Phishing E-mail Spoofing PayPal Extorts Money

Auckland City Downtown Police (Auckland, New Zealand) have issued an alert to the general public about an e-mail scam which is currently circulating on the Internet.

Aiming at people looking for customers of big products like motorcars over the Net, the fraudsters pretend to be a purchaser who is unable to pay the charges directly for the product's shipment. Consequently, the scammers direct the victims to transfer the refundable fee of $1,200 to a delivery company that would ship the item to the purchaser presently traveling abroad.

The scammers also assure that the credit money would be deposited into the PayPal account of the victim. Subsequently, they send an e-mail to the victim, supposedly from PayPal, stating that the product's price and the fee due to the delivery company are ready to be credited to the PayPal account of the victim.

But when the sellers don't pay the charges, one more fake message reaches them electronically.

It states that PayPal must know the current situation about the product's deal otherwise it would act legally against the seller, as he has not answered to the payment's confirmation that is sent to the seller's account from PayPal on behalf of the purchaser.

Moreover, the e-mail threatens of legal action and states that the name and contact details of the seller would be notified to the law enforcement agency in his country so that he is arrested since the seller is playing fraud, adding that his PayPal account would also be blocked.

According to police, the origin of the scam is a foreign country, and they are investigating to know the exact place although some clues suggest England as the country from where the scammers is operating.

While urging the public to assist them in solving the incident, the police have asked anyone getting similar e-mails to contact Sergeant Rachel Wood of Auckland Police, New Zealand either through e-mail or through helpline numbers. Simultaneously, they have recommended that anyone getting the e-mail must instantly erase it for preventing any possible fraud.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

» SPAMfighter News - 12/7/2009