Craigslist Paypal Scam [email protected]

I received the following message from [email protected]...

"Can it be bought in the next 2 days? i am willing to purchase quickly."

I replied on my iPhone without realizing that the reply to address was different - [email protected].

I then received this email which screamed scam immediately...

Good to hear back from you. I'm okay with the price and the condition.
Presently, i am out of town with my UNICEF TEAM to raise funds for the
Children Living with Malaria and i won't be able to come for the
inspection due to the nature of my work. Moreover, I would have loved
to call but our satellite server has been down in recent days which
restricts our calls. I will be paying you through PayPal as it is the
only Medium at which i can send Payment at the Moment. And if you don't have a
PayPal account, It's pretty easy to set up a PayPal account at
http://www.paypal.com . it's just a few minutes away from signing up. it's
safe and secure for
both Parties and i have been using PayPal to buy and sell for years
now without problems. Pls get back to me with your PayPal email so i
can proceed with the payment and contact the Pick up Agent who will
come for the Pick up of the item.
I will need these following details so i can proceed with the payment right away


1:Your PayPal e-Mail Address
2: Home Address


As soon as you get back to me with your PayPal email, I'll proceed
with full Payment. I look forward to reading from you soon.

Regards

I received the EXACT (to the letter) same set of emails on Monday in regards to a large item I was selling on Craigslist. I found your post by Google searching for the email address "[email protected]".

I also received a second set of emails that sounded very similar. I have not given any further information to either party but told them I would not sell them the pool table unless they came in person to make a visual inspection. I have received one reply to this request "I don't understand what you mean." LOL

By doing further research, I can only assume that both of these individuals will eventually scam by faking a Paypal "confirmation of payment" email. I found some details of this type of scam on the eBay website, not the Paypal website. eBay has a lot of information and discussions on scams involving Paypal and many other topics.

READERS: DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!! This was my first time selling a big ticket item on Craigslist. I may have fallen for the trap had I not received TWO very similar emails in the same day.


Here is the second set of emails:

FROM: Tom Wallace [email protected] via craigslist.org
Jun 11 (1 day ago)

Do you still have it available for sale?


FROM:
Tom Wallace [email protected]
Jun 12 (1 day ago)

Hello,

Thanks for your swift response,I will be glad to pay for it as soon
as possible though I will not be available to come for an inspection
and pay cash but can easily do that via Paypal because I work as a
Marine Biologist and currently on sea at the moment. I'm actually
buying this for a cousin in Georgia as a surprise birthday gift and my
movers will come for the pick up after you must have received payment
notification from paypal confirming have successfully transferred the
fund into your account. Kindly get back to me with the following
questions below:

1) What is the condition?
2) What is the last asking price?
3) Are you the Owner?
4) Your Pick up Location?
5) Your full name and your PayPal email id for the instant payment
6) Your phone number for text or call

I would be glad to make the payment immediately through PayPal so
kindly get back to me with your PayPal ID and the name on it or you
probably send me a payment invoice. You can easily log on to
http://www.paypal.com to set up an account with them if you don't have
one,Paypal is very fast, secure and reliable to transfer money and
protects both buyer and seller. You need not to worry yourself about
the pick up I will instruct the movers to handle that. Hope to read
from you soon

Received the exact same UNICEF email on Monday , Note the 2 different emails
[email protected]
[email protected]

Thank you for these posts- Scamwarners!




-----Original Message-----
From: Dariana Jones [mailto[b]:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 4:30 PM
To: [email protected]


Can it be bought in the next 2 days? i am willing to purchase quickly.



-----Original Message-----
From: Dariana Jones [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 2:28 PM


Good to hear back from you. I'm okay with the price and the condition.
Presently, i am out of town with my UNICEF TEAM to raise funds for the Children Living with Malaria and i won't be able to come for the inspection due to the nature of my work. Moreover, I would have loved to call but our satellite server has been down in recent days which restricts our calls. I will be paying you through PayPal as it is the only Medium at which i can send Payment at the Moment. And if you don't have a PayPal account, It's pretty easy to set up a PayPal account at www.paypal.com . it's just a few minutes away from signing up. it's safe and secure for both Parties and i have been using PayPal to buy and sell for years now without problems. Pls get back to me with your PayPal email so i can proceed with the payment and contact the Pick up Agent who will come for the Pick up of the item.
I will need these following details so i can proceed with the payment right away


1:Your PayPal e-Mail Address
2: Home Address


As soon as you get back to me with your PayPal email, I'll proceed with full Payment. I look forward to reading from you soon.

Regards

I also received this email this morning from, [email protected], after responding to an inquiry about a large item I have for sale in Oklahoma City. Scam, scam, scam. I am very glad I came to your sight and saw it.

Good to hear back from you. I'm okay with the price and the condition.
Presently, i am out of town with my UNICEF TEAM to raise funds for the
Children Living with Malaria and i won't be able to come for the
inspection due to the nature of my work. Moreover, I would have loved
to call but our satellite server has been down in recent days which
restricts our calls. I will be paying you through PayPal as it is the
only Medium at which i can send Payment at the Moment. And if you don't have a
PayPal account, It's pretty easy to set up a PayPal account at
http://www.paypal.com . it's just a few minutes away from signing up. it's
safe and secure for
both Parties and i have been using PayPal to buy and sell for years
now without problems. Pls get back to me with your PayPal email so i
can proceed with the payment and contact the Pick up Agent who will
come for the Pick up of the item.
I will need these following details so i can proceed with the payment right away


1:Your PayPal e-Mail Address
2: Home Address


As soon as you get back to me with your PayPal email, I'll proceed
with full Payment. I look forward to reading from you soon.

Regards

Here is another clown. Craigslist scamer.I believe he had a couple of other names: Larry Anes, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

this is his lame story:
From: Larry Anes <[email protected]>
Date: Saturday, June 16, 2012, 3:14 PM

Thanks for the mail..Due to the nature of my work,phone calls making
and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to
check this advert and send you an email regarding it.I am offering you
additional $200.i will be paying you with my credit card via my PayPal
account,If my offer is accepted send me your:
1.PaypalAccount Name:
2. Paypal email address:
3. Mobile Phone Number:
4. Address:
I can pay in right away.I am a sailor and do not have much time around
me.Make sure you get back to me so that we can arrange for pick up as
i will like the item to be picked,so no shipping.I insisted on paypal
because i dont have access to my bank account online as i dont have
internet banking, but i can pay from my paypal account, as i have my
bank a/c attached to it, i will need you to give me your paypal email
address so i can make the payments as soon as possible and pls if you
dont have paypal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to
http://www.paypal.com and get it set up , after you have set it up.


--
Hello,
i will like if your post is still for sale....

Not sure what all the scuttle is over someone trying to get a PayPal email address. Countless numbers of people have access to that information every time they buy or sell on eBay. Knowing someone's PayPal email address gives someone the ability to send money to that person. Wow ... please bless me with that. I'll give out my PayPal address to anyone who wants to send money to me. What's the scam?

What's the scam?

The scammer will spoof emails from PayPal. many people are not familiar with PayPal and fall for spoofed messages.

I certainly do NOT recommend giving out your PayPal account information to just anyone who asks for it. That is not being safe on the internet and we encourage everyone to be safe on the internet as there are plenty of scammers out there, and there is plenty of bad advice out on the internet too.

It seems pretty obvious that when an email comes from an address other than PayPal - it ain't from PayPal. After 1000 or more Paypal transactions, I know that my email address is known to ten times than many people. I'll gladly accept money from any of them.

I suggest that you look up what "spoofing an email address" means, as it evidently isn't any more "obvious" to you than the scam is to people who fall victim to it.

If you have an actual contribution to make to help prevent scams, you are welcome to stay here and make it.
Any further nonconstructive, trollish comments will result in banning of your account.

I received this yesterday and today.
Definitely a scam!
From Tom Wallace: [email protected]
Hello,

Thanks for your swift response,I will be glad to pay for it as soonas
possible though I will not be available to come for an inspection and
pay cash but can easily do that via Paypal because I work as a Marine
Biologist and currently on sea. I'm actually buying this for a cousin
in Georgia as a surprise birthday gift and my movers will come for the
pick up after you must have received payment notification from Paypal
confirming have successfully transferred the fund into your
account. Kindly answer the following questions below:

1) What is the condition?
2) Are you the Owner?
3) Your Pick up Location?
4) Your full name and your Paypal email id for the instant payment
5) Your phone number for text or call

I will be glad to make the payment immediately through Paypal
sokindly get back to me with your Paypal ID and the name on it or you
probably send me a payment invoice. You can easily log on to
www.paypal.com to set up an account with them if you don't have
one,Paypal is very fast, secure and reliable to transfer money and
protects both buyer and seller. You need not to worry yourself about
the pick up I will instruct the movers to handle that. Hope to read
from you soon.

Tom.

I received this email shortly after posting a Dirt Bike for sale on Craigs List:

Note the Email Address,

[email protected] via craigslist.org
Aug 4 (1 day ago)

to b549r-31840733.
** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

Did you still have this for sale..

Sent from my Blackberry..


[b]
I replied through craigslist, then received this email:

Again Note the Email Addresses. (This is supposedly the same person)[/b]


Larry Wilson [email protected]
3:55 PM (5 hours ago)

to me
Thanks for the mail and sincerely i am so sorry for being so late to
your response, have been out of connections and will like to purchase
it out rightly,i want to be the best offer by adding $100 to your
money then keep other offers off and i will be paying you via my
PayPal account,I will also like you to send me your PayPal
details(PayPal e-mail address) so i can effect payment to you right
away and make sure you get back to me so that we can arrange for pick
up as i will like the item to be picked,so no shipping included as i
have arrange for how is going to be pick up after the payment as been
proceed. Hope to know if its still in a good condition.cos i wont be
able to inspect it as am busy,so i will like you to take some pictures
of it and send them to me for me to see the condition.Let me have your
phone number Get back to me in time.


Big Dan
5:37 PM (3 hours ago)

to lrrwilson09
Larry, Im just trying to understand. I received the original email from [email protected] which was Richard-Graham@Comcast.., now I'm talking to Larry Wilson. Im confused. Are you the same people? Can you please explain. Thanks, Dan

Also. I can send you a request for money, through PayPal with an invoice. I would prefer to change the gaskets in the Carburetor before completing the sale. I would not want to let the bike go, not working. I have the kit, I just need to install the rebuild kit. The bike sat for a long time, which deteriorates the rubber on the gaskets. This causes the needle valve to stick in the carb, cutting off fuel flow. It should only take me about 30 minutes tomorrow. I can contact you after doing so. I would be happy to send you as many pictures as you need, as well as iphone video to show that the bike runs well.

If you have any other questions, let me know. If you are close, I may be able to deliver as well.

Thanks

Then i received this: Same address this time. He totally eludes the questions.

Larry Wilson [email protected]
5:55 PM (3 hours ago)

to me
Yea Dan the condition is okay with me you can send the some pics and
get back to me with your paypal account name and email address or you
send the paypal bill to my same email address [email protected]
for the payment..

At this point, I am glad I didn't send him my PayPal Info. I do check email addresses, this is the second time Ive had someone attempt to scam me. I will post more info if I get it.

Thanks for your posts, they helped me affirm this was probably a scam.

Hello BigDan thanks for posting. I am glad you did not fall for the scam attempt.

I do want you to be familiar with the craigslist check scam. Especially since you are selling on craigslist. Check scam is when the scammer will offer to send a fake check or money order to an online classified seller. There will be an over payment that the scammer would want you to send money to the fake shipper. The shipper and scammer are the same person using different email addresses.

The check / money order will be fake. He will want you to deposit the fake check / money order into your account and wire money to him / shipper via Western Union or Money Gram. Weeks or months later your bank will advise you of the bad check. You will then have to repay the sum. The bank could even notify the police of your fraudulent transaction.

Thanks for that! I notified "Larry" that either he or a representative would need to meet me at the bike shop at their convenience to inspect the bike and bring cash only for the transaction. I am very wary of people getting my information. I use an alias email address just for this. I always check the origin of an email even if it was a friend, it they are looking for information. I have a friend, who is disabled, who has been a victim of online predators. A friend, who works for the FBI-ICU unit schooled me on what to look for and how to trace certain information. My friend thought he was talking to some chick in Oklahoma when he was in-fact talking to a dude in Ghana. There are huge office buildings there with groups who do nothing but Phish and hack, funding wars and terrorism. I was able to track "Larry's IP Addresses to Northern California, Kansas and Croatia. His last IP was Croatia. It's been 4 hours and no reply from Larry! Keep up the good work Yall!

Dan

On Edit. I also wanted to point out that this persons use of Proper English also appeared Sketchy. I don't remember if I posted all of his emails, but things just didn't sit well. Especially for a man who was a US Navy man. It wasnt that he was using Bad English like an uneducated person would, but as someone translating from their native language in their head and typing it would. That was the first red flag for me. Then the immediate willingness to pay more to eliminate any other bids, then the 4 different emails with 3 different names.

Thanks for sharing all this info. I just hope someone will benefit from our experience in all these scams.

Today I got a text from a scammer asking me about an item I listed in craigslist. He used a phone number 864-660-9690 and the email for his "Paypal Account" is [email protected]

He asked if the item was available like any other buyer, then he offered more than what i listed the item for. The extra money was to ship the item to him. The interesting thing is that he never said anything about me sending him money back. I think he just want it me to ship my item and not pay for it.

I sent him the invoice from my paypal account and I didn't received any confirmation from Paypal. I login into my account through my computer and my iPhone.

Then I checked my email, I didn't find anything in my inbox but when I open my spam email I got this email:



You've made a sale at Craiglist!!!

Dear PAYPAL User ( [email protected] ) you have made a sale at craigslist.com!!!

Order Summary:IPAD

This is a confirmation email of the payment of $730.00 you received from Jerry Williams what is required of you in order for your account to be credited is the Item's Tracking/Reference number, this number will be given to you at the courier office after you might have sent the item to the bearer, this is part of our new policy and a security measure in order to protect both the buyer and the seller, also to verify if the item was really bought from you we have sent you a confirmation email earlier to inform you that the payment is legal and has been confirmed, also to guide you against fraudulent acts.


We have included the buyer's full name and amount paid for you to know this message was really sent from PayPal. We advise that you make sure the item is sent out as soon as possible and request for a tracking number at the post office after you might have sent out the item, then you can email us the number by replying directly to this message after it might have been given to you at the courier office so as to credit your account without delay.


After we receive the number from you for security verification, your account will be credited at once, Our system has witness new upgrades, Please don't be surprised if you see us forwarding you to new customer attendants, its due to the amount of fraud going on involving our name which we are trying all our best to limit and put a stop to. As soon as we receive the requested information from you, your account will be credited.


PayPal Account Review Department.
Sincerely,

Buyer's Comment:


Ship Method:

The buyer is a Craigslist & PayPal
Verified Buyer

Ship to:
Name:Perry Cole
Address:1324 brockett pl.
City:Clarkston
State: Georgia
Country:Usa
Zipcode :30021
Failure to comply may result in loss of shipping allowance, poor seller rating or suspension of seller privileges.

PayPal
Copyright © 2001-2012 PayPal. All rights reserved.

PayPal
Copyright © 2000-2012 PayPal. All rights reserved.
PayPal (Europe) Ltd. is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United State Of America as an Electronic Money Institution.
PayPal FSA Registered Number: 226057
PayPal Email ID PP1543


He was texting me to send him the item ASAP. I knew it was a scam, that's why I am reporting him. I hope this helps! Good Luck to everyone.

Welcome to scamwarners!

You are absolutely correct in thinking the scammer was actually just looking for a free ipad, though if you were to send it, some scammers will try for cash as well, by sending fake emails claiming you have to pay customs fees or taxes before it can be delivered and the money released.

In most Craigslist/paypal scams, the goal is to receive cash, not the actual item being sold, but there are exceptions--when the items are small electronics (smartphones, ipads, computers, gaming systems) or jewelry, the scammer is often equally likely to want the item itself.