Tag: craigslist

Craigslist PayPal Scam

On By Michel McDonaldIn ScamsLeave a comment

 

Today is the second time I have spoken with someone regarding this issue. Someone I know was trying to sell her engagement ring, and she placed an ad on Craigslist. Just for the record, she lives in Tennessee and the person who responded said they live in Ohio. This person said they sent $4,350.00 to my friend via PayPal, but my friend did not see the money in the account that she had just created for this specific purpose. She received several emails from “PayPal” and here they are with my commentary. I’ve highlighted several issues with these emails.

First off, you can tell if an email is a scam by looking at who sent you the email. Notice how it says service@paypal.com, but then it says paypalsfundsalerts@inbox.lv? Well, if you get an email that shows 2 different email addresses, red flags should go up. Out of curiosity, I went to inbox.lv and that website does exist and anyone can create an email address with any name they want. This is not a valid paypal email address because they would not go out of the @paypal.com system. It just doesn’t happen. So that is my first red flag.

email to and from

This is the first email. I used Gimp to highlight. I created a box around the text, then used the paintbrush to add yellow with 50% transparency, which is why the black text looks faded. I just wanted to clarify that before you went any further.

Ok so here is the first email. They emailed her to tell her that they placed a temporary hold on the funds of this transaction. Why would they do that? I know she has just created this PayPal account for this very purpose, and she never intends on using PayPal again because she doesn’t trust it. She has a checking account with a brick and mortar bank, why would she need PayPal?

So I’m a bit confused here. They placed a temporary hold of $4,3500.00, but she is supposed to Money Gram $750 to someone, then send them a picture or scanned copy of the Money Gram to PayPal? What? That’s not how this works. This is crazy to me!

email 2 money gram

This is who she is supposed to send $750 to. Who is this? This is a 3rd party. PayPal would NEVER have you send money to a 3rd party via Money Gram. I’m sorry, but this is crazy to me.

email 2 money gram florida

Another red flag for me is that they would NEVER spell Walmart or Money Gram without caps. Also, check out my 2nd highlight where they started a new sentence without the space.

email 2 walmart or money gram

Ok, so that is the first email. She told this person that she never got the money and that she didn’t feel comfortable sending $750 via Money Gram. I mean, why would she feel comfortable doing that? I feel uncomfortable for her. So then she gets this email. First of all, look at the date. 12/05/2015. Todays date is 5/12/2015 so they got that backwards lol. If PayPal were to send an email out, they would have the correct date. Second, when someone sends you money on PayPal, a representative does not contact you personally. It just doesn’t happen. The computer will generate an email telling you that you need to verify your account before the funds will be deposited into your account. So that is a huge red flag for me. Third, they misspelled PayPal. You see my highlight that says papal. The last thing about this email is the Money Gram Transfer. I am still very confused about that.

email 1 contents

And finally they sent out a third email. Let me just repeat what I said before, if PayPal were to email anything to you, it would be their computer, not an actual person. They are pleading this Hazel persons case. “You Have to understand that Hazel Lane is a loyal customer of PayPal.” You have to understand is their first sentence? Why? I don’t understand this. Why are they pleading for someone? They spelled have with a cap. Then read my 2nd highlight “to loose the money.” You don’t loose money, you lose money. Then they said it is clear you are trying to scam her which will be taking up legally. WE WILL, is what they meant to say. Then finally “which can lead you loosing this account.” You don’t loose something, you lose it. Oh and they are threatening 5 years in prison. Then finally in the last highlight they did it again with the separation of sentences where they added a period, but then forgot to add a space, but this time the next sentence begins without the cap and it says “please for any Question reply directly back to this email.”

email 3 you have to understand

Oh and finally the logo at the end SCAM DEFENCE. Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s spelled with an S not a C. Defense. Also the N is raised a bit oddly in that logo.

I told her what I thought and that she should call PayPal directly and I found their number on Google Search and she called and they told her that this is a scam. I told her to cut off communication with this person and to delete her PayPal account since she has no intention of using it any further. I also advised her to change her email password and to block this person on her phone since they were communicating via text message.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know when you are being scammed, but some people, particularly young and elderly people don’t get scammed too often, so they don’t see the signs right away. That’s why I am happy that she sent me a message asking me what I thought about this whole thing. Another friend of mine fell for this scam when she tried selling her laptop on Craigslist. They pressured her to ship it out overnight, so she ended up shipping out her laptop and never got a dime and spent around $50 shipping the laptop to… get this… NIGERIA! If that is not a big giant red flag, I don’t know what is. If you are ever in doubt, the minute you see the word Nigeria, RUN! Don’t pass go, just run! And when I say run, obviously I mean shut it down. Stop all communication and call PayPal directly.

If you have to question something, then perhaps there is something wrong with it. Also, you know the old adage, say it with me, If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If you want to see what a TRUE PayPal email looks like when you get money, this is it. They don’t add any fancy graphics or personalize anything. Know the difference and stay safe.

proper email

California Lemon Lawyers

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog3 Comments

Did you buy a car only to find out that it was a lemon?  That could happen if you buy a car from someone through Craigslist without checking carfax first.  Don’t worry because there is an attorney who is on your side.  California Lemon law lawyers are there to help you file a claim if you were misled into buying a car that was a lemon.

California Lemon Law attorneys have law offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Newport Beach.  You can either call them and tell them what happened, or you can fill out a form on their website describing your lemon case, and one of their representatives will get back to you within 24 hours.

I don’t have a car, nor do I even know how to drive, but if I did and I was misled into buying a lemon, I would be sure to contact the Lemon Law attorneys in California.  I like knowing that there are lawyers that have your back.

Their website has stories from other lemon victims, maybe you might be able to learn from other people’s mistakes and take advantage of that knowledge.  They also have a blog so you can get more information.  I hate to repeat the same thing over and over again but knowledge is power.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or call a lemon lawyer today.

Bad Tenants

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Ok they are gone so now I can talk about them…

In the middle of April these people responded to the ad that we put in Craigslist to rent the little house next door.  They wanted it so bad so they put a deposit down which would be their last months rent.  See, Darrin wants people to pay first, last and a deposit.  The rent was $625 so to be able to move in you have to give $1250 plus $500 for a deposit.  When they give a 30 day notice to move out then the “last” kicks in so they don’t have to pay their rent for that last month.  This way they can use what they normally would pay for rent as a deposit for another place.

So anyway May 1st comes and they move in.  They pull up in a U-Haul truck and I’m standing there waiting patiently for them to come and I hand them both their own set of keys.  I even help them unload the truck.  I’m such a nice guy right?  LOL

The tenants were a couple, Robert who was unemployed since he was coming here from another state, obviously he had no job so he said that when Monday came he would go search for a job.  His pregnant girlfriend, no, not wife, Sarah used to work at this hospital in town (allegedly) and so they said she could come back to work.

Well, after they were living there a whole day they started complaining about stuff.  Sarah said that she was having to scrub down the stove/oven because it was absolutely filthy.  Well, I take that personally because I scrubbed it for an hour and half way before they moved in.  The previous tenant, Justin, left the place so gross that it took me forever to clean it.  So when she said it was filthy I felt like it was a slap in the face to me.  I spent my own money on the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and I spent my own money on the oven cleaner and I spent like I said, 1 1/2 hours scrubbing it clean.

Then she calls and says they are having such a huge cockroach problem and I told her that you can be the cleanest person in the world and you will still get them at this time of year.  It is in fact roach season when it starts getting hot out and when they moved in was around the time that it started heating up outside.  I mean, it wasn’t in the 100’s but I think it was in the early 90’s.  I can’t remember.  But she told me on the phone that she has lived in Bakersfield for 30 years and she has never seen 1 roach.  LOL Yeah right.  In what reality was she living in those 30 years because I’ve lived here in the 70’s and the 80’s and I’ve lived here since 2000 and the roaches are out every summer crawling in the back yard, crawling on the front yard, they get inside the house and you can’t get rid of them.  But she insisted I was wrong and she was right.

So Darrin calls Banks pest control and pays $150 for that 1 visit.  Of course she still complains.  On the 3rd day She had asked for a can of white glossy paint so she could paint the kitchen cabinets lol.  He went over there and just lit into her because she was being too demanding and asking for this and that and the other.  He even tells them they have 3 days to move and the guy Robert says well give us back all of our money.  Darrin goes, ok, I’ll give you your money… after you have moved out and I see how clean the place is, then we’ll talk about getting you your money back.  Of course then he has them both by the balls.

On June 1st instead of putting an envelope in our mail box with a rent check in it they put an envelope in our mail box with a 30 day notice to move lol.  Thank god!  Good riddance.

So they are gone by June 30th and they leave 1 set of keys in our mailbox.  I didn’t hear them drop because I was asleep.  I only found them when I got the mail.  So I went over there to see what damage they left for us.  They left what was a clean couch when they moved in but now it’s filthy.  And they took the door knobs in the house which were all original when the house was built.  I don’t know how many they took, I just found out today when Darrin went over there to look.  And the back yard they left a lot of trash and a lot of cigarette butts on the ground lol.

I never met them until they moved in but if I had met them when they were looking at the place I would’ve told Darrin not to rent to them because they both looked like white trash.  I could tell just by looking at them.  I didn’t have to get to know them to know that, I could tell.  Frankly I’m surprised they aren’t either living in a tent or a trailer.  I’m sure that’s next though because Robert got like 3 or 4 of those little post card sized letters from Bank of America that you tear off the sides and the top to reveal it is insufficient funds fees.  I’ve gotten a couple of those in my lifetime but never have I gotten 3 or 4 in 2 days lol.  Plus they’ve gotten a few letters from what looks like collections by looking at the name of the company on the return address.  We threw all their mail out because they refused to give us a mailing address and they took all the door knobs so screw them.  They also aren’t responding to our calls so how else can we give them their mail?

Let’s hope the next tenants who occupy that space aren’t such dicks.

Oh I forgot to mention something.  The whole 2 months they were living here, Robert wasn’t working.  All he did all day long was either sleep or play with his $400 remote-controlled car that takes its own gasoline or he sat on the couch playing X-Box online with other people.  I know this because I had to go over there a couple of times to install stuff like a new light fixture and a smoke detector.  So he had the nerve to make his pregnant girlfriend work while he hung out at home all day.  What a dick!