# If you're going to send fake PayPal emails... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2012, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-send-fake-paypal-emails/630718 "2012-08-07T10:24:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-send-fake-paypal-emails/630718/1 "2012-08-07T10:24:44Z")
why would you choose [paypal@spoofpay.com](mailto:paypal@spoofpay.com) as the address to use? Spoofpay? Really? Like that wouldn’t ring alarm bells even if the “shipping address” didn’t: > [@](#): > > Fortune Jimmy > 8 Joel Dunmade Street, > Lawanson > Surulere > 23401 > Nigeria :dubious: (Backstory - my wife was trying to sell something on eBay, and got a series of dodgy messages, playing out almost exactly as described on [this blog](http://heartdrops.org/the-tale-of-fortune-jimmy-a-paypal-scam/), in fact. How on Earth does anyone fall for these, especially as none of the payment info, of course, shows up on Paypal or eBay itself?) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-send-fake-paypal-emails/630718/2 "2012-08-07T13:21:56Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > why would you choose [paypal@spoofpay.com](mailto:paypal@spoofpay.com) as the address to use? Spoofpay? Really? This may be related to another recent thread, where the key point was that Nigerian scamsters benefit if they quickly restrict their clients to the most gullible and most stupid. Obvious tells like “spoofbay” are useful to them if they help deter less gullible clientele from wasting scamster’s time. In the thread, opinions differed as to whether the scamsters were smart enough to incorporate such gullibility-testers, or whether it was stupid scamsters that randomly hit on a winning formula and proliferated due to survival of the “fittest.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-send-fake-paypal-emails/630718/3 "2012-08-07T18:12:32Z")
I get about a dozen of these a day in my Hotmail spam folder now. Occasionally I look through them for a laugh. The other day, I had one titled “AT LAST YOUR PART PAYMENT HAS BEEN AROVED.‏” the first paragraph reads: “I am Dr Good luck Jonathan President of Federal republic of Nigeria and the chairman Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, to notify you on the investigation that took place here in Nigeria.” ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-going-to-send-fake-paypal-emails/630718/4 "2012-08-07T18:34:56Z")
In my spam folder today, I saw \*“Your direct deposit is now in your bank account.” \* Kinda makes me wonder who has a bank account under the name of FairyChatMom and in which bank, since my yahoo account has nothing to identify me or anyone else personally. It’s right up there with _“An investigation has been ran on you this week”_ - gee, who has ran an investigation on FairyChatMom?? :rolleyes: I’m not bored enough yet to bother opening these emails.