PayPal Scam

Crooks are getting better at deploying tactics that spur victims into immediate action. What better way to do this than to say that until we resolve an issue, your account will be suspended, limited, or terminated?

A Coeur d’Alene consumer recently received an email from PayPal informing him that his “account has been limited until we hear from you.” The message informed him that his credit card had been deleted from his account and that he must follow the link in the email to restore it.

Adding to the apparent legitimacy of the email, it stated that if you notice any unusual activity on your account, to contact them immediately by clicking the link below. Now isn’t that convenient — and tempting?

PayPal has been targeted by scammers in the past because companies that conduct their business primarily through the internet are particularly susceptible to phishing scams like this one. Shysters copy the official company logo and create a website that looks very much like the real thing, to get you to put in your credit card information so they can steal it. In addition, crooks by their very nature are adaptive — because they understand that once a particular message stops working, they must come up with a new angle.

Back to our example: Upon closer inspection of this email, there were no glaring grammatical errors and it was written like an English-speaking native. The tone was friendly and helpful and with links included to the help center. There was one slight problem, though — it was from service192757@poypall.com rather than @paypal.com. But if you’re in a hurry, that might be easily overlooked, which is what the crook is counting on.

Bottom line: If you receive a message from PayPal, never click on any links in the body of the email. Instead go to your account through the PayPal website directly to see if there are any problems. As for the email you received, hit the delete butto