We’re not getting much work done here today at flyte. Everyone keeps running into my office and the conference room to watch the effects of the storm. The road/pier to the left of our office is fully submerged. There’s actually lobster buoys floating aimlessly down Portland Pier.
Good tires are a requirement for a day like today, which is an interesting coincidence, given the email below.
A client (OK, my dad), recently forwarded me this email from "PayPal" to confirm his concerns that this was a scam:
This e mail confirms that you have paid V***** Tire Sales
(sales@v*****tire.com) $379.00 USD using PayPal.
This credit card transaction will appear on your bill as "PAYPAL *V*****
TIRE".
————————————————————————Payment Details
Transaction ID: 0EW23032ET502103Y
Total: $379.00 USD
Item/Product Name: Pirelli PZero Nero (M+S) P255/35ZR20 97W
Item/Product Number: 2528
————————————————————————Business Information
Business: V***** Tire Sales
Contact E-Mail: sales@v*****tire.com
————————————————————————Shipping Address
Shipping Info: D*************s
4310 T***** ST
Dallas TX 75423
United States
Address Status: Unconfirmed
————————————————————————
Wit h PayPal, you.re protected against unauthorized payments sent from your
account.This payment will not appear in your PayPal account until we verify
this transaction.If you would like to escalate this dispute to a PayPal
claim, you must do so or it will automatically close. A closed dispute
cannot be reopened or escalated to a claim.If this is transaction is not
authorized, click on the link below to fill a claim and cancel the payment.
Dispute Transaction
————————————————————————Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal TeamPlease do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you
will not receive a response.
PayPal Email ID PP120
Although I couldn’t look at the original email and see where the link went (it certainly didn’t go to PayPal), I was able to confirm this was a PayPal scam similar to when Santa wanted my PayPal login info.
In other words: Ignore it!
Update: You may wonder why there are so many * in this post. I recently received a very nice email from the good people at V***** Tires. You can imagine how tough this has been on them, since they are in no way involved with this scam.
For whatever reason this post has risen in the search engine rankings and is hurting their brand. Since this scam seems to be past, I removed all of the references I could find.
I also want to thank them for writing me such a polite email rather than serving me with a cease and desist letter, or taking an aggressive stance. Other companies could learn from their behavior.
Thanks to Jonathan Braden for the cell phone photo of Portland Pier. It’s tough to make out in the photo, but that car is up to its headlights in water.
Rich Brooks
Waterproof Web Design
