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Last week I received a paypal spam email in my inbox. Here is exactly what it said:
service <update@support.com> to Jul 20
We regret to inform you that access to your account has been temporarily limited.This has been done due to several failed log-in attempts.
To restore your account please log in correctly.
If you fail to log in correctly your account will be suspended for fraud prevention.
You will be able to register again for PayPal only after you authenticate your profile.
We apologize for the inconvenience, this measure was taken for your protection.
PayPal Security Team
Scams Using Paypal
If you have received this email beware that this is a paypal email scam. I almost fell for this scam myself. In the email paypal tells you that your account has been limited because of to many log in attempts.
The fake paypal email will then ask you to log back in after you authentic your profile. This is where all of these paypal phishing scams get you. However don’t log in, this is exactly what they want you to do. By clicking on the link provided in the paypal email scam they will then be able to track and capture your log in information.
Once inside your account they will be able to lock you out of your account and will have all of you financial information from your bank account number, credit card info, and social security number.
How Do You Know If A Paypal Email Is Authentic
Their are a couple of things you should look for if you want to know if a paypal email is authentic or not. As in this paypal spam email it raised a few red flags with me right away. So remember these tips and you can avoid being ripped off by paypal phishing scams.
- The paypal email address was a fake. In the paypal spam email the address was update@support.com This made me suspicious right away. This email address is to plain but it also doesn’t even contain the word paypal in it.
- No Greeting using your name. In a real paypal email address they will include your first and last name or business name in the greeting of the email. In this email their was no greeting or name at all. Often times paypal phishing emails will will say something along the lines, “Dear Paypal User”, or “Dear Paypal Member.”
- No safe log in. When logging in to Paypal they would never direct you to a different website other than paypal.com in order to sign in to your account. In the paypal phishing email the link went to a completely different website. If someone is asking you to log in through their website don’t do it.
- Never give your personal information. Paypal will never ask for your personal info no matter what. They already have it on file and their is no need to ask for it again. I also want to mention here that you will want to be careful who you give your Paypal log in and password to. When setting up a Paypal account make sure the log in and user name are completely original form any other password and user name you already have.
- Never download or click the links of the Paypal spam email. Paypal will never ask you to down load any programs. These sites may contain viruses that could expose your account information. The Paypal email scam may also include a link which my use what is known as a tracking cookie to compromise your user name and password as well.
What You Should Do If You’ve Been Hit By This Paypal Email Scam
First off, if you haven’t been hit by this Paypal email scam yet but you have recieved this email and have clicked on the link inside of it you will want to run your anti virus software to make sure they aren’t using any tracking software to hack into your Paypal account. If you don’t know how to do this talk to a friend of family member who can help you out.
Second, if you have been hit by this scam it is important you take a few quick action to prevent the paypal scammers from getting anything from you. First, you need to call your credit card company and put a freeze on your credit card account. This way the hackers can’t use it.
Next, inform any banks involved with your paypal account. If you have accounts linked to your paypal account it is important that you tell your bank that your paypal account has been hacked and you want the account frozen.
Finally, contact paypal about what has happened to you. They have some of the best people combating scams and fraud. Paypal also has a protection policy for those that qualify and will actually fight chargebacks on your behalf.
Have You Been Hit By This Paypal Email Scam
If you have been hit by this paypal spam email we would like to hear your story. Think you’re at risk for identity theft? Get LifeLock from $9/month. Enroll now. Leave a comment below.
Chris
catherinejolie23@gmail.com – Another scammer – trying to pay for cars via paypal – without even wanting to check the condition ..
this is a paypal scammer be aware of : xxnejo1@hotmail.com
I received an email notifying me that I changed my paypal email address to victor_69@btconnect.com. It stated that if that was incorrect I should click the attachement (which I did not). The email address it came from was notice@ppal.com. I notified PayPal of the email.
I received this email and I don’t even have a paypal account… immediately raised a red flag with me.
I received the email saying that my account was limited because of unusual credit card activity…and I never used PayPal before. It was also suspicious because the subject line say “Your account has been limiNted”. I would think paypal would spellcheck any correspondence with members before sending out emails.
Just recieved this email regarding the car I am selling on Autotrader;
Hi,Do you still have it for sale? i will like to make an offer of the exactly amount you want to sell it,payment will be made through paypal and i will arrange for the pick up as well. Cheers, Andrew.
Email address; Andrew Smith
Just to warn people this is a scam, not sure exactly how its done but beware
This is an email I’ve just got today. It also ounds like a scam.
Dear PayPal user,
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.
We requested information from you for the following reason:
We recently received a report of unauthorized credit card use associated with this account. As a precaution, we have limited access to your PayPal account in order to protect against future unauthorized transactions.
Case ID Number: PP-503-410-563
This is a reminder to restore your account as soon as possible.
Please download the form attached to this email and open it in a web browser. Once opened, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.
In accordance with PayPal’s User Agreement, your account access will remain limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further limitations or eventual account closure. We encourage you to restore your PayPal account as soon as possible to help avoid this.
We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal Email ID PP638
I just received (11/23/11) the same e-mail that Becky did. They’re up to their old tricks! In looking through past history, the exact same e-mail/scam was used in 2003. I did click on the link, but once I saw the information they wanted, I realized this was a fraud. I sent eBay and PayPal a note and the website is now unavailable and marked “Phishing”.
Just got caught in the PayPal email scam. The link actually took me to a legitimate looking PayPal login screen. Went back to my email and tried clicking on the link again. This time I got a warning screen about it being a fraudulent website.
This is the content of the scam email I received:
Dear PayPal member:
Warning! Your PayPal account has been limited! As part of our security measures, we proceed regularly screen activity to learn PayPal recently contacted you after having identified a problem on your Account. demand information from you for following reason: -Our system detected unusual charges to a card credit linked to your PayPal account..
Your PayPal account
Cordialement,
Tip offs to me that it was a scam – did not address me with by name; the word cordialement (seemed odd); the email address it was sent from did not match any of my actual paypal email. Plus I monitor my accounts (credit card & paypal, etc) regularly for actual suspicious activity, so it is unlikely I wouldn’t notice/catch any discrepancies myself.
Must say that the overall look and content of this scam email could fool people who don’t take time to carefully check it out, or who don’t stay informed on their personal accounts.
It even included a “paypal ID #” etc. (not accurate though).
Below follows an e-mail sent to me as I was interested in selling our car. STrange as the previous buyer where i wanted to sell a motor bike was exactly the same. Same story etc. The transaction never sent throughand we eventually cancelled the deal. Thank goodness. I think its a scam gathering from the exact same message I received when advertising my car.
HELLO,
Thanks for the pictures and your information given to me regarding the vehcile
I am on the sea and i work as a Marine Engineer but I still have my family house in South Africa where I
lived for many years before relocating to the United States of America to
join my husband, and accordingly, I will be pleased to make the payment in
the United States dollars equivalent which is easily convertible to South
African Rands.
I will however be paying you by PayPal and insist on this payment medium
because I don’t have access to my bank account online as I don’t have
Internet banking. But I can pay from my PayPal account because my bank
account is fully linked and attached to it, and besides, the payment system
is perfectly secured for both of us.
I will therefore need you to give me
your PayPal email address and your acceptable exchange rate of South African
Rands to United States Dollars so that I can make the payment as soon as
possible. In case you don’t have PayPal account, you can easily set one up
within a minute at any branch of First National Bank in South Africa or go
to http://www.PayPal.com . Should you also wish to have
more information about PayPal which is now widely used for payments in South
Africa, the First National Bank in South Africa would be glad to help, you
could also obtain first hand information from FNB website on thins link
https://www.fnb.co.za/news/archive/2010/20100325paypal.html Please don’t
worry about the PayPal charges because it is my responsibility to add it to
your price so that you can have your complete money. I need only your PayPal
email address to make the payment, and nothing else.
There is already a shipping agent for the vehicle to ship it to our family
house in South Africa after you have satisfactorily received your payment.
The shipping fee will however will be included in my payment to you
according to PayPal requirements and it will be their ultimate
responsibility to ensure the successful shipment of the vehicle.
Please let me know any other relevant conditions about the vehicle and the
total amount of your price in United States Dollars equivalent. The vehicle
is a surprise birthday gift for my parents forthcoming birthday during
which every members of the family will be celebrating with him. Therefore, I
will be pleased to make your payment immediately so that you can thereafter
release the vehicle to the shipping agent as soon as you have your money in your
bank account through PayPal.
I will be pleased if you could still send me some few more pictures of the
vehicle for my personal viewing.
Thanks a lot.
This is an email I received. It even had a name to contact. Wish things like this were for real. If it was, I’m sure they would be calling me instead:
Hello, Customer
This is to inform you that your PayPal Invoice number 0001Â has won the sum of $78,000.00 USD in this month Happy customer promo going on till the 28th of this month. below is your promotion information as registered on our server database.
I was almost scammed today while trying to sell an item on craigslist if you get an email from anyone named Jenny James its a scam also Walter duru is a scam
Posted a car on craiglist today, hour later received and email asking if the car was still available and if why I was selling, I told them yes and why I was selling. The emailed back saying great and they needed to pay through paypal to send them my email, name and phone number so they can send the money, then they will have someone pick it up, they did ask for pictures, but they don’t even want to see the damn car. I emailed them back telling them I would send them an invoice, this would be the only way, no answer yet, i’m 100% sure its a scam.
I’ve almost been scammed via PayPal TWICE in the past 2 days by people like this!! Only it was also somewhat connected to Craigslist. I should know better but I keep giving it second chances. lol.
I’m trying to sell my car on craigslist & several people have contacted me about it. You can tell English IS NOT their first language by the way they word stuff, which is almost always a dead give away!! They start normal saying they’ll only use PayPal because you can’t be scammed through PayPal (I didn’t even know it was possible to be scammed using PayPal until Friday!!!) then out of nowhere you get an email from “PayPal Inc(r)” (with a legit circle R though) & it said our asking price plus $800, then got a second email right away saying there was a hold on our money because of something the sender told PayPal, then a third right after that saying all the funds were on hold until we sent $800 to:
Dora Hardin
Lawrenceburg
Kenturkey
40342
United States
(The Pick-up Agent) via Western Union & took a picture of the Western Union Transaction Receipt to send to PayPal. Once PayPal recieved & confirmed the Western Union Transaction your funds will be released to your account… IT’S A SCAM!!!!!!!!!! It’s ridiculous & we almost fell for it but pay close attention. My husband’s name is on the account but when they asked for my name I told them mine (which is NOT on the account) so the e-mails from “PayPal Inc (r)” said “Dear Tiffany C******, (TiffanyC***@*******.com),” therefore we KNEW it was a fake becaus it said MY name & my e-mail at the top of the letter.
BEWARE!!!!!! Hope this helps someone since there are no stories like this thus far on this page.