Identity fraud: warning: dont get caught like me!

[Connars nan]

I also received this email this morning but luckily because I'm not computer savvy I left it for my son to check he knew it was a scam because of the address or something  and now that I've just read about what's happened to you Karen I realize I to could  could have got caught so thank you for the warning

[Debbiebillg]

These internet criminals are just getting so god damn clever, and for many it's so easy to get caught !

A girlfriend of mine casually told me this morning that she's got her car advertised for sale on Trading Post.  She just happened to mention that a few people are interested and they are marines on a ship ! She was saying they are going to pay her by Paypal and that she'd been setting up a Paypal account for them to pay her.

I quizzed her a bit more saying, it just doesn't sound right to me !! It turns out they sent her an email with a link to Paypal and to create her account (so goodness knows what information they have of hers !). I don't know what their motives are Are they trying to access all her details by getting her to set up a Paypal account and then will create fraudulent transactions in her Paypal account OR are they planning to get someone to pick the car up and somehow get Paypal to refund their money (Paypal, I think, will only accept a proof of delivery that has come from a shipping company / carrier) so would easily refund if they were to say they didn't received the car ! I think her paypal account is the most likely target, as they quite possibly are from overseas !

Anyhow, we have changed her password and she is closing her bank account today !

They've targeted her, and she knows very little about online transactions, how Paypal works etc, which they probably worked out very easily !  She really thought she was safe because she would be receiving the money (and for her she couldn't see what could go wrong) and she had the opinion that Paypal is a very safe way of transacting.  It's really frightened my g/f as you would expect !!

Ok, there is a slight possibility they were legitimate, but HIGHLY unlikely I think.

[maddy]

It turns out they sent her an email with a link to Paypal and to create her account (so goodness knows what information they have of hers !). I don't know what their motives are Are they trying to access all her details by getting her to set up a Paypal account and then will create fraudulent transactions in her Paypal account OR are they planning to get someone to pick the car up and somehow get Paypal to refund their money (Paypal, I think, will only accept a proof of delivery that has come from a shipping company / carrier) so would easily refund if they were to say they didn't received the car ! I think her paypal account is the most likely target, as they quite possibly are from overseas !

Your friend is the one who should be issuing them the paypal form, and not the other way around.
  I would say definitely yes...they are trying to scam her.
Has she actually followed through on the links they sent her?
She needs to get confirmation on what methods of payment are advisable.....she should also contact the trading post to pass on what has happened.

[gertbysea]

Not a chance in hell. Regular scam. I thought  everyone knew this one . My DIL was selling stuff the same on Gum Tree and  her car on some other site and they tried it on her as well. Quite common.

She was a buyer and seller on line with various sites including  eBay, has had A PayPal account for years and has seen it all. No one is safe from it. Every one should educate themselves and believe nothing you see or hear and give no details to anyone .

Just the other day some woman was berating the post office staff over the usual Fed Ex parcel scam. I tried to tell her that FedEx does not operate in Australia in that way and she said it must be true as she had an email from FedEx. I told her to look up FedEx on line and compare the logos at least. Nothing like the real one. The post office gets this all the time. I heard a lot of it over Christmas and now for Mother's Day it will be popping up again.

This week alone I have had the ANZ scam, another PayPal scam and a Telstra scam. Telstra scam email comes every month around billing day.

Gert

[goldfish]

A friend's son had the same thing happen to him when he wanted to sell his car . . it took a lot of convincing so that he could finally see it was a fraud it was so well set up - and Paypal indeed confirmed it was!

Car for sale: - welcome to come and inspect it first - preferably outside a police station!!!   Just incredible that there are so many crooks out there!!

[obbie]

I have had 3 more in my spam box today,

 make $$$ and a six figure income, just send me your details.
Nokia, you have won $400,000
Advertise with us, and win $$$$


I should leave them there, and see how many I get in a month.

[Debbiebillg]

She hasn't had much to do with the internet at all and yes she should definately have educated herself first. Trading Post do have information on these scams, so I told her she should read that as well ! She fell right into their trap. She's cancelling her paypal account (this was the only reason she was setting it up) and closing her bank account (that she linked to her paypal account).  I advised her to get a separate credit card with a small limit and set up a new paypal account (obviously only on paypal's drect site).  

She's a very trusting person, and cannot believe how low these people will go, but it's just a reality these days ! She keeps saying as well that the police should be prosecuting them etc.  There's just so much of it though these days and many of these scams are run from overseas which makes them very hard to trace ! She will be reporting it to Trading Post, Paypal and the police though !

[cookie1]

We had trouble with Gumtree and people wanting to buy DH's ute. He changed the ad eventually to say "must be viewed before sale". Most of them stopped then.

[Frozzie]

Oh karen feel for you and hope like maddy said that they dont try and open up lines of credit in your name.. I get emails often too in both languages.. Latest one is the french electric company telling us we have defaulted payment and to cluck on the link.. I never ever click on any link in an email but go directly to the site.. Most companies if not all repeat that they never send out emails with direct links ever bur ask you to log in directly on their sites.. Good that you posted this though as im sure there are many who just dont know and fall into the trap.. Im sure you saved at least one person from doing the same thing..

[gertbysea]

Here is another scam this morning.



This is typical. Never click a link and just look the stupid bit on the bottom. You would have to be really dumb to fall for this one. And why would you click the link if you do not have an account with this bank even if it were a real bank which it is not.



Gert

[Wonder]

Our network at work must be very secure as I never get scam emails, can't remember the last time.

[blackwood]

Oh Karen, I'm so sorry that this has happened to you! It must be extremely scary to have something like this happen. These scams can look so authentic that it would be easy to fall into their trap. I think there must be many many people in your boat that don't realise it's a scam until it's too late.

I hope that you have it all sorted out now.

Thank you so much for warning us of this Paypal scam. I am grateful as I'll be aware if ever anything like this comes my way. (plus it never hurts to make everyone aware of these things, even if they have heard of it before)

Take care
gin xx