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

[esmeizzy0820]

i was so close to sending out a camera to some **bleep** lowlife!!!! He text me from this number <removed> saying "Im SCOTT, a journalist im currently on a tour out of the state. i want you help me mail it to my colleague investigating at overseas. I'll pay $150 and $90 for shipping off via USPS to him do you have a paypal account?

heres the adress becareful with your things guys!!!

Name: TONY <removed>

Address: <removed>

Zipcode: +23401

[KR14]

Was putting my PS4 up for sale with games and then within 3 hours it was sold and I received a message with them asking about PayPal. I then received an email from what looked like an official PayPal email saying that £710 had been put into my account, £150 for shipping to Nigeria for his cousins birthday and it had to be sent out with a certain company. I actually thought it was a legit email and nearly sent my parcel off. It wasn't until I really thought about it, I googled the address and found this post. I was so glad I did it because I wouldn't have received anything! I sent him an email saying that I wouldn't be sending it as it's fraud and I know that PayPal won't hold funds in that way. He started accusing me of scamming him and trying to rip him off and threatening to report me. It wasn't until I told him to google his own address that he suddenly stopped messaging. His eBay name is: uk2014_ Name and address to ship to: <removed>,23401 The name he used was "Dumtiz <removed>" Looking back on it now, I can't believe i almost fell for it.

[jamocheno]

Same fraud happened to me today.  Posted a phone for sale on Kijiji, and recieved a text 20 minutes later saying the following

"Hope is not a scam.... I think I am okay with the price... I'm a photography Student, I wanna get this for my cousin school abroad so I will want you to handle the shipping and I will also be paying you $200 for the shipping cost through via Canadapost Air Mail, do you have a PayPal account."

When I asked "where is the phone going"  they replied

"you can text me our paypal email address so that I can transfer the payment"  

"I will confirm the shipping address and text it to you"

I then informed them I do not wish to use Paypal for this transaction to which they responded..

"PayPal is safe and secure, am honest person and am not here to scam or rip you over an item"

"Here is my partner shipping address

Michael Brown

<removed> Country Nigeria

After reading this I decided to look up this address to see if it was legit, and thank goodness for google, this was the first page that popped up.

Can't believe the same scam is happening all over the place.

Care shopping and selling folks. 

[Munis]

Thank you everyone for postig your stories. It seemed a little strange to me to when a sombody wanted to buy my used Sony camera on Kijiji.ca, as a birthday present. That why I tried to check the address in Nigeria, where I was asked to send the item, and found that chat.  I also received an conformation e-mail  about receiving money on my PayPal account, but when I checked my PayPal account there was nothing. So, that is scam.

First I received an e-mail that sombody with name allen siver wants to buy my camera. It was strange that they missed the letter L in a family name, because on the address it was Silver.  Another detail, the e-mail was from textnow.me, which is an app.

Then when I gave them my PayPal somebody with name Bathy Cole   sent an email of money transfer. Finally,

 
Name:          Robert <removed>
Address:   <removed>
City:          Surulere,
State:        
Zip code:    23401

Be careful with Nigeria friends

[yasniy97]

same happen...

huhu.. here is the information..same

Here is the Shipping Information.
Name: Robert <removed>
Address: <removed>
Itire
City: Surulere,
State: Lagos
Country: Nigeria
Zip code: 23401
Product:Galaxy Note3

 Do get back to me with your PayPal email
address and PayPal account number so i can make payment as soon as
possible..

damm...

[weilea]

I just had the same thing happen to me, except that the user in question (who texted me from an area code nowhere near me, with broken English) asked me to create an invoice for a gmail account and offered an additional $100 to ship out to a friend very urgently for their birthday. I asked for more details: An address, expected shipping date, etc; they simply wrote "<removed>" I googled that address, and this was the first result.

I'm feeling very thankful for this post right now!

[Katie0607]

My laptop was 'sold' on ebay today. The postal address on ebay was Chipping Norton. I had earlier today changed my blocked settings to block international bidders after someone in th US 'bought' it despite the fact that it clearly stayed posts to UK only and I had to contact ebay. Anyway I received a fraudulent Paypal email with a Nigerian address (below) claiming that £200 had been paid into my Paypal account and received an email from the 'buyer' saying that although the ebay postal address was in the UK they needed it posted to their son in Nigeria for his birthday present and couldn't have it posted to their UK address as they were off on a business trip to Spain! I then received further fraudulent Paypal emails asking for shipping details and claiming that £200 had been paid into my Paypal account when of course it hadn't. The name and address was: FERANMI <removed> NIGERIA.

[vreesep]

And Katie, already found a new buyer for your portable?

Strange, from the whole world the same reactions about these Nigeria transactions.

But the worst of all is that propably a lot of sellers are already scammed by these people.

Good luck, and SAFE SALES, ...

[jcnb007]

Hi I just ran into this problem today, thinking it was legitimate. I posted an ad on Kijiji and then reveived a text message from <removed> with a message from a guy asking if the laptop was still available. So not knowing any better at the time I said yes but then he asked me to do the transaction via Paypal. I said it was a cash only deal but he insisted that we do it via Paypal as it is more secure, etc. 

So the guy asked me for my email address and obviously this sounded to suspicious because but then I received an email from "Paypal" stating:

Hello  Joel <removed>,
 

You have an Instant Payment of $300.00 CAD from Mark <removed> Please note that it may take a little while for this Transaction to appear in the Recent Activity list on your Account Overview. 
     
     

Note from merchant:

i have just sent you the payment  for the 15" laptop including the postage ,please quickly post it out VIA USPS Express delivery and let me know the tracking number

Payment Details

Purchased From :Joel <removed>

Transaction ID : 3W492637HE3368307

  Date

Description

Quantity

Unit price

Subtotal

  8/23/2014                                              

Goods

1

$200.00 
 CAD
  

$200.00 CAD

Shipping & Handling via Usps Express Mail Delivery to 23401

(Includes any seller handling fees)

$100.00 CAD

Shipping Insurance (not offered)

$00.00 CAD

Total  

$300.00 CAD 

   Delivery Informatio 

Address :

Moni <removed>
Lagos Nigeria 23401. 

Address Status:Confirmed  

Important Note: This PayPal® payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED"but will not be credited to your account until the shipment reference/tracking number is sent to us for verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller.Below are the necessary information requested before your account will be credited.Send tracking number to us or email us through this mail Click Here and our customer care service will attend to you. As soon as you send us the shipment's tracking number to us for security purposes and the safety of the buyer and the seller,the money will be credited to your account.

                                                           **  PLEASE NOTE**
Once item has been shipped and the tracking number sent to us, You will receive a "CONFIRMATION EMAIL"  from PayPal® Team informing you that the Fund has been credited

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

This sent a red flag up for me and I immediately cancelled the transaction and blocked/deleted the sender.

I am so glad I found this page because I would have made a serious mistake!!

Thanks so much for creating this thread.

Joel from Canada.

[vreesep]

Had the same. As I already thought that his transaction was not clean, I didn't aswered him any more.

He replied with the following :

Hello,I just wanted to let you know I am totally disappointed with your attitude.It's more than 5hours after the payment has been made. I want you to confirm that you've indeed received the payment confirmation. I hope you do not intend to steal from me by keeping mute.I need a detailed confirmation of the transfer of the funds you have sent to my agent at once.Here is the agent information to send the money to via Western Union below:

Name:    Olaolu <removed>

City:        Lagos

Country: Nigeria

Zipcode: 23401.

I will need the details of the transfer once you have sent fund . . .

1.The MTCN number that is the 10 digits number on the Western Union receipt

2.Sender's name

3.Sender' address.

4.Actual amount sent. and the tex question and answer.

Hope to read back from you asap immediately  you get back to them with the details they will credit your money into your account immediately hope you understand now and hope to read back from you soon

Thanks..

I send him a very last message :

I'm sorry but the deal is CLOSED, and your emails will automaticaly be moved to trash.

Here is the reason why :

URL : "Scams!!! Don't ship to Nigeria"

Bye.

Now I don't hear from him any more ...