topic Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal in Community Chat

Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

LadyAlice — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:50:45 GMT

Hello everyone. FYI: I got an e-mail yesterday "alerting" me that my PayPal account was suspended because of a problem with my personal information. First, I do not have a PayPal account. Second, my e-mail address was put in funny with upper and lower case letters. I searched PayPal scam on the internet, and found out that PayPal considers this "spoofing" and wants all incidents reported to them at spoofing and PayPal's e-mail address. I forwarded the questionable e-mail to them. All the best, LadyAlice

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

KingstonsMom — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:54:24 GMT

@LadyAlice

Thank you for the heads up!

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

shaggygirl — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:59:12 GMT

I get those at least once a month and I don't have a pay pal account either. I've also gotten them in regards to my bank account at a bank I've never used in my life.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

ValuSkr — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:59:20 GMT

I had something like that recently with Instagram. I received an email from Instagram thanking me for opening an account and asking to confirm my email address. In the next second, I received another email from Instagram noting suspicious activity on my account. I let them know I've never had an Instagram account and never will.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

colliegirls — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 15:04:48 GMT

I get those emails often. I delete anything that isn't from someone I know. We would get a phone call if there was a real problem.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

wagirl — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 15:13:03 GMT

I ge these dumb emails alot too and do what is suggested--send them to paypal spoof, check my paypal account just in case , delete them and then change my password. Annoying but not too hard to fix.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

millieshops — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 15:22:17 GMT

Tips Paypal gave me some years ago when I was getting those emails was not ever to reply on the emails's link with personal info, of course, but also not to accept any Paypal communication as real if it did not contain my name in exactly the format I gave it to them - initials and all.

@LadyAliceThanks for the reminder about these ever-present scammers.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

hoosieroriginal — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 15:37:33 GMT

I'm sure the scammers will try to contact you to try to "help you" reset your Paypal account. It's really getting ridiculous. In town there have been card readers found at many of the gas stations. I'm paying cash now for my gas.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

bonnielu — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 15:48:25 GMT

I get these all the time. If anyone is unsure or uncomfortable, it is best to sign in directly to your account and check. This does not mean you select the link on the email. That is a no-no. Just back out and go directly to your account.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

SeaMaiden — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 16:06:54 GMT

@LadyAlice Thanks so much for sharing this information. It might just have helped many people from clicking onto the email and starting lots of problems for them... Including myself. I am pretty careful about emails and opening them, but, some of the emails these days are getting so good that is really can be hard to decifer the real ones from the scam artists.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

Tinkrbl44 — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 16:40:52 GMT

@LadyAlice wrote:
Hello everyone. FYI: I got an e-mail yesterday "alerting" me that my PayPal account was suspended because of a problem with my personal information. First, I do not have a PayPal account. Second, my e-mail address was put in funny with upper and lower case letters. I searched PayPal scam on the internet, and found out that PayPal considers this "spoofing" and wants all incidents reported to them at spoofing and PayPal's e-mail address. I forwarded the questionable e-mail to them. All the best, LadyAlice

Is this the first one you've ever received? I get these all the time and always forward them to spoof@paypal.com.

Some emails are pretty amateurish, and some look rather good. The best way to tell is that Paypal uses your name in the email ... if it doesn't use your name, it's FAKE.

Take the time to forward it to Paypal ... gotta stay on top of these idiots.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

CelticCrafter — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 16:46:20 GMT

I get them all the time and ignore them. If there really was something wrong I'd find out next time I went to sign in.

I also get an alert from the cc company whenever a charge has been made, so it's not like I would be letting months go by before finding out.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

SaRina — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 16:56:07 GMT

I always get legitimate e-mails from companies that include links to their site. Here's an idea...With the glut of scamming going on, why don't all companies stop including links in their e-mails and just advise you to go to their site if there is an issue? This way, you could distinguish whether your e-mail is legit or not. More importantly, it would eliminate the issue of vulnerable people clicking on malevolent links.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

DiAnne — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 18:07:56 GMT

I have also gotten several of those. They get routed to my Spam. I also do not have a Pay Pal account.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

shaggygirl — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 18:36:37 GMT

I just checked my e-mail at an e-mail address I only use for a few particular things and I had one from Amazon and one from Apple both wanting me to re-verify account info. NEITHER of those two even have that e-mail address. Both only have and e-mail me at the one I normally use. This is the same e-mail address where I get the baloney Pay Pal ones. The two phony ones did go right into my junk folder. I also get a lot of Chinese (or something) at that one that also go right to the junk folder.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

Tinkrbl44 — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 22:25:17 GMT

I also get a lot of emails telling me there's a problem with my Wells Fargo or Chase accounts. Problem is I never had an account with either institution. lol

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

LadyAlice — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 03:38:20 GMT

Yes, this is the first one I received regarding PayPal and I did forward it. Thank you to everyone who responded. LadyAlice

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

Judaline — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 12:55:51 GMT

@ValuSkr They're just fishing. Don't answer them at all.

Re: Alert Scam Targeting PayPal

Ibby114 — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 21:12:03 GMT

Never click on ANY link that's in an email! Always go to the source website directly and see if it's real.(and it's probably not).