Watch out for Paypal Email Scams
Posted July 21, 2011
Identity thieves are always on the look-out for new ways to steal a person’s personal information without the person knowing anything about it until it is too late and all they can do is work to unravel all the harm the identity theft has caused. One such email scam that is circulating around cyber world is the PayPal email scam. Identity thieves are sending out an email to unsuspecting people telling them that their account has been temporarily limited because of several failed login attempts. The email goes on to say that in order to restore their account they have to go to their account and login correctly and if they do not, their account is going to be suspended by their fraud prevention department. It even states that it is from the PayPal Security Team in order for it to look official.
This is like phishing but has a targeted website they use and they also know that many people have PayPal accounts. The identity thieves do not know who has a PayPal account so it is like looking in the dark for people who have a PayPal account. The person who receives the PayPal email scam and actually has a PayPal account will probably click on the link in the email to get to the PayPal login in box.
If you click on that login link, the identity thieves will be able to track and capture your login information and once they get inside of your account, they can lock you out and have a lot of fun with your financial information. This financial information can contain your bank account number, social security number, and credit card number. It all depends on what financial information you have shared with PayPal. The best way to handle this PayPal email scam and for credit protection is to hit the delete button and protect your personal information.
Some red flags that can immediately alert you that the PayPal email is a scam are:
- Check the PayPal email address. Make sure that it has the words “PayPal” in the email address.
- See if there was a greeting using your name because in a real PayPal email they will address you by first and last name.
- Is there a safe login page. Everyone knows that when you login to PayPal, you login on their website, not some other website.
- Are they asking for your personal information? If yes, it is not from PayPal because they never ask for your personal information because they already have it on file.
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