New Scam Method by Nigerians Part II

My last post ended with me replying to him with my PayPal ID. 


This might be the last part, maybe not - depending on how long this post is going to be. But with this post, I'll be showing you some of the tips & tricks that will point out a shammer (I bet most of you already know these stuff anyway)


I received a reply - very fast response - with the subject Payment Made. 


hello, how are you?
just want to inform you that i have send the money for the item into your paypal account so i will like you to ship out the item today and get back to me with the tracking number so this is where you are sending the item to.......
Name......... Ohai Gabriel
Address.......8,Ajana Street IjeshaTedo
City...........Surulere
Receivers Number....+2348038537546
State.....Lagos
Country........Nigeria
Zipcode......... 23401 so ship out the item and one more thing want you to write on the item as gift on the mail slip because i dont want the customs to place their attention on the item so post out the item out via USPS Express mail(EMS)..and make sure you place insurance on the item..
thanks get back to me with the tracking number..

Still very authentic right?? I know! But that is before you see the next attachment. When you pay via PayPal, both receiver and sender will receive a notification email from PayPal. I did too. Take a look and see if you can point out what is wrong with this:

OK can you find anything wrong with the email yet? No? Look again - very carefully this time. Yes? No? Fine, let me tell you what is wrong with this email.


1) Look at 'from'. It says payPal Service. Paypal is 2 capital Ps it should be PayPal. So that is the first thing I noticed when I saw this mail in my inbox.


2) Have you ever noticed that PayPal only has 1 email address for all their notifications? For non-US I mean. It is ALWAYS service@intl.paypal.comand they do not have a name. What do I mean? For example in the 'from' field you might have Will Smith . For PayPal, it is ALWAYS service@intl.paypal.com . Notice this email has payPal Service? 2nd sign.



3) There will NOT be **** before the start of the subject (I'm sorry I cannot remember the exact words PayPal will use). 


4) The body of the email is empty. 


5) At the bottom - the footer - the big giveaway. Hotmail???? WTH???? This is one HUGE giveaway which the shammer cannot change because it is imbedded in all hotmail's emails. You cannot change it from your email or your account. It's a way Hotmail advertises their services. 


6) I'm not sure if other mail providers have this option (I'm loyal to Gmail) but you see there's a mailed-by below the subject?? It says hotmail.com. Again WTH???


Getting exciting huh? So what did I do??? I replied - I played along. Immediately I knew this was not authentic. Of course I checked my PayPal account. But with the email body empty,  didn't have enough to contact PayPal to report a fraud. 


So replied to our friend Mr Smith saying that:
Hi Logan,

I have received a payPal Payment Notification. However, I can confirm that this notification is not authentic and I have not received any money in my PayPal account - there are tell-tale signs of it being a fake and have checked with PayPal also. I suggest that you cancel your payment immediately. 

I have sent you a payment request. You will just have to follow the link enclosed in the email to make payment. 

I will send out the laptop once the payment is received in my PayPal account.

I just wanted to play along and see what this guy has up his sleeves you know. And maybe, you can say, I was gathering evidence so that I can write a post like this on my blog. But then again, as I'm writing this post, do you think I have just educated these people?? Let me know!!! If most of you think I have made things worst by educating them where the loopholes are, I'll be more than happy to take the posts down.


Time to move on to Part III - oh yes, this ain't the end. It's only the start and it's getting more fun!