How do people scam others using paypal? ?

There are 2 main ways the scammers abuse paypal.

One:

The next email will be from another of the scammer's fake names and free email addresses pretending to be "Paypal" saying "kindly send the tracking number and we will release the funds". Paypal does NOT send such emails, ever. Paypal does NOT have escrow or money holding services like that scammer describes. Paypal does NOT demand you send a tracking number before money is sent. EVER. No exceptions.

Two:

The scammer sends "too" much money and wants the victim to withdrawal some and send it back via Western Union or moneygram. The scammer is using a stolen paypal account, when the real owner discovers the theft, you get the real life job of paying all the money back.

Three:

The scammer says the money is "locked" since he sent "too" much and you are suppose to refund the "excess" before paypal will release the money. Or you are suppose to pay some made up paypal "release the funds" fee before you can access the money.

Four:

The scammer sends "extra" money for the "shipping company" and you are suppose to withdrawal the cash and send to the scammer posing as the "shipping company" via Western Union or moneygram. Again, the paypal account used is stolen.

If you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of being the perfect buyer, great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.

Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don't bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn't worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash.

Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money to a scammer.

If you google "yahoo buyer's protection program scam", "fake paypal email scam", "ebay escrow fraud" or something similar you will find hundreds of posts from victims and near victims of this type of scam.

Making a scammer's scam googlable on every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find is a great way to slow that scammer down when a suspicious potential victim goes looking for information, finds your post containing the name the scammer is using, his email address, phone number and the emails themselves and then that potential victim does not become a scam victim because you took the time to "get the word out".

There are plenty of ways to be scammed - that's why Craigslist scam warnings tell you to NEVER give your Paypal account to anyone. The most common are:

1 - As Barkley pointed out, they send you a spoofed Paypal email often saying something like due to new security measures your money has been sent but will not be credited until after you email the tracking number. This is NOT from Paypal, it only looks like it's from Paypal. Paypal will NEVER ask for a tracking number before crediting you

2 - They send you a spoofed Paypal email saying money has been sent but you need to click on a link to "accept" the transaction. You click on a link that leads you to a fake site that looks EXACTLY like the real Paypal site where you log in, and you just gave your account details to a scammer who within 2 minutes changes your password and maxes out your account

3 - The scammers pay you with a hacked paypal account (someone who fell for a phishing scam like #2), you send the item, then the real account holder reports the theft and Paypal refunds the money out of your account, and it's too late to get your package back

4 - The scammers pay you with a real Paypal account but ask you to send to an unverified address. You are ONLY protected if you ship to the verified address, which cannot be in Nigeria or anywhere but the account holder's credit card billing address. It doesn't matter if you have emails telling you to send elsewhere, it doesn't matter if you have proof of delivery. The scammer will tell Paypal their accounts were hacked, they never told you to ship to another address and they have proof they didn't sign for it as it was not delivered to their verified address. And Paypal will always refund the buyer even though you know it was delivered.

5 - The scammers pay with a real Paypal account then file a dispute saying the item was not as described and what they return to you is not what you sent. This happens all the time with phones, laptops, cameras, games consoles, etc. Scammers who have a broken one will look for a good one for sale on Craigslist, buy it, file a chargeback,then send you their broken phone/laptop/camera/Xbox/etc saying YOU sent them a broken one -- and they get their money back

This is why you ONLY deal with face to face transactions in CASH ONLY

On any Craigslist ad I always put in big letters across the top and bottom of any ad

** CASH ONLY, LOCAL BUYERS ONLY, NO SHIPPING, CASH ONLY **

and ignore everyone who wants anything different

By following Buffy's advice and only sending to the verified mailing address you will avoid most scams but scammers will always find some way around it Be sure that you only send items with a tracking number and that a signature is requried on delivery and keep this proof for each delivery for several months to prevent someone from trying to claim they never received it Also make sure your refund policy is very clearly stated on the website - the time limit for returns, if you provide a monetary refund or just a store credit, if the item needs to be unopened and in original packaging, etc

They send you an email that looks like it came from PayPal. It states that the payment has been received but will not post until you supply proof of shipment. You will therefore either ship the item or wire money to a phoney shipping company. You will never be paid.

₪ ʎəɿʞɹɐq ₪

Someone made purchases using PayPal in my daughters name

How Do People Scam