Paypal is a safe online payment option but still everything is possible to manipulate in our computer world. A false paypal account can be opened within 15 minutes. So do not base your thrust on the fact a seller is using paypal. A direct method will of course not be discussed here as this is a fraud prevention not fraud creation website. But I will give some basic information so you know what is possible and how you can protect yourself. A paypal account without a real name and other proper personal information will be opened by two kinds of people: people who can’t use paypal because of limitations that are present in specific countries, but these will most likely open an US banking account and get a paypal account the legit way — and the other sort are those that we are after; scammers.
If you live in a first world country you will have full access to paypal unless, for some reason, your account got limited or restricted. For many other countries paypal either is not supported or access restricted to only sending money, receiving is impossible. With such a high demand for paypal, businesses and individuals, almost must have this payment option in order to exist in the online world. Nevertheless it is a benefit to have paypal as some will pay only with it. So these people, if skilled enough, sometimes use fake accounts or open accounts in other countries where they have a official document or friends.
But the other majority is using this to steal from people and money laundring. Paypal system needs a few things from you to be able to register with them:
a) Personal information
b) eMail
c) Your IP and registering country must match
d) Identity Confirmation
e) Telephone Number
f) Bank Account
Scammer can have any name, any address, any country he desires for he knows how to fool the paypal system. It does not matter what your real name is you can type in anything that comes into your head. And that is because he knows how to confirm a false identity. For those of you who already have a paypal account know how the identity procedure looks like. You have to add a bank account and your credit card then you wait for the expuse number which appears on your monthly credit card statement and enter it into paypal. How to solve this? A bank account can be opened online easily. Some banks require only a scan of your ID to open an account with them. A little photoshop magic and you are done. Next step is the credit card, how do you get a credit card that will verify a false identity? Easy and cheap! It won’t cost you more than 15$! Many big companies such as amazon sell gift cards. You know how hard it is to buy a good present for your wife, kids or friends. Gift cards were the perfect solution, you give your friend a gift card with the desired amount of cash and he buys himself exactly what he wants. These giftcards must be neutral, work on any name so you can give it to your loved one. Scammers took advantage of this and used cards like these or VCC’s (Virtual Credit Cards) to verify their false identities on paypal and many other online companies. Sometimes paypal calls their customers to verify them or let them know of some important changes/notices. so if you would have provided a false number and are unreachable they will most likely limit your account. A new number untraceable can be obtained easily, the best way the scammers use is Skype! Walla, this is how easy it is for scammers to open up a false verified paypal account!
August 2nd, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Hey she tried the same but i was on to here from the start. I have been playing with her all day she thinks I have sent her the up front money. I reported her to Yahoo on both her accounts and they are closing them down. I have been having fun with it. I do this all the time and actually had one want to meet to pick up the money but he never showed.I suggest you report her email address to yahoo.com. good luck.
August 5th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Mike Chapman!
“Norwich Cathedral,and a very busy woman,that’s why i can’t use any other form of payment than
paypal,its easy for me.”
I got the same problem! she send me the same info you just writte! And I almost send her the shipping fee via wester union, I’m glad I dind’t send her the money thx! but what should I do, cancell my paypal account?
August 13th, 2010 at 5:57 am
I too just received an offer for an antique bar I am selling, and just as Mike said, she has not asked me about the condition, the weight, or any specifics. I even have “price negotiable” on my ad, and she did not even try to barter with me! I guess I understand, she is a “very busy woman” doing missionery work and is from Norwich, East of England. Here’s the weirdest thing….I searched just that “missionary course Norwich Cathedral in Norwich East of England” and guess what? It brought me here. (How appropriate too: bustathief.com!) So I started reading, and thanks to all of you, my suspicions are confirmed! Only in my case, she is using the name “Susan Verrett” and the email is: sverret@ymail.com… So Now what????
August 16th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Im on Craigslist and im selling a few things.. i plan on using paypal at the end of the day, if someone offeres me more money than i think its worth and i take it, is there some type of scam where you send a request for the amount and they send you the amount and its in your paypal account.. is there some way that can be fake? like fake money or something idk.. and if i transfer that to my bank account will that do anything or can it do anything? I thought i read about something like that… Thanks let me know ASAP
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Ok, same thing happened to me, but thankfully I Googled their email address first. These rotten, smelly, Nigerians are now using the email address: elsneranne@rocketmail.com Same story, they are from England blah blah blah. They wanted address and other info. They make me sick and need a .45 to the head.
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Beware, because they tried this same scam on me via CRAIGSLIST. Nigeria makes me sick and it should be turned into glass. Those dirty Nigerians or poor Eastern Europeans work out of the UK as well. elsneranne@rocketmail.com Was the address used again… Here is “Anne’s” email. I like how “she” says “and a very busy man here.”
Elsner Anne
Hello,
Thanks for your response,I want you to know i am serious about this,and i am willing to pay your asking price,but I will be paying you through my online paypal account,as that’s the only way i receive and make payment for my purchases online,due to that i am from Norwich East of England and am on a missionary course attach to Norwich Cathedral,and a very busy man here,that’s why i cant use any other form of payment than paypal,its easy for me.
So if you are ok with paypal,get back to me with the email linked to your paypal account if you have one and if you are new to the paypal,you can easily set up your own paypal account at http://www.paypal.comits easy,fast,safe and secure,all i need is the email address you use in your registration with paypal,that will enable me to make the payment,and with your address for pick up,as I will arrange a shipping agent my self.
I will email my Shipping Agent with your address so he can estimate the shipping cost for me,so don’t forget to include your address and phone number when you reply with your email linked to paypal for payment,as i will need your address before payment.
Note.PayPal do charge little fee out of each transaction,i take care of that on my side and the shipping agent will come for the pick up after payment,so please email me with the information as soon as possible.
I look forward to hearing from you soon .
Very best wishes.
Anne.
August 26th, 2010 at 11:03 am
I just recieved a similar email. Someone who calls themself Susan Verret (sverret@ymail.com) wants to buy it at the asking price, sight unseen. Says she’s from Norwich East of England and on a missionary course attached to Norwich Cathedral, blah, blah, blah….here’s her email in response to what I’m selling on Craigslist:
Hello.
Thanks for your response,I am ok with your asking price but I will be paying through my online paypal account,as that’s the only way i receive and make payment for my purchases online,due to that i am from Norwich East of England and i’m on a missionary course attached to Norwich Cathedral,and i am always busy here,that’s why i can’t use any other form of payment than paypal,because it makes shopping easy for me online.
So if you are ok with paypal,and you have paypal account,kindly get back to me with the email linked to your paypal account and if you are new to paypal,you can easily set up your own paypal account at http://www.paypal.com its easy,fast,safe and secured,all i need is the email address you use in your registration with paypal,that will enable me to make the payment,and with your address for pick up,as I will arrange a shipping agent my self,and I will need to send him your address so he can estimate the shipping cost for me and he will also be the one to handle and sign the purchase agreements when he come for the pick up.
so don’t forget to include your address and phone number when you reply with your email linked to paypal for payment,as i will need your address before payment,and never mind about the paypal charges,i will pay the charges and my shipping agent will come for the pick up after your confirm the money in your account.
I look forward to read from you asap .
Very best wishes,
Susan.
September 7th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Well… she’s still at work on trying to make a buck off people. I got the exact “form” letter from this “Anne” person…. People like this make me SICK! (and mad)
Hello.
Thanks for your response,I am ok with your asking price but I will be paying through my online paypal account,as that’s the only way i receive and make payment for my purchases online,due to that i am from Norwich East of England and i’m on a missionary course attached to Norwich Cathedral,and i am always busy here,that’s why i can’t use any other form of payment than paypal,because it makes shopping easy for me online.
So if you are ok with paypal,and you have paypal account,kindly get back to me with the email linked to your paypal account and if you are new to paypal,you can easily set up your own paypal account at http://www.paypal.com its easy,fast,safe and secured,all i need is the email address you use in your registration with paypal,that will enable me to make the payment,and with your address for pick up,as I will arrange a shipping agent my self,and I will need to send him your address so he can estimate the shipping cost for me and he will also be the one to handle and sign the purchase agreements when he come for the pick up.
So don’t forget to include your address and phone number when you reply with your email linked to paypal for payment,as i will need your address before payment,and never mind about the paypal charges,i will pay the charges and my shipping agent will come for the pick up after your confirm the money in your account.
I look forward to read from you asap .
Very best wishes,
Anne
September 26th, 2010 at 9:58 am
If you get a fake Paypal e-mail saying themoney is in a Paypal holding account and will be released once the item as been delivered DO NOT SEND IT, there is no moneycoming to you, what I do e-mail them back and say yes it’s on it’s way here is the UPS tracking code and leave them waiting for parcel that isn’t coming lol
October 1st, 2010 at 1:15 am
Uhh….the ONLY thing a scammer needs is to make a candain paypal with a canadian address that has not been used for paypal yet. From there, absolutely no verification is needed and money can be sent and recieved.
October 5th, 2010 at 5:25 am
The woman from Norwich is still busy. She tried the same scam on us. No question about whether or not the car even ran nor any questions about the item. Glad we checked it out first because we always think Paypal would not be a problem. Seems nothing is 100% safe. Better to deal in person.
October 13th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
When paying using Paypal always always always use your credit card and not the debit card if possible but its Ok if thats all you got.. And if you have an american express you are golden. AE will reverse charges on a simple phone call on the spot and paypal cant do a thing about it.
Paypla must always do what the cc companies tell them and their hands are tied.
Dont ever ever ever leave any money in your Paypal account and always hook your paypal up to a savings account with 0 money in it so if Paypal gets an itch in their crotch and want to take money from you they can’t and if they give you a negative balance file a dispute under unauthorized charges.
October 13th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Is there any way to be able to have my costomers be able to see my paypal transactions and history, but of course not be able to make payements from it ?
October 15th, 2010 at 10:48 am
[...] omezený pouze na občany EU. Pokud útočník dokáže zamaskovat, odkud je jeho počítač a pohrát si s PayPalem, může to být kdokoliv a může pocházet [...]
October 28th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Someone just bid $2950 on my Iphone 3GS 16gb!! they could buy 4 brand new iphone 4′s with that money. they are from US, but they have no feedback on ebay. I did offer a money back guarantee. how do I protect myself from fraud?
October 29th, 2010 at 4:38 am
I was also victim of this.Because I was waste my time for take winner prize of $1,00,000 million dollor.Which was fake but I to do because given them fake bank a/c.If they create us problem,We can also do so!!!!
we have to make some organization to stop these thing.I am disturb of this type E-mail.
November 9th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
you think the scamers are in norwich but i bet they are realy in another country giving uk bad name uk is a trusted country by paypal and ebay the like i am sory to hear people getting scamed but your storys stop others from geting scamed to
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Judging by the sheer number of solicitations and “can’t miss” propositions that the public can see every day in their e-mail mailbox or posted on message boards, social networks or Web Sites, Internet Scams may seem inescapable. That’s why websites like The Scammer News & Bustathief are on the internet, to let victims have a place to warn others our here.
The Scammer News is a ongoing project started in 2010 here at Future News, we help bring to light the scams and convicts that use them in our chat rooms and social networks on a daily basis and to help warn today’s internet chatters in order to help them avoid Con Artists and the loss of their money & personal information.
PS…Remember: When a con artist rips off a consumer out here, he’s ripping YOU off too, that was money YOU could have earned from your REAL business..
December 16th, 2010 at 12:36 am
Your location can be verified based on your IP. Your exact location also. It doesn’t matter if you are hopping on a neighbors wireless either. You can be tracked by your MAC address by following your IP. There are tools that allow you to spoof your MAC(L2/Data Link)address and it is extremely easy. For the individual that knows more than the average scammer proxies would not be used either. The use of bncs/fpipe/netcat placed on compromised computers is much more effective. The scammer then owns the bnc which works about the same as a proxy, but basically just forwards/pipes the data to a preconfigured address which can be linked to bounce endlessly. It really is not that difficult to do. Someone who happens across a workable exploit can go from not being able to, to instantly rooting at will. Exploits are published online and usually just need compiling. The right person can bounce their traffic around the world, especially countries like Korea where US law probably wouldn’t get warrants served easily. At the same time though, there are many people who track individuals who do these things. Noone has resources like the US govt, so either way it would take a fool to do these scams. This has been going on for decades, but it has to be getting easier due to more targets being available.
December 25th, 2010 at 10:19 am
I need help.
I never set up a paypal account but i keep seeing purchases payed through paypal on my credit card receipt.
how is that possible? does this mean that an unauthorized person is using my credit card? is there any way to fix this?
I have been charged for the past month and i am closing my credit card account because of this but is there any way that i could get my money back? file a fraud? i don’t know what to do!!
please help!!
thanks
February 19th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Hello guys.
I sell laptop on one person and he send me a payments for this item in paypal to my account but i must send him my laptop via Roayl Mail and to send after this shiping transfer code to him and paypal to receive the money.
Is it there have shance to lose my Laptop and to dont receive money after all deal ?
February 25th, 2011 at 9:22 am
I was almost scammed by selling something online. The buyer was from CA and was using a company by the name of Unicshipping for shipping. I was to receive the money via check by mail and never received it, three weeks went by. The buyer contacted me and asked me to use Paypal so I agreed. I told him I wanted nothing to do with the shipping but he sent the money anyway. I received an email from Paypal telling me to send them the Western Union receipt once I sent the shipping payment upfront while the funds were on hold until they received the receipt. I contacted Paypal and they never ask for money upfront and had me send the email to there spoof account. This person is using the email address of Stevecole.cole69@yahoo.com and the Paypal address if you hover over it is from Europe so please be ware.
March 19th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Just received ‘Anne”s form letter that other received back in August and September of 2010. ‘She’ or ‘he’ tried to buy an Alpha Romeo from me. That must be some missionary course.
I still have my Alpha.
April 5th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
So I put a couple of items on Craigslist here in southern California. I immediately received this email:
Thanks for your response,I am willing to pay your asking price,but ill
be paying through my online paypal account due to my location.Am from
Norwich East of England and i’m on a missionary course attached to
Norwich Cathedral,which will end in couple of month,that’s why i can’t
use any other form of payment than paypal,the only safe and secure way
for me to pay online.So give me the email linked to your paypal
account if you have one and if you are new to paypal you can easily
set up your own account at http://www.paypal.com its easy,fast,safe and
secured,all i need is the email address you will use in your
registration with paypal,that will enable me to make the payment.
But before the payment you will need to send pics to my email so i can
see in large form and with your zipcode for pick up so my shipping
agent can estimate the shipping cost for me,as i will arrange a
private shipping agent that will come for the pick up after you
confirm payment in your account.also include your phone number so i
can call you when i need to,mine is +447011196989.
Looking forward to hear from you soon along with your paypal email.
Very best wishes,
Stephanie.
Look familiar? Thankfully my son who sells and buys on Craigslist recognized this as a scam right away, and I sent her an email back saying that I would not do business with her. She has none of my banking information and I don’t have a paypal account. This makes me really angry..
Kim
May 16th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
[...] Federal agents raided the home of two Vietnamese exchange students not long ago on suspicion of participation in a credit card theft ring. Authorities said that the rather complicated scam involved stolen credit cards, an online scam, products posted for sale on eBay, and false PayPal accounts. [...]
November 1st, 2011 at 12:35 am
I opened a pay-pal account about 2 weeks ago with my Direct express debit Card disability payment, and very little at that…reason was to buy a few thing with not having to pay someone to take me to the store other that for food, and just getting harder to get out in public for me,…the other was to sell a few things on ebay so that i could have a few dollars extra dollars to make it thru the month, i thought after selling a few things i would apply for the pay-pal credit card are have them send me a check for what i sold..I really thought my penny pinching doing without food medication clothing days were over, BIG Big surprise i had, pay-pal put what they call limits on my account, that means i can’t buy nothing off of ebay or any other place that takes pay-pal or get my money for the few thing i sold on ebay, So i got this email from pay-pal saying that the limits were put because i owe them $8,000.00 plus dollars, I asked why?? and i was told that my name and address and social security number is tied together with someone named MRGREENROSETTA@aol.com that had an account with them. in 2005.. ( why would pay-pal let someone have that kind of loan ??..i guess that’s what it is, i can’t find no one on ebay with that name MRGREENROSETTA@aol.com makes no sense…i told them i have never in my life used that name, i have no idea who what are where this person is, i sent him MRGreen…. a email and it came back as no such address, now i still have another worry, i guess every month pay-pal is going to take my monthly Social security income money until this person debit of $8,000.00 plus dollars is paid off, i’m not sure if they can or do this, have no idea who to ask..i’m hoping that i can go to the police department and see if they can find this other person who used my name and social security number, i called around to find help, and from what i was told i can’t do nothing about it, but i will try, this MRGREENROSETTA@aol.com must have had an bank account,identification..something, well here in Albuquerque, New Mexico they were giving anyone that had the money a drivers licences, this state is always in the news for the corruption to do with people selling fake drivers licences, not really a fake because they had the right state seals and paper plastic, unreal..so guess I’ll be homeless with the rest of the people having a hard time, all i know and can say is watch your personal information, check it on a regular basics.. you can be robbed and made hopeless & homeless if you don’t keep track of you personal information, Million dollars companies like pay-pal don’t care about the truth, just what they can recover from who ever, i got to do the proven that they gave and let someone else use my personal information to rum a scam for $8,000.00 dollars.. i guess that’s what i’m calling it, i know this person didn’t didn’t steal it from me, because i have never in my 60 years have an bank account, i was not stable enough, i was so mentally messed up that i didn’t learn to truly read and write and understand until 6 years ago and haven’t stop learning yet, and this is the first time in my life that i have been and stayed on my medication, never knew that i had the problems i had in the pass, so i know this wasn’t my account tied to pay-pal, that’s why i say pay-pal was the creator of this MRGREENROSETTA@aol.com gave this person an account to steal, and destroy me…and the so called $8,000.00 ???..just beware of who what where,….thanks for any advice anyone my have..Thank You…Thomas
December 12th, 2011 at 11:45 am
Not everyone who signs up illegitimately to PayPal is a scammer. PayPal has a record with screwing people’s businesses over for inadequate reasons, and many people are trying to sneak past the system to keep their legitimate businesses going.