Paypal email #scam

Posted on by Chris The Story Reading Ape

Never EVER follow a link from an email to a financial account, even if the email looks 100% genuine…

Meeka's Mind

I received this ‘phishing’ scam in my inbox this morning. It’s supposed to be from Paypal, and the ‘hook’ is that my account has been limited or suspended. When I looked at the email more closely, however, I noticed that:

  • the sender was NOT from Paypal
  • the email did NOT address me by name
  • and the whole email was funneling me towards the big, blue link you can see below

paypal scam email 2016

Seems pretty obvious, right?

Actually, despite having seens hundreds of these scam emails in my time, I still felt a moment of fright when I read this one. Why? Because I use Paypal for most of my online purchases, so the threat of having that service removed hit me where I live.

Unfortunately, that moment of fright is exactly what makes phishing email scams work. The scammers send out millions of these emails at random in the hope that a…

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21 thoughts on “Paypal email #scam”

  2. Beware of Amazon scams, too! I just received this today, and it’s a new one. I logged into Amazon from my bookmark and found no such issue:

    Dear Amazon Customer,

    For the safety and security of our network, we often review accounts for potential risks.

    After reviewing your amazon account, we have decided to close it because of security issues.

    We need more informations about your account to verify your identity.

    Please follow the steps below to verify your identity :

    Account Verification

    As soon as our security team have completed reviewing the information that you have provided, your account will be activated

    Please do understand that this is a security measure intended to protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience,

    Benjamin Ray,

    Amazon Security Team,

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. And with any kind of email you receive that says “Your account has been limited until we hear from you!”, never, never, never click on any link within that email. If you suspect it might be true, open a new tab in your browser and log into the site through your saved bookmark. Then you can be sure you’re logging into the correct site and if there really is a problem, you’ll find out then. This goes for banks, store accounts, money accounts (like PayPal), or absolutely any kind of notification. If you strictly follow this policy (never log in from an email, but only from your bookmarked login site in a separate tab), you can’t go wrong. ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. You can forward such emails to spoof@paypal.com. They have a team of people ready to jump on such spam/scams and are grateful for every one they receive. And if you’re ever not sure if it’s a scam or not, forward it to them and ask. Anytime I’ve done so, I’ve always gotten a prompt, courteous reply. They’re great!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

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