Lakes Area resident falls victim to PayPal scam

On February 23, 2017, a McCracken County citizen listed a vehicle and trailer for
sale on Craig’s List. Within a short time he was contacted by an out of state number
requesting to purchase the vehicle. The agreed purchase amount was to be sent to the
victim via PayPal online. The victim received an email that appeared to be from
PayPal stating the agreed amount was sent along with an extra $900.00. The extra
$900.00 was to be wired via Western Union to a third party to pay for transport
fees.

The victim contacted PayPal only to discover no money was ever deposited into their
account. The email that was sent to them was not a real email from PayPal. There
continues to be increasing cases pertaining to online scams. If you are using
PayPal, log into your account and make sure the money was deposited into your
account prior to shipping merchandise. Do Not rely on just an email. If anyone sends
you extra money and asks you send it to someone else it is often times a scam or at
minimum should pose as a red flag to the seller and warrant additional investigation
prior to forwarding any money or merchandise.

As always, if there are questions surrounding the transaction, contact your local
law enforcement agency. Often times direction can be provided to citizens that can
prevent loss of property and or money. And remember, if it’s too good to be true it
usually is.