I was clearing out my old house and had some furniture to sell.
So I advertised on Mudah as the adverts are free.
Soon after, someone sent me an email and offered a slight premium on the asking price and also asked me to remove the advert.
I said no and informed him the advert stays until I got paid.
Then he asked me to open a PayPal account and said it was very simple and even gave me the URL in his email.
My first mistake was to use that email link to sign up for PayPal. Now when you sign up for PayPal there is a section where they also ask you to confirm your account by input of credit card details etc. I tried to input that but somehow the transaction failed but the PayPal account was opened. I called up the KL helpline to confirm.
The next email I got was surprising. The buyer said he had paid RM2700 into my Paypal of which RM2200 was for shipping charges and the balance was for the furniture.
I was asked to send RM2200 via Western Union to a guy in London before PayPal would release the balance to me.
So I told him I had never agreed to such an arrangement and refused. He came back and told a sad story that he was a marine engineer somewhere and had no access to banks but his email account.
I still refused and then I received a demand notice supposedly from PayPal demanding the payment or "legal action" would be taken.
I called up PayPal in KL but they confirmed that no payments had been received.
I then forwarded the demand emails to PayPay and they have confirmed it was an attempt at phishing when some tries to steal your identity like credit card details.
In my case I think they also tried to cheat me by paying in advance to gain a future reward.
It is similar to the Nigerian letters where they say you have been named as a beneficiary to X millions and once you get interested, they ask you to forward a few thousand upfront to pay some costs.
That old saying is so true:
"A fool and his money are soon parted".
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3 comments:
Hi, Harold. Thanks for sharing your valuable experience on phishing attempts by crooks. I received many like the Nigerian scams, lately bogus Maybank emails and many more. Your article has helped shed light on the varied methods used. I've been forewarned and would like to share your story on FB with your permission.
yellowkingdom
thanks for asking permission. Please do. I also cancelled the old credit card on my wife's advice.
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