Paypal email scam
Many of you may have already encountered this, or be experienced enough to recognize a Phishing scam when you see one, but as a warning to those who may not yet have experienced this type of thing, I'd like to point out a recent email scam that I encountered in my Inbox today.
I received an email from
PayPal Statements <paypal@e.paypal.com> today with the subject line "Your July Paypal Statement is Available" and a "Go to Paypal" link in the body of the email, allegedly for me to go check my statement.
As this was a suspicious, unsolicited email, I Googled the senders email address and found that others had already confirmed this to be a scam. The "Go to Paypal" link brings you to a page that looks like Paypal's site, but its purpose is only to get you to enter your login information.
Paypal says never to click on links. Go to paypal.com and proceed from there if there is anything you need to do.
I'm sure that Paypal's is not the only site that scammers are replicating in an attempt to phish out personal account information from people, so BEWARE and never follow questionable links or take action based on unsolicited emails.
~Pat
Recent Comments
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Yeah, watch the addresses as they always have that little something wrong with them like e.paypal.com. Good catch!
Agreed...the email address was the first thing that tipped me off. Also, the email did not address me by name and had no indication within the body of the email that they already possessed any personal information of mine.
There are many bandit who try to get Your Info my advise always look into The official page and you Will figure out if they Realy want to Update somethink. Most off The time you just Can check where The mail come from paypall or other bank Do not use webmail at all. The steet are full off bandit and so are The internet
Agreed...that's sage advice...always go directly to the official website rather than clicking through on an unknown link.
I was reading an article recently when a pop-up said I had to update java to continue. Like a sleepy fool, I clicked on it. It proceeded to destroy my operating system. Fortunately, my husband's a computer expert (senior system architect), but I had to wait for him to have time to fix it. Even he couldn't get rid of all the bad code and says there's still some in the "boot up" (I think that's what he called them) files. The java notice looked so real!
Exactly. That applies to anyone or thing you get an email from. Go to your account. If they want you, they will post a note there. I have been online since the late 80s. These aren't new. Just more sophisticated. You really have to be careful. There's another one going around right now saying you are supposed to be in court. Yeah, right. It looks official, though. I'm sure if you click through there will be something about sending money to avoid the inconvenience of going to court. UGH
Thanks, Patrick. I got a similar email from groupon.com yesterday. You are right ... we must BEWARE and never follow questionable links or take action based on unsolicited emails. God Bless! ~Cathy
Thanks for the info. I receive this email all the time but I went site to the website. I'll pass it on.
Paypal was quick to reply with the following valuable information:
Thank you for being a proactive contributor by reporting suspicious-looking emails to PayPal's Abuse Department. Our security team is working to identify if the email you forwarded to us is a malicious email.
Paypal Will Always:
- Address our customers by their first and last name or business name of their PayPal account Paypal Will Never:
- Send an email to: "Undisclosed Recipients" or more than one email address
- Ask you to download a form or file to resolve an issue
- Ask in an email to verify an account using Personal Information such as Name, Date of Birth, Driver's License, or Address
- Ask in an email to verify an account using Bank Account Information such as Bank Name, Routing Number, or Bank Account PIN Number
- Ask in an email to verify an account using Credit Card Information such as Credit Card Number or Type, Expiration Date, ATM PIN Number, or
CVV2 Security Code
- Ask for your full credit card number without displaying the type of card and the last two digits
- Ask you for your full bank account number without displaying your bank name, type of account (Checking/Savings) and the last two digits
- Ask you for your security question answers without displaying each security question you created
- Ask you to ship an item, pay a shipping fee, send a Western Union Money Transfer, or provide a tracking number before the payment received is available in your transaction history READ!
Any time you receive an email about changes to your PayPal account, the safest way to confirm the email's validity is to log in to your PayPal account where any of the activity reported in the email will be available to view. DO NOT USE THE LINKS IN THE EMAIL RECEIVED TO VISIT THE PAYPAL WEBSITE. Instead, enter www.paypal.com into your browser to log in to your account.
What is a phishing email?
You may have received an email falsely claiming to be from PayPal or another known entity. This is called "phishing" because the sender is "fishing" for your personal data. The goal is to trick you into clicking through to a fake or "spoofed" website, or into calling a bogus customer service number where they can collect and steal your sensitive personal or financial information.
We will carefully review the content reported to us to certify that the content is legitimate. We will contact you if we need any additional information for investigating the matter. Please take note to the security tips provided above as they may help to answer any questions that you may have about the email you are reporting to us.
Help! I responded to a phishing email!
If you have responded to a phishing email and provided any personal information, or if you think someone has used your account without permission, you should immediately change your password and security questions.
You should also report it to PayPal immediately and we'll help protect you as much as possible.
1. Open a new browser and type in www.paypal.com.
2. Log in to your PayPal account.
3. Click "Security and Protection" near the top of the page.
4. Click "Identify a problem."
5. Click "I think someone may be using my account without permission."
6. Click "Unauthorized Account Activity."
Thank you for your help making a difference.
Every email counts. By forwarding a suspicious-looking email to spoof@paypal.com, you have helped keep yourself and others safe from identity theft.
Thanks,
The PayPal Team
Thanks Patrick. I also received an email from e.paypal.com. Have changed my password and made a report to security.
Have a great day : )
Another thing I did, my Paypal account password got hacked 3 times and charges were sent to my back up bank account. So now I use their extra layer of security. Every time I log on, Paypal sends a 6 digit code to my phone I have to enter to get in. A little inconvenient but I haven't been hacked since.
Thank you for sharing this. It's good to be reminded there are shameful people out there who are willing to exploit the gullible or careless. These people are wicked, and not in a good way!
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Thank you for the heads up