Examples of Suspected Fraud or Fake Emails

[PayPal_Andy]

Hey Everybody!

In an effort to make things easier to find and research, I'm going to consolidate as many threads as possible where we have examples of people trying to defraud hard working sellers (Craigslist emails, 'PayPal' emails asking you to send money outside of PayPal, etc).  This will also be used as a master thread for future posts regarding this same situation.

When you post your examples here, please remember to not include last names or contact information of whoever is sending these emails.  There's no way to confirm if that person has been defrauded as well and the name is being used fraudulently.

Thanks for your cooperation and remember, keep the conversation productive, on task, and above all, keep it clean. I know these things can be difficult and frustrating, but bleep filled posts or posts that look like government redacted files will never benefit anyone. 😄

Andy

[allise]

 jack has just sent us an email after saying he is going to buy our item, requesting $480 to be sent to his shipping agent before the transaction takes place..  his address was **address removed**  thought it was very suspicious as he never even asked anything about the item.
he was using two email addresses but i cant put them in as i have tried and its rejecting my comment.

[PLL]

i believe i am the next in line to be scammed by this person......

these posts all sound exactly like what just happened to me.  and if your Google this person, this paypal scam forum is really the only thing that comes up.

luckily, nothing was transferred on either end.  good thing i tried to be sure of what i was doing with my money......

LOOK OUT and BEWARE!!!!

[PayPal_Adrian]

Hello everyone,

I agree - this appears to be a form of advanced fee fraud.  Good job on catching it!  To learn more about advanced fee fraud (and all it's not so glorious forms), check out this article.  To learn more about buying and selling safely online, check out our Security Center. 

That being said,  I've conducted multiple edits on this thread and the posts in it.

Please keep in mind that the addresses and names provided by scammers may be the names and addresses of other victims.  Repeating those names and addresses may subject previous victims to harassment at the hands of other victims, or needlessly damage an individual's reputation.

And that's why I've removed them.  For every name a scammer uses, there is likely someone out there who has the same name, and certainly isn't a scammer.  Posting the fake names these scammers use can put you at some serious risk as well, and we wouldn't want to hear about one of our forum members being sued by a real person who wasn't a scammer, now would we? 

Let's keep it clean everyone,

Adrian

[gaymer360]

he almost got me too! up until now I'd always thought 'I don't understand how people fall for those scams' but this guy is pretgty believable. I was selling a bedframe and thought it was odd he'd pay for it without looking at it, but when you're an 'oceanographer currently at sea' it's a little hard to look come at something. His wording was the same as most of you said although his english has gotten a lot better.

I became suspicious when I received an email from an email address that showed up as coming from paypal, when it actually wasn't, claiming money had been transferred to my paypal account, and that I should proceed to wire $380 to *name removed by mod*, there was nothing in my list of recent transactions and the email REALLY didn't look like it came from paypal, although reading it on my phone it all seemed pretty kosher. that was until I googled *name removed by mod* - scam?' and found this page

anyway I thought I'd share my experience since this guy seems seems to be a cut above the rest, I hope no-one else falls for it but unfortunately some people have to be, or he wouldn't still be doing it.

mod edit: names removed. Please see Adrian's post above. Thank you.

[jump14]

Please be aware this scam keeps surfacing in different versions. Do not ever ship an item without verifying that the money has been posted and you have seen it pending in your account. Do not fall for a fake email from Paypal verifying funds have been transferred. read the follow email string from bottom up .

From: medila

Date: March 25, 2011 4:33:54 AM EDT
To: >
Subject: Payment Completed...Re: ipod touch 8gb!.

Hi
I have made an instant payment of $370 as promise to your PayPal account and i just receive the payment confirmation mail from PayPal and am very sure that PayPal would have notify you with the payment confirmation mail too so kindly go and get the item ship out via (The USPS Global Express Mail Service International EMS 5-8 Days)and also make sure you cover the package with insurance and get back to PayPal with the shipment tracking number so that they can deposit the fund to your PayPal account.and also make sure that the tracking number of the shipping item must not started with LC.you can use EG,EH,EM CP,EC.
here is the shipping address below:

NAME:AKINREMI <removed>

ADDRESS: <removed>

CITY:IBADAN
STATE: OYO STATE
COUNTRY:NIGERIA
ZIP CODE:23402

On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 7:48 PM, > wrote:

I have sent you an invoice via paypal

On Mar 24, 2011, at 5:26 PM, medila <removed>  wrote:

So kindly get back to me with your PayPal email address so that i can proceed with the payment.

On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 3:24 PM, I > wrote:

Sorry it took so long to reply I've been at class all day but sounds good to me I'll hold the item for you.

On Mar 24, 2011, at 12:01 PM, medila <removed>  wrote:

> Sorry for the late response...Thanks for the prompt mail nice hearing
> back from you,i will like to let you know that i am serious in buying
> your Craigslist item listed above,do you still have a box for the item
> because i am buying  the item for a friend of my who has been transfer
> for the ORPHANAGE CARE & UNICEF ORGANIZATION mission oversea.I want
> this item for him as a Graduation and Promotion (Present) Gift,my mode
> of payment is PayPal because i don't have a pick-up arrangement,I
> would have really love to come for the viewing of the Item but due to
> my work frame that might not be possible,I'm a Sailor,I'm on the ship
> now,and PayPal is the only way i can pay you for now because of my
> present location.i will be offering you $270 for the item and another
> $100 to cover up the shipping  cost down to him at oversea you just
> get back to me asap with your confirm PayPal email address for the
> money payment.you will be shipping the item  via USPS Global Express
> Mail Service(EMS).once the payment has being done.hope to here back
> from you soonest with your conclusion

[1glove]

I am currently selling my car. A guy emailed me asking if he could pay me through paypal so I was like yea sure. Then he sends me an email saying hes sent the money to me and its on hold because he wants me to pay a portion to western union. He sent me a name to send the payment to and now he is asking for my address to come pickup the car.  When I sign into paypal I do not see any transactions. Is this a scam??

[Alex541]

Acctualy if you didnt receive money try contacting the guy and ask him for proof but dont give anything before you dont get anything

[1glove]

I think its a scam i just wont reply to the guy anymore

[Lorraine1976]

I ran into the same thing, did you figure out whether it was scam or notÉ

[oilersfan1]

i had the same problem. this guy was going to buy my van from over seas and wanted me to pay shipping western union out of my own pocket before paypal would unlock his funds. scam or not ? i think so. i emailed him back and said that the law was going to look into him and his account and i never heard a word back from him, thank gog it was getting annoying. everyone becarefull of these scammers.