Funny Paypal email

KTRIC · 07-02-2008 3:00pm #1

My colleague asked me earlier today if I can transfer some money to a company based in Dublin for his mate if he gives me the money just to bypass the whole money transfer costs etc. I said no problem as it would save him €50 (we're in Germany, his mate is in Prague).

Anyway my colleague comes back to me later and says that his mate needs to send the money via bank draft and then he shows me this email.

Forwarded message
From: webform@paypal.fr <webform@paypal.fr>
Date: 6.2.2008 15:36
Subject: Negative Balance Limited Access (KMM7375036I96L0KM)
To: Miroslav XXXXXXX <XXXXXX@post.cz>

Dear Miroslav XXXXXXX,

We will be unable to review the limited access on your account until the
balance is brought to zero or a positive balance. In order to secure your
account and to have the limited access quickly reviewed, we require the
following:

Reimburse the negative balance amount to PayPal by sending a banker's draft
or money order in Euro or GBP to the address below. Please note that if you
wish to reimburse your negative balance in GBP you might want to send a bit
more as the negative amount will be converted into Euro after 21 days.

PayPal Europe
P.O. Box 9473
Dublin 15
Ireland
Please make your payment payable to PayPal. In the 'memo' area of your
banker's draft or postal order, write your PayPal email address.

Should access to your account remain limited for an extended period of
time, it may result in further limitations or eventual account closure.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. We apologise for any
inconvenience.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Sincerely,
Hind
PayPal, an eBay Company

Copyright © 1999-2008 PayPal. All rights reserved. PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l.
& Cie, S.C.A. Société en Commandite par Actions. Registered Office: 5th
Floor 22-24 Boulevard Royal L-2449, Luxembourg, RCS Luxembourg B 118 349

My colleague and his mate aren't native English speakers and were genuinely going to send money.

Just as I type this his mate is saying that he has a negative balance in Paypal, I didn't think this was possible. Maybe he clicked on a link within an email that showed a fake statement.

Any suggestions ??

sternn · 07-02-2008 3:07pm

typing in that address in google brought me to this website:

http://www.screw-paypal.com/paypal_contact_information.html

which clearly looks bogus. I would not pay any attention to that email, just another scam!

ScumLord · 07-02-2008 3:12pm

Does paypal even have a Dublin office? There's no mention of it on the email I got off them accusing me of laundering money. It's all Luxembourg at the bottom of my emails.

What did he buy that's got him in the red? Did he buy anything? Does he have a paypal account? If he does it'll show whats owed in there.

MarkR · 07-02-2008 3:13pm

Sounds odd. You can report it here, if it is legitimate they will be able to confirm.

aidan_walsh · 07-02-2008 3:31pm

Scumlord wrote:

Does paypal even have a Dublin office?

They do.

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/jobs-outside

PayPal has offices in San Jose, Omaha, Berlin, Dublin, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, and Sydney.

ScumLord · 07-02-2008 3:41pm

Righto so, still it can all be cleared up by logging into his paypal account.

aidan24326 · 07-02-2008 4:05pm

I worked for them a while back and I'm pretty certain that's fake. You wouldn't believe the amount of these that do the rounds, and some people do get swindled.