Weird Paypal transaction... advice?

[Hollow Man]

Okay, I posted a camera on my local craigslist and received several replies, among them someone named Joyce (last name removed in case she's real). She wanted the camera for my asking price, and wanted to Paypal me the money so I'd ship it to her. A little unusual based on my history with craigslist (normally local people just pick up), but whatever... maybe she's lazy or can't/won't travel. As soon as I send her my Paypal address, I get a reply from her and an automated reply from Paypal saying the money has been deducted from her account and will be deposited in my account pending confirmation of shipping. She also included an extra $100 for shipping on a $250 camera! That total makes it equivalent to the price of the camera new on Amazon (to which I even provided a link in my ad)!!!

I check my Paypal, and there's no record of her sending money to me anywhere. Plus, in the allegedly-authentic email from Paypal, it's got me shipping to someone named Sabrina in Mississippi. The email looks VERY authentic (although I haven't done a line-by-line comparison with a known good Paypal email).

So of course, I'm thinking someone's copied Paypal's email, and this is a scam, kinda like the whole Nigerian "I'll-send-you-your-asking-price-plus-an-extra-grand" nonsense. But, it wouldn't be the first time I received a (legitimate) payment from one name and shipped to another name (spouse, kin, friend, etc). And, she just could be naive as to the cost of shipping or this camera new (eBay syndrome). Anyone heard of this? Any advice?

[TheDarkReaver]

it's probably a scam, you should always get payment before shipping.

[Hollow Man]

See, that's what I thought. My Paypal ALWAYS shows every little thing that I do and notifies me when it's complete. I can't fathom that she would have sent me any money and it wouldn't register somewhere on the site. I'm also baffled by the whole concept of having to verify shipping before it will credit the money to me. Unless Paypal has some new method/procedures for payment for goods to be shipped, this is definitely unusual.

But the email I received supposedly from service@paypal.com looks VERY real, and seems to check out in all the right ways. I just wanted to know if Paypal maybe has started doing shipping verification prior to payments being completed, or if anyone knew of fake Paypal payment confirmation emails circulating out there.

[Nino Valenti]

Forward that email to spoof@ebay.com and they will reply letting you know if it is real or a scam.

It may take a day or 2 to get a reply.

The transaction seems fake to me.

[peterbright]

Sounds strange to me.

[fenderhutz]

Scam,

I just got a similar hit on my Strat on craigslist.

[NJL]

CALL her and double check, but it sounds like a scam.

good luck!

[bongomania]

Dude, email addresses are extremely easy to forge. Do not believe any email just based on the return address shown. If the information is not shown on your Paypal account, then it is a scam and a fraud, and the email address was forged. It happens literally all the time.

[Hollow Man]

Eh, I'm done with this one. Like I said, the two things I was concerned other was a possible new Paypal policy that required shipping confirmation before they'd credit my account with the payment, or the possibility of counterfeit Paypal payment emails floating around. Looks like it's the latter.

Thanks guys... always check your Paypal account before you ship!

[CTbass&birdsong]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

Eh, I'm done with this one. Like I said, the two things I was concerned other was a possible new Paypal policy that required shipping confirmation before they'd credit my account with the payment, or the possibility of counterfeit Paypal payment emails floating around. Looks like it's the latter.

Thanks guys... always check your Paypal account before you ship!

Better safe than sorry.....check out the other recent craiglist scam, listed recently here , where a TBer here got burned for $1400 on a black Ric....I have advertised on craiglist and get an average of 2-3 scam responses a day !!!! Makes you wonder about todays society !!

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Not on your paypal account = not real IMO

[iamlowsound]

I used paypal on Tuesday and they sent me the usual 50 emails to let me know what was going on.

lowsound

[tplyons]

Definitely fake. If the transaction exists in any stretch of the imagination, it will hold on your transaction history in a pending state. If it doesn't exist in history, it's fake.