Hello everyone.

Today I received an E-Mail to the address listed under my PayPal Account, and it seemed awfully suspicious.

I figured it would be a good idea to post it here and gather your thoughts on it.

One of the most suspicious paragraphs I noticed in this, was them directing the reader not to reply to the E-Mail or contact PayPal.

I am wondering if this E-mail is legitimate, and if it was even sent by the group they claim to be represented by. Perhaps it was one of those programs where you can send E-mail and the From: can say any address. Therefore, if we were to reply, it would go to the E-Mail of that group, thereby notifying them of these people's actions.

Anyway, if you could take a look at it and let me hear your thoughts, I would appreciate it.

Subject: Federal Court's Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement. Please Read.
From: steelesettlement@tgcginc.com
Date: Fri, August 29, 2008 7:00 am

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If it's not from PayPal itself, I'm almost completely sure it's not legitimate. Their website looks kind of cheesy too.

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I'd recommend contacting the people they claim to be. It's probably a mistake or, more likely, a fake altogether.

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- Ash (This will make a better quote once it's no longer his signature, but until then, I'm doubling the quotational awesomeness of the forum.)

I wrote to the Garden City Group and received a surprising response! Apparently, this is legitimate. They replied three times though, on three different E-Mail Addresses.

Looks like I'll be jumping on board then - I meet the criteria to receive compensation.

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Here are the official Court Documents:

http://www.steelesettlement.com/complaint.pdf
http://www.steelesettlement.com/stip.pdf
http://www.steelesettlement.com/prelim.pdf
http://www.steelesettlement.com/prelimexhibits.pdf
http://www.steelesettlement.com/amendedprelim.pdf

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I am going to try contacting PayPal about this directly, and I will let you know.

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I am also eligible for comp big time.

And will verify the facts asap.

eBay Paypal have ripped off many people for 10 times the amount they agree/d to pay if this is true.

Keep the antennas high.

[quote=Kovich;28936]Here are the official Court Documents:
quote]

I have been investigating this email and it's legitimacy myself.
What has been the deciding factor for me, in concluding that it is false, are these clauses in their apparent "official court order" amendedprelim.pdf

b. The Long-Form Notice will also be published via a hypertext link located within
the website w ww.paypal.com, on the “Legal Agreements” page, which is available to both
current and former PayPal users. This link will stay active on PayPal’s website throughout the
entire Notice Period.

and

d. During the Notice Period, PayPal shall cause the approved summary form of
Publication Notice (in a form substantially similar to that attached as Exhibit C to the Amended
Settlement Agreement) (“Publication Notice”), to be published in one daily issue and one
weekend issue of the national edition of USA Today.

There is no mention of this case on the PayPal site and I have not been able to locate any reference to USA Today articles on the net. It is also interesting to note that there are no Exhibit A, B or C attachments, as stated in the document.

Although these documents may look legit, I assure you I can whip up a similar document in 15mins detailing court action between Xalt and PayPal asking you to send me your personal details for a refund ( I would offer you a million each BTW, as I am far more generous ).

It is also interesting that these 'official court documents' all originate from the site issuing the email, which seems to be the only site on the net containing any 'official' information regarding this case.

My conclusion is that it's bogus.

I sent an E-Mail to PayPal and am hoping to receive a response sometime this morning. Hopefully they'll be able to either confirm or deny this.

After reading through the documents further, I found the name of the Federal Court Judge who apparently is overseeing this case: Glasser, Israel Leo

Edit: This is all I can find: Judges of the United States Courts

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to track down any sort of contact information for him or his office. If you can find it - please relay it to me as soon as possible.

I examined PayPal's Legal Agreements Page and also didn't see any reference to this case on it.

The biggest issue here is that I contacted the organization representing this case: The Garden Group, and they confirmed the validity of this. You may see that in my posts above where I copied and pasted the responses I received. And again, that only brought more confusion into the picture because I received the same letter from three addresses almost instantly after one another.

Take a look at their site, and tell us what you think:
Garden City Group - Garden City Group

I'll keep you all updated.

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I have located the information for the Judge whom is apparently presiding over this case:

Now I need to get in touch

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