I know if you are like me and love to visit the Etsy shops of some of your favorite bloggers you will more than likely use PayPal to make your purchases. I wanted to alert you to a scam that is intended to steal your personal information.
In the past two weeks both my husband and I have received two different emails from what appears to be PayPal. The first emails we received say that PayPal is issuing a security alert and the second one states that there is a conflict with your PayPal account, both want you to verify personal information. If you by chance get one of these emails, DO NOT RESPOND! The information requested is your name, address, phone number, social security number, credit card numbers, bank accounts, and your mothers maiden name. This is more information than is required for a PayPal account. When you signed up for your PayPal account, you gave them all the information they needed and they have everything they need on file. You should never ever verify this type of information via email.
Whoever came up with scam was very clever, it looks exactly like the PayPal web site, which is very deceiving. We did not respond to this tactic, knowing it was not legitimate. My husband called and spoke to a representative at PayPal to report this scam. They were very appreciative and plan to pursue getting it stopped. They had him report it to spoof@paypal.com. If you get either of these emails, please report them to the highlighted link. Reporting is simple, you forward the email to the address provided then delete the email from your in box. To be on the safe side you might want to log on to your account and then check the history for any inaccuracies.
With identity theft at an all time high, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Blessings,
Miss Sandy
9 comments:
We must spread this around. Thank for the info.
QMM
Thanks for spreading the word to others through your blog. I also got a similar email - mine said that someone in a foreign country was trying to access my account and they wanted to know my correct info so they could double check my account. I also contacted Paypal.
Blessings, Sarita
Congratulations to the giveaway winners!
I thought it was funny that I had been receiving these fake alerts a year or so before I ever had PayPal.I also get these alerts for banking and for my internet access. They just want me to send them all my personal information....thanks for the post about this.
I can't stand deceptive people! While surfing the internet, my daughter got a pop up that masqueraded as a Windows alert. She clicked "OK" and it downloaded some kind of spyware onto her computer and I haven't figured out how to get rid of it yet.
I have just had one of these emails and having had my details fraudulently used last year, am very wary now of doing this again. I therefore emailed Paypal and asked if they had asked for me to verify my details. They replied that the email was not genuine and is one of the "phishing" scam emails which they will deal with.
These people are VERY unscrupulous and as I say this happened to me last year. These emails are obviously doing the rounds!
On a happier note, I love your blog!
Barbara
These are called Phishing scams (pronounced “fishing”) In the scammers send out many emails in hopes that they will “hook” a few people. You can find out more about these and other current internet scams at our site ScamVictimsUnited.com
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of Scam Victims United
Thanks for the info. There are always a few people that didn't know. If you think the mail is really from paypal (or some bank or ebay or so), you should go to the paypal site and check there, if it's real you can do anything on the official site, never act through replying a mail. Thanks, one can never be too cautious.
Thanks for the info -- Hope you are doing well - Kathy - ga
Hi, I’ve recently been a victim of a scam through Paypal and I’m doing everything I can through Internet and legal procedures with the British FSA.
After selling an item on eBay the buyer of my camera made a deposit on my account of the agreed amount. With that in hand I sent the item to the person’s address.
After making sure the parcel had left the UK (and knowing there would be no stopping of the shipping) the user managed through some loophole in Paypal’s agreement to withdraw the transaction, getting their money back AND receiving the camera anyway.
Through the phone I was told by Paypal that there would be nothing to be done.
I demand to have my money back, and for the schemer to be procecuted for online Scam and theft.
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