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Step 1
Nigerian letter fraud - STAY AWAY FROM THESE! They may not always be from Nigeria but the scam is the same: They need help to move a large sum of money and they want your help - and of course you get a nice cut of the profits. Stay away. If they have to go to a complete stranger (who's name they don't know and who they know nothing about) for money, there's a good chance they're crooks.
NOTE: Recently in the news, one woman got scammed via a Nigerian letter for $400,000! The most ever for a letter scam. -
Step 2
Ebay Scam - You get an email that says that a customer didn't receive their product. They want you to click and respond to the customer. DON'T RESPOND. Many times these emails want to get your log-in and password. If you get an email that CLAIMS to be from Ebay (or Paypal, etc.) GO TO YOUR ACCOUNT and see if it's really there.
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Step 3
Paypal scam - You put an ad in craigslist or backpage.com selling an item. Someone tells you that they want your item but can't pay cash. They can send you a Paypal payment and require you to send the item AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR email, allegedly from Paypal. What you will then receive is an email from "PayPal" saying that the person that sent the money has been approved but the money won't clear until you send your item. IT'S A SCAM. Always GO TO YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT to see if monies are there. So many have fallen for the fake PayPal email and have sent their items abroad to thieves.
This is also done with a fake money order. They ask for your address so they can send a fake money order or bank check. After you deposit it and send out the item, the banks tells you that it was fake - and now you're out money and your item.
If you have to deal with someone outside the country, go through legit sources like your Paypal and Ebay accounts.
Comments
koopalo said
on 11/13/2009 Damn, now they're using paypal to scam you too!? Yeah, just to be safe I wouldn't send or accept payments with individual people through paypal. Just use paypal for receiving eHow earnings.
india63 said
on 8/30/2009 Great article and something everyone needs to know.
I got a fake letter from Paypal asking me to update my credit card ( debit ) info Because I had recently stopped one and got another it seemed legit. My mistake I clicked on the link inside the email and updated my info. The crook took over $700.00 from my bank account. He also went into my Paypal account and changed the language so I would be delayed in finding out.