In this post, I am going to show you different ways in which scammers earn illegal PayPal money. Yeah, that’s right. Although PayPal is one of the leading global online payment platforms and a secure one at that, scammers still manage to siphon money from it.
PayPal supports online money transfer and today’s level of unprecedented technology opens the platform to abuse. With that in mind, the unethical ways detailed below are definitely illegal side hustles.
Note – If you get caught, the law will be against you!
It’s also worth noting that most people have knowledge of illegal malpractices and will spot a scam from a mile away. Nevertheless, there are others that have made illegal PayPal money a major income source. Unfortunately, that’s how the world we live in turned out to be!
And, sadly, we can do nothing more than raise awareness and protect ourselves from these law breakers. I only hope this post creates the awareness required and saves at least a few!
So, how do fraudsters get free PayPal money instantly? Read through to find out…
EASY MONEY HACK:
- Survey Junkie – Survey Junkie is 100% legit and pays up to $45 per Survey. The site has a 4-star rating on Trustpilot. Their surveys are short, easy, and you can redeem for gift cards or PayPal cash – Click here to Start earning now!
- Nielsen App: – Downloading the Nielsen app on your mobile device unlocks up to $50 in rewards points per year, redeemable via PayPal or gift cards. Install the Nielsen app just like that!
- LifePointsPanel: With over 4k positive reviews and a 4.5 rating on Trustpilot, Lifepoints is available to a global audience over 16 yrs of age. Participate in surveys, win Amazon, Walmart gift cards – Sign up now!
- PineCone Research: Earn $3 – $5 per each survey & up to $7 per each product test – Sign up now!
1. Making Money Illegally On eBay Using PayPal
eBay is an American-based e-commerce platform that facilitates consumer-consumer and business-consumer sales via a marketplace website. The platform supports PayPal and credit/debit card modes of payment.
Here are some sneaky ways tricksters make money using PayPal on eBay:
The first thing fraudsters usually do is post an item to sell on eBay. This is usually something expensive, say like a mobile phone going for $500.
To entice interested buyers, they ensure that they slash the selling price a bit from the current market price. What’s more, they sweeten the deal further by including an add-on such as extra earphones or batteries.
The bottom line is to list an expensive item that is going for less with extra add-ons.
Insuring the item is where the catch is at.
Now, here is the sneaky part. Once the scammer finds a buyer, they’ll sell this item and leave out something so that the buyer may raise a complaint after realizing the violations of the terms of the sales. The scammer will apologize for such a mistake and promise to give back a refund for the missing item after the buyer raises a dispute on PayPal.
The criminal goes ahead to pay the refund and the dispute will be closed by PayPal.
Next, these criminal calls their mobile operator and complains that their mobile phone (the one they sold) has been stolen. They’ll make a claim through their insurance.
The mobile operator will block the phone such that the phone buyer can’t use it. The insurance will then compensate this swindler by giving them another phone.
And just like that, they’ll have made out with a brand new phone plus some cash!
PayPal Protection
According to PayPal and eBay terms and policies, once a dispute is settled, they cannot reopen it again, and as such, they will protect the criminal. Basically, the buyer cannot do anything about it.
Alternatively, when this buyer raises a dispute on PayPal the fraudster can opt not to reply and delay until the dispute deadline passes (45 days). And according to the rules, when the seller contacts either eBay or PayPal, they’ll tell him/her to contact the seller (criminal) for a refund.
2. Using Shipping Address To Earn Off PayPal
During the purchasing process on PayPal, you are required to enter a delivery address after making payment. Another quick cash crime you can implement here is providing an invalid delivery address.
The shipping company will make several delivery attempts until they give up; the company flags the item you purchased as undelivered. They will contact you and this time around, give them a new legit shipping address.
Your item will be delivered to your new address.
After the item is safely in your hands, file a complaint with PayPal claiming that the item wasn’t delivered. PayPal will contact your seller trying to know the reason your item never got to you.
Note: The delivery address is between you and the shipping company, so the seller has no proof of delivery. As such he has no evidence to absolve himself in the eyes of PayPal. Transaction details only indicate the original invalid address.
And, PayPal’s seller protection never covers addresses not indicated on the transaction file.
So, your seller loses the item, and his payment funds, whereas you get a full refund plus the item you had purchased earlier.
3. Overpay To Trick PayPal
Another dirty trick through which scammers make illegal cash on PayPal by using the overpayment trick.
When purchasing an item on PayPal, they’ll overpay such that the buying price exceeds the actual cost of the item. Later on, they’ll contact the seller explaining that they accidentally overpaid and ask for a refund of the extra payment.
After the seller refunds the extra cash, these frauds will contact PayPal claiming that their account got compromised by an anonymous person.
Also, they’ll add that they never meant to pay or buy anything in the first place. PayPal will compensate them for the full original amount, regardless of whether their seller did send/ship out the item they intended to purchase.
Here, the criminal has their full amount back plus the extra “overpaid” money the seller refunded.
Check out Other Similar Scams: Cash App $100 to $800 Flipping Scheme and Other Latest Cash App Scams to be War Off!
4. Phishing Email PayPal Scam
This dirty way to make money requires having some skills in web applications or coding.
A criminal will send bulk emails to random people. These emails will appear to be from PayPal notifying the swindlers’ targets that funds have been sent to their PayPal accounts, pending confirmation.
This scammer adds a link or a button after the email that prompts the email recipient to click it, making the money available to them.
Now here’s the trick.
This link leads to a fake PayPal website. Similar to the actual PayPal site, the target person is required to enter their login credentials (email and password). Before they realize it’s a fake site, the scammer will have stolen (Phished) these credentials, and they can use them to access their target person’s actual PayPal account.
Here the fraudsters can make payments or withdraw funds. Chances are that many people will fall into this trap. By the time any action is taken, they’ll have made out with quite some illegal cash.
Note: Phishing is a quick process because once the owner of the account realizes their money is gone, they will report and the account will be secured.
Also Read: Too-good-to-be-true online opportunities scamming people to work from home
5. Smishing PayPal Fraud
This method is almost identical to phishing, with the only difference being that the criminal uses a phone through voice or short messages to contact their targets.
They’ll send out a message informing their targets that their PayPal accounts have been suspended due to suspicious activities. Then these swindlers will give out a contact number they can reach out to. What’s more, they’ll stress out that it’s urgent.
Any person who calls this number will be confirming that indeed they own a PayPal account. And the fraudster who owns this number will ask for account information like login details so that they can help solve these account problems.
To sweeten the deal, swindlers will provide a URL instead of giving out a contact number. Whoever clicks on the URL will be redirected to a fake PayPal site, just like phishing.
Once successful the criminal gains access to several accounts and can transfer their cash or withdraw without their knowledge. Again, similar to phishing, smishing only works if the perpetrator is fast in completing the whole process before PayPal gets wind of the fraud.
6. Vishing PayPal Scams
Vishing is another intelligent sneaky way to earn illegal PayPal money.
It is a bit advanced because tricksters trick people, via automated systems, to answer voice calls from fake PayPal support IDs. The reason behind the call is reporting urgent account complications and requesting account information.
An example of such an automated voice call sounds like this:
“This is PayPal reporting a fraudulent transaction in your account. Enter your PIN to listen to the transaction details. Urgent action is required to block this transaction”
Once the person listening to the voice call enters such credentials, the hoaxer will have vital information that grants them access to their account and takes their money.
Note: With this scam, the fraudster needs its voice system to produce a perfect official customer care tone. Why? To sound authentic to anyone who has ever made a call to PayPal support.
7. Fake Emails To Shippers To Obtain Goods
Currently, most people are desperate to make money whether illegally or legally.
Scammers send fake emails, similar to those PayPal sends, to unwary PayPal holders who deal in the shipment of goods. Then they’ll go ahead and manipulate the person by informing them that they have made payments to their accounts.
Further, these hoaxers will explain that the money can only be available if they send the shipment tracking number as the funds are being held by PayPal.
If these criminals are lucky enough, the seller will send them the shipment tracking number. For them, they will do so hurriedly so as to ship the product and access the “said money” in their account.
These frauds will have acquired absolutely free goods that they can flip later!
8. Eavesdropping For PayPal Details
Criminals do use the eavesdropping technique to perform quick cash crimes.
All these frauds are required to do is listen to other people’s conversations to gain sensitive information. This can be done even at ATMs when someone is entering their account codes or just over their smartphone or PC when transacting through PayPal.
9. Dumpster Diving
Dumpster diving is probably one of the easiest dirty ways to make money on PayPal.
This method requires swindlers to rummage through other people’s garbage cans searching for credit card numbers and bank statements.
It’s not everyone shreds their documents before throwing them away. If they get lucky, they’ll come across important information they can use to gain access to people’s PayPal accounts.
Be Safe: Always burn expired credit cards and bank receipts. Shredding is also okay, but for some looking to make money from nothing, matching up the strips is right up their alley!
General Rule In PayPal Money Scams
Panic and rushed decisions come at an advantage to you when planning on getting money in a forbidden way. Why? By inducing panic and urgency, the target may provide crucial credentials without a second thought.
With this information, all the scammer has to do is open your account in a browser, log in, fill in the correct email and password, and access your funds. They can then ahead now and make payments or even withdraw the available funds in your account.
However, they have to be fast before PayPal discovers that the account has been hacked, reverses the payments made, and shut down the fraud. With that in mind, never be in a hurry to provide any info that is deemed “personal and secure”.
Wrap Up
Even with the jail terms that come with quick cash crimes, fraudsters continue to make illegal money on PayPal. But, I have to ask, why go for illegal PayPal money when you can earn free money from legal and easy side hustles?
In this post, I am going to show you different ways in which scammers earn illegal PayPal money. Yeah, that’s right. Although PayPal is one of the leading global online payment platforms and a secure one at that, scammers still manage to siphon money from it.
PayPal supports online money transfer and today’s level of unprecedented technology opens the platform to abuse. With that in mind, the unethical ways detailed below are definitely illegal side hustles.
Note – If you get caught, the law will be against you!
It’s also worth noting that most people have knowledge of illegal malpractices and will spot a scam from a mile away. Nevertheless, there are others that have made illegal PayPal money a major income source. Unfortunately, that’s how the world we live in turned out to be!
And, sadly, we can do nothing more than raise awareness and protect ourselves from these law breakers. I only hope this post creates the awareness required and saves at least a few!
So, how do fraudsters get free PayPal money instantly? Read through to find out…
EASY MONEY HACK:
- Survey Junkie – Survey Junkie is 100% legit and pays up to $45 per Survey. The site has a 4-star rating on Trustpilot. Their surveys are short, easy, and you can redeem for gift cards or PayPal cash – Click here to Start earning now!
- Nielsen App: – Downloading the Nielsen app on your mobile device unlocks up to $50 in rewards points per year, redeemable via PayPal or gift cards. Install the Nielsen app just like that!
- LifePointsPanel: With over 4k positive reviews and a 4.5 rating on Trustpilot, Lifepoints is available to a global audience over 16 yrs of age. Participate in surveys, win Amazon, Walmart gift cards – Sign up now!
- PineCone Research: Earn $3 – $5 per each survey & up to $7 per each product test – Sign up now!
1. Making Money Illegally On eBay Using PayPal
eBay is an American-based e-commerce platform that facilitates consumer-consumer and business-consumer sales via a marketplace website. The platform supports PayPal and credit/debit card modes of payment.
Here are some sneaky ways tricksters make money using PayPal on eBay:
The first thing fraudsters usually do is post an item to sell on eBay. This is usually something expensive, say like a mobile phone going for $500.
To entice interested buyers, they ensure that they slash the selling price a bit from the current market price. What’s more, they sweeten the deal further by including an add-on such as extra earphones or batteries.
The bottom line is to list an expensive item that is going for less with extra add-ons.
Insuring the item is where the catch is at.
Now, here is the sneaky part. Once the scammer finds a buyer, they’ll sell this item and leave out something so that the buyer may raise a complaint after realizing the violations of the terms of the sales. The scammer will apologize for such a mistake and promise to give back a refund for the missing item after the buyer raises a dispute on PayPal.
The criminal goes ahead to pay the refund and the dispute will be closed by PayPal.
Next, these criminal calls their mobile operator and complains that their mobile phone (the one they sold) has been stolen. They’ll make a claim through their insurance.
The mobile operator will block the phone such that the phone buyer can’t use it. The insurance will then compensate this swindler by giving them another phone.
And just like that, they’ll have made out with a brand new phone plus some cash!
PayPal Protection
According to PayPal and eBay terms and policies, once a dispute is settled, they cannot reopen it again, and as such, they will protect the criminal. Basically, the buyer cannot do anything about it.
Alternatively, when this buyer raises a dispute on PayPal the fraudster can opt not to reply and delay until the dispute deadline passes (45 days). And according to the rules, when the seller contacts either eBay or PayPal, they’ll tell him/her to contact the seller (criminal) for a refund.
2. Using Shipping Address To Earn Off PayPal
During the purchasing process on PayPal, you are required to enter a delivery address after making payment. Another quick cash crime you can implement here is providing an invalid delivery address.
The shipping company will make several delivery attempts until they give up; the company flags the item you purchased as undelivered. They will contact you and this time around, give them a new legit shipping address.
Your item will be delivered to your new address.
After the item is safely in your hands, file a complaint with PayPal claiming that the item wasn’t delivered. PayPal will contact your seller trying to know the reason your item never got to you.
Note: The delivery address is between you and the shipping company, so the seller has no proof of delivery. As such he has no evidence to absolve himself in the eyes of PayPal. Transaction details only indicate the original invalid address.
And, PayPal’s seller protection never covers addresses not indicated on the transaction file.
So, your seller loses the item, and his payment funds, whereas you get a full refund plus the item you had purchased earlier.
3. Overpay To Trick PayPal
Another dirty trick through which scammers make illegal cash on PayPal by using the overpayment trick.
When purchasing an item on PayPal, they’ll overpay such that the buying price exceeds the actual cost of the item. Later on, they’ll contact the seller explaining that they accidentally overpaid and ask for a refund of the extra payment.
After the seller refunds the extra cash, these frauds will contact PayPal claiming that their account got compromised by an anonymous person.
Also, they’ll add that they never meant to pay or buy anything in the first place. PayPal will compensate them for the full original amount, regardless of whether their seller did send/ship out the item they intended to purchase.
Here, the criminal has their full amount back plus the extra “overpaid” money the seller refunded.
Check out Other Similar Scams: Cash App $100 to $800 Flipping Scheme and Other Latest Cash App Scams to be War Off!
4. Phishing Email PayPal Scam
This dirty way to make money requires having some skills in web applications or coding.
A criminal will send bulk emails to random people. These emails will appear to be from PayPal notifying the swindlers’ targets that funds have been sent to their PayPal accounts, pending confirmation.
This scammer adds a link or a button after the email that prompts the email recipient to click it, making the money available to them.
Now here’s the trick.
This link leads to a fake PayPal website. Similar to the actual PayPal site, the target person is required to enter their login credentials (email and password). Before they realize it’s a fake site, the scammer will have stolen (Phished) these credentials, and they can use them to access their target person’s actual PayPal account.
Here the fraudsters can make payments or withdraw funds. Chances are that many people will fall into this trap. By the time any action is taken, they’ll have made out with quite some illegal cash.
Note: Phishing is a quick process because once the owner of the account realizes their money is gone, they will report and the account will be secured.
Also Read: Too-good-to-be-true online opportunities scamming people to work from home
5. Smishing PayPal Fraud
This method is almost identical to phishing, with the only difference being that the criminal uses a phone through voice or short messages to contact their targets.
They’ll send out a message informing their targets that their PayPal accounts have been suspended due to suspicious activities. Then these swindlers will give out a contact number they can reach out to. What’s more, they’ll stress out that it’s urgent.
Any person who calls this number will be confirming that indeed they own a PayPal account. And the fraudster who owns this number will ask for account information like login details so that they can help solve these account problems.
To sweeten the deal, swindlers will provide a URL instead of giving out a contact number. Whoever clicks on the URL will be redirected to a fake PayPal site, just like phishing.
Once successful the criminal gains access to several accounts and can transfer their cash or withdraw without their knowledge. Again, similar to phishing, smishing only works if the perpetrator is fast in completing the whole process before PayPal gets wind of the fraud.
6. Vishing PayPal Scams
Vishing is another intelligent sneaky way to earn illegal PayPal money.
It is a bit advanced because tricksters trick people, via automated systems, to answer voice calls from fake PayPal support IDs. The reason behind the call is reporting urgent account complications and requesting account information.
An example of such an automated voice call sounds like this:
“This is PayPal reporting a fraudulent transaction in your account. Enter your PIN to listen to the transaction details. Urgent action is required to block this transaction”
Once the person listening to the voice call enters such credentials, the hoaxer will have vital information that grants them access to their account and takes their money.
Note: With this scam, the fraudster needs its voice system to produce a perfect official customer care tone. Why? To sound authentic to anyone who has ever made a call to PayPal support.
7. Fake Emails To Shippers To Obtain Goods
Currently, most people are desperate to make money whether illegally or legally.
Scammers send fake emails, similar to those PayPal sends, to unwary PayPal holders who deal in the shipment of goods. Then they’ll go ahead and manipulate the person by informing them that they have made payments to their accounts.
Further, these hoaxers will explain that the money can only be available if they send the shipment tracking number as the funds are being held by PayPal.
If these criminals are lucky enough, the seller will send them the shipment tracking number. For them, they will do so hurriedly so as to ship the product and access the “said money” in their account.
These frauds will have acquired absolutely free goods that they can flip later!
8. Eavesdropping For PayPal Details
Criminals do use the eavesdropping technique to perform quick cash crimes.
All these frauds are required to do is listen to other people’s conversations to gain sensitive information. This can be done even at ATMs when someone is entering their account codes or just over their smartphone or PC when transacting through PayPal.
9. Dumpster Diving
Dumpster diving is probably one of the easiest dirty ways to make money on PayPal.
This method requires swindlers to rummage through other people’s garbage cans searching for credit card numbers and bank statements.
It’s not everyone shreds their documents before throwing them away. If they get lucky, they’ll come across important information they can use to gain access to people’s PayPal accounts.
Be Safe: Always burn expired credit cards and bank receipts. Shredding is also okay, but for some looking to make money from nothing, matching up the strips is right up their alley!
General Rule In PayPal Money Scams
Panic and rushed decisions come at an advantage to you when planning on getting money in a forbidden way. Why? By inducing panic and urgency, the target may provide crucial credentials without a second thought.
With this information, all the scammer has to do is open your account in a browser, log in, fill in the correct email and password, and access your funds. They can then ahead now and make payments or even withdraw the available funds in your account.
However, they have to be fast before PayPal discovers that the account has been hacked, reverses the payments made, and shut down the fraud. With that in mind, never be in a hurry to provide any info that is deemed “personal and secure”.
Wrap Up
Even with the jail terms that come with quick cash crimes, fraudsters continue to make illegal money on PayPal. But, I have to ask, why go for illegal PayPal money when you can earn free money from legal and easy side hustles?
Howdy Folks, thanks for stopping by my blog.
I’m Swati, a proud mom, dedicated side hustler, full-time blogger, and a recognized millennial work-at-home expert. My expertise has been featured on esteemed platforms such as Forbes, CEO Blog Nation, Referral Rock, Vital Dollar, Databox blog, and many more. I have embarked on this incredible journey to share my firsthand experiences in the world of online income generation and to assist all of you in earning money from the comfort of your homes.
Join me in my mission to revolutionize the way we make money and achieve financial freedom. Trust me, it’s not as challenging as it may seem!
Together, let’s explore the boundless opportunities and pave our paths towards a prosperous future.