I don't have a lot of time these days, so I really don't appreciate it being wasted. But it happened and now I have to take more time because people need to know what happened so hopefully it doesn't happen to them. Or worse.
Last night I posted a doll on Instagram and those all cross-post to my studio page on Facebook. A short time later I got a message asking if this doll was still available. Seeing as I hadn't actually listed her for sale, of course she was. So I said yes she is, gave the total including shipping and my paypal address. I don't love doing the back and forth about things. People usually inquire if something is still available only if they want it. So while it still feels weird (even after 17 years) to say yes, this is the price and this is how you pay me, it saves time. The follow up message was irritating however, and I should have started paying closer attention right then. But I was busy and when the follow up message asked for the exact information I had just given I should have seen it as a red flag (maybe? Maybe that is just hindsight). There was also a message asking when I would be able to ship. Some people miss things in a message, even a short one, so I replied again with the price and said "as I said in the above message. I can likely get her shipped whatever the next day is after you pay". Which was not the most polite thing I have ever said to someone, but wasn't rude. Kind of a subtle hint to actually read the messages. And a subtle line to say I won't ship until you pay me.
So then I get a message saying she will send PayPal now with a follow up message saying "have successfully made payment, you should receive an email notification from PayPal kindly check your email inbox if you've received it." As I said, I was doing other things, this was after my working hours, and I saw the notification come in and didn't bother to look closely at it because the preview showed me the amount was correct and she had already sent an address. So I said "got it, I will get her shipped tomorrow, thanks!" She then asked if I received confirmation email from PayPal (and I was over here wondering, how the F$#@ else I would have known I received a payment) so I replied "yes, I just said that". Then I got 2 messages asking for a screenshot of what I got in the message from PayPal.
What???
Now I'm really irritated because not only has this whole thing taken some time, now someone who sent me money wants me to PROVE I got it??? This is making no sense so I opened the email, which looked super weird, and then I messaged back saying apparently I do not have your payment.
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| This was the email preview |
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| part of the body of the email. I will post the full wording below. |
Did I mention I was annoyed now? I then got a lengthier message from the person asking if I read and understood what the email said. That was immediately followed by an "explanation" that my paypal isn't a business account so there is a limit on it so she is required to send me an additional $300 and if she will send me back the $300 and so on and so on.
I replied "I did understand the email, and my account has been a business account for over 15 years. This is also not actually an email from PayPal and I'm not going to be part of your scam"
That was immediately followed by a notice on the bottom of the chat saying this person is unavailable on messenger. Not sure if that means I was blocked, a fake profile was deleted or what. Now I could have saved myself some time if I had taken the time to actually look at the email. I have seen, quite literally, thousands of emails from PayPal. And besides the fact that this is not their email address (no @) it doesn't even look like an email from PayPal. The wrong email address, no logo, no "Hello Anne Field" and so on and so on. But I was distracted and then annoyed. So I figured I would put this all out there in case someone else gets this fun scam. I really hope someone very new to selling doesn't fall for this.
I'm just sort of bummed that she didn't say her "shipper" would contact me to pick up the item. But I guess scams only work if they are not all the same and I feel that one is usually a Craigslist line.
*update* I also contacted the profile of the name and photo that were used to try this scam and let them know that someone used their name and picture to try to scam me. She seemed confused and relatively nice. She swore it wasn't her and I honestly don't care, I figured I would just let her know. So either it was her and she is maybe rethinking her scammer life choices or it wasn't her and she will change her password like I said she probably should because someone stole her stuff.
The full wording of the email for anyone that cares. The English is atrocious:
You’ve Received sent you $250.00USD |