Paypal fraud email, PLEASE READ!

[JerseyMamaBear]

Just a warning to my fellow DIs'ers, I recieved a suspicious email from paypal stating my account may have been accessed from a 3rd party and to access the provided link to confirm my information. I contacted paypal and was told no such trouble existed and it was a fraud. PLEase do not fall for the email. I know you all are a lot more savy about these thing but I would hate to have anyone taken advantage of.

 

[clanmcculloch]

You should know that legitimate emails from paypal, credit card companies and banks typically will NOT include links. They will tell you to go to the website (if you're a customer then you should already know the site so no link is required) and log in directly through the site. NEVER follow a link in an email. The sites that you go to through these links will look identical to the real login screen from your site and often the url is only a character or two different so it's not even obvious looking at that. Always open a new tab or window and go directly to the site of the financial institution to check out "warnings" that you receive via email.

 

[Disney Ella]

I received an email from PayPal stating the same thing last week, but it was real. The email told me to log into my account and re-enter my bank account and credit card number. I thought that was strange, since PayPal already has that information, and it seemed suspicious that I would need to re-enter such sensitive information.

I called PayPal and the email was real. Someone from Europe withdrew 100 euros from my account. Since I move PayPal funds to my bank account as soon as they come in, there was no money in my PayPal account, so PayPal took the money from my bank account!

I have now added a mobile security key to my sign-in page. A new sign-in code is texted to me every time I sign in. Hopefully that will prevent future problems, but I wish there was some way I could disable making payments from the account, since I never use that function.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Those emails are very common.

PayPal is a fraud in itself. I stopped using them as they are a scammers paradise. You have 139 pages of mumbo-jumbo to make you feel "safe and secure" but its all a disarray of loopholes designed to protect no one but PayPal.

PayPal is a money transfer service (their own words) and yet they get involved in dispute resolution. They have no business in dispute resolution.

Example: A buyer buys something on eBay. Seller ships. Buyer wants his item for free (scammer). Easy! Buyer files a SNAD with PayPal. PayPal places a hold on the funds in the sellers account. PayPal requires buyer to return item to seller and use proof of delivery via DC (delivery confirmation). Buyer sends seller an empty box with DC on it and gives PayPal the DC#. PayPal returns the funds to the buyer. Buyer now has the item and the $$. This is made even easier with PayPal's 21 day hold which "randomly" hits sellers.

PayPal has NO WAY to determine what a seller ships or a buyer returns and therefore should not be involved in dispute resolution.

PayPal is a great service for non-eBay transactions but I wouldn't use PayPal on eBay even if it meant that I never bought/sold anything on eBay at all. NO WAY.

NEVER link PayPal to your home checking account. Open a free checking account to use strictly for PayPal.

eBay owns PayPal and tried to shove Paypal down the throats of sellers by making it mandatory that a seller use an electronic paymnt method (knowing that having your own merchant account was not feesible for small sellers). They won't allow you to use Google Wallet (too much competition and they know it would plummit PayPals profits). They do allow the use of MoneyBookers, which I now use - until it becomes popular enough that the scammers start using it too.

PS - NEVER post on the PayPal (or an for that matter) forums at eBay with your seller ID.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum/Paypal/97

A spoof email is the least of your worries with PayPal.

If you haven't already, I would suggest to anyone using PayPal for their eBay sales to read the "PayPal" board on the eBay Community forums. That'll wake you up in a quick hurry. These are NOT isolated cases.

 

[java]

Another one going around is the "you have been left a poor rating on your transaction X"

Along with a link to follow. It's another fraud.

 

[Tink3Bell]

Someone used my paypal to charge a nice trip to France for thousands and also a few plane tickets to Europe, I noticed it the same day band they stopped it. Hate PayPal. too many scams

 

[Disney Ella]

Hate PayPal. too many scams

I agree. I would rather not use PayPal, but the company I freelance for only pays through PayPal, so I have no choice. I would much rather get an old-fashioned paper check from the company.