Is this a PayPal policy or is this a scam? I have not sent the item or the money.

[kernowlass]

@GrammyBrenda52 

SCAM.

They encourage you to accept a direct Paypal payment and may ask you to send the item internationally.
No funds or activity of the transaction shows in your Paypal account and any emails may go into your junk/spam folders.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't because they don't have a Paypal account and have no intention of paying you.
It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.
They will tell you that the payment is released when you provide paypal with a tracking/shipping number......this won't happen.

Once you have become a victim they may try again with more fake Paypal emails with other reasons that you must send them a payment for custom fees / to verify, expand or upgrade an account.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal do not tell you to send trackable, they advise it for selling protection but it is not compulsory.
Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.