PayPal Fraudster Gets A Surprise Visit After Forgetting One 'Tiny' Detail
The woman’s husband’s PayPal account was used to make fraudulent purchases, including a Rs 83,000 ($1,000) iPad from Best Buy and a Rs 75,000 ($900) phone from Mercari.
Online scams have become a soaring issue in today’s fast-paced world. Scammers are finding new ways to steal people’s hard-earned money. Adding to this list of scams, a woman recently shared how her husband’s PayPal account was used to make fraudulent purchases, including a Rs 83,000 ($1,000) iPad from Best Buy and a Rs 75,000 ($900) phone from Mercari. The scammer, living just 10 miles from their home, shipped the items to his place, which helped them track him down.
Detailing the incident, she explained that the incident came to light when her husband noticed his Chrome browser password setting was up. In the Reddit post, she went on to say, “Then the next day he asked if I purchased a $1,000 iPad from Best Buy and a $900 phone from a seller on Mercari."
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The couple were shocked, as the husband didn’t even have a Mercari account. Checking their PayPal and bank statements, they were sure enough that the payments had already been processed through PayPal. However, the scammer made a slight mistake. He forgot that PayPal sends a delivery confirmation photo along with the recipient’s address.
With the help of the address in the picture, they were able to track down the scammer. Determined to get their money back, the woman decided to visit the scammer and get the iPad. “It’s in our town, about 10 miles away. I’m going to get the iPad," she told her husband before heading to the address.
Upon arriving, a young man answered the door, and she demanded the item. She said, “I’m here to pick up my iPad."
But the man seemed confused. “I told him I knew it was delivered, and I either want my iPad or the money," she recalled. At first, he shut the door. But she knocked it again after five minutes, issuing a firm warning. She said, “Give me my iPad or money, or the next knock will be from the police."
Moments later, the man showed up with the package but demanded to see her ID. She refused, saying, “No, I wasn’t showing him my ID."
At last, the scammer handed over the box—which had her husband’s name on it but the scammer’s address.
Soon after the post gained traction online, social media users chimed into the comments section of the post to share their views.
A user wrote, “Absolutely call the police. You’re probably not the first person he’s done this to."
“Careful jumping to conclusions. It could be a triangulation scam, i.e., a young man orders an iPad from a sketchy site. Sketchy site scammer gets to keep the clean (non-stolen) money from the young man and leaves your husband, Best Buy, and the young man duking it out with each other," another added.
“Aside from changing your passwords, you likely need to configure your PayPal and other financial sites for two-factor auth. Such that logging into PayPal will also require a confirmation code sent to your phone," read a comment.
Another stated, “It is possible that the computer was running TeamViewer or some other screen-sharing software? Someone connecting could have stolen passwords."
“If you ever need to ask, Should you call the police? The answer is always YES! It’s like if anyone ever says to you, ‘There’s no need to call the police,’ even if you were never even thinking about calling them, CALL THEM!" an account remarked.
What do you think?
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