PayPal Money Request Scam

[1492]

Received this legit looking PayPal money request phishing email. I'm sure others on the forums have received similar scam emails at one point. All the links go to legit PayPal website. Even the 'Pay Now' button to complete the transaction on PayPal is real. Though one would have to be totally naive to do so. Would make the scammers life that much more easier.

The obvious problems with the email include.

• No idea who Jennifer Perry is.
  
• The email is from @intl.paypal.com which is a known email address used for phishing scams.

Though what the scammer is really trying to get you to do, is to call the supplied 1-888-###-#### in the 'Note' to dispute the "completed" transaction, when 'no' such transaction actually occurred. My guess is the scammer will pose as a legit sounding PayPal customer service rep. in order to obtain your account information they need to cancel this (fake) transaction. The scammer can then perform their own financial transactions from your account.

I did forward the email to PayPal security.

[MrWizard]

Thanks for the heads up, I try to be prudent, and not fall for these type of scams, but being forewarn is even better

I do receive the occasional Notice that fraudulent activity was detected on my BOA Calif EDD card, and to call $$##$$$$ to talk to a rep fix the problem, being retired, i don't have that card,

[ktmrfs]

I use paypay whenever possible for online transactions
1) the transaction is unique to that one transaction, can't be use again if someone is scamming, In fact if the transaction for some reason gets split for backorder etc. only the first transaction is allowed, and backorder will require another paypal transaction.
Unlike bank card transactions where if someone gets the card it can be continually used until you stop it.
2) I did have one case of my paypal account getting hacked. I was notified of the transaction, called paypal and within minutes they had blocked whomever had accessed the account fully refunded my money back to my bank account, notified teh bank of the transaction.

I ONLY use my credit card online if (a) paypal isn't accepted and (b) they use secure transactions that require I enter my bank card secure code and (c) state they do NOT store the bank card code.

Ebay?? there are things I buy on ebay, great source for some obsolete/old/unique items. Like anyplace it has it's upsides and downsides. I will say in 20+ years of using ebay I only disputed ONE transaction (didn't recieve the item).

If one decides not to use certain things due to political reasons, I suspect if you REALLY follow that, you'll find you can't do anything and will slowly starve to death.

[fj12ryder]

I love Ebay, and use it a lot. Usually better prices than Amazon, and the shipping is usually included, and I don't have to pay sales tax. What's not to love? Paypal? Never have had an issue...ever. Beats anyone who uses a debit card online.

FWIW, we just fixed our 15 year old clothes dryer with an Ebay vendor. I think they're great.

[Tom_Barb]

I stopped Pay Pal for all the reasons above..

[wa8yxm]

wildtoad wrote:
My brother in law had his email account hacked and the hacker sent out emails from that account. The emails requested for the recipient to create an Amazon E-gift card and send it to a specified email address. Being suspicious I called my BIL and he was unaware that his account had been hacked. He had to call his provider and reclaim his account.

Net is if it looks suspicious, check it out.

One of the TV shows I watch is Blue Bloods.

Grandpa Regan was shopping and noticed a woman buying a bunch of Gift Cards... (Yup she got scammed) he was able to bust the scammers but they were not able to recover her loss.

When they say "Send gift cards" that's not a red flag.. that's RED FLAG!!!!!!!!!.

And there are dozens of others.. I've seen a lot of 'em both in my time on the net and my time on the job.

I'm still waiting for the Scammer to tell me my Grandson was in an accident and needs bond money to get out of jail (He is not yet 10 years old).

[1492]

Out of curiosity, I went and checked my legacy AOL email address to see if it's been compromised due to known data breaches on HaveIBeenPwned.com. A service which was started by a Microsoft Regional Director.

It indicates that my AOL address has been previously exposed on five data breaches in the past. Including various info attached from compromised websites though no passwords. I've changed my account password a couple of times since the last breach. Not really surprising as the same AOL account has been used on multiple sites, which increases the likelihood of being exposed to various data breaches over time.

These compiled lists of compromised email accounts often end up on the dark web available for sale fairly inexpensively, and can contain billion of compromised accounts.

My moderator @gmail.com account which is used only for RV.Net indicates no previous breaches. Likely because it's exclusive for this site.

[wildtoad]

My brother in law had his email account hacked and the hacker sent out emails from that account. The emails requested for the recipient to create an Amazon E-gift card and send it to a specified email address. Being suspicious I called my BIL and he was unaware that his account had been hacked. He had to call his provider and reclaim his account.

Net is if it looks suspicious, check it out.

[pbitschura]

It seems to me that any level of internet participation requires a basic sophistication and awareness. I never respond to any e-mail. If any action requires my attention, it's easy enough to log directly onto a https site and verify any question. If we continue to get dumber we only help these scams flourish. As long as a sucker is born every minute there will be plots to separate them from their money.

I also don't measure "wokeness" when doing business. The transaction is either beneficial or it isn't. I leave social responsibility to others.

[wa8yxm]

Have not seen that one yet but you know how many red flags are in that E-mail?
(I tend to lose count)

You did good.

Now what need to be done and I've just seen a bit of it.. Pay Pal and the Banks and others who are impersonated need to use their tremendous resources to identify the scammers and .. HIT 'EM HARD (legally speaking) ... BUNCO (Fraud) is a billions of dollars a year business.. Identify each and every scammer and charge them the full. annual, fraud bill..... Pay down the national debt. (Put it on the scammers.) with the fines...

I get newsletter (legit) Class action (I think it's an org) and they just notified of a 3-rd class robo-caller class action.... But even that's a scam.

You see the average settlement is .. they expect.. 20 dollars.

The Federal statute says it should be 500-1500

[1492]

time2roll wrote:
Maybe drop the AOL.

That was the first clue. I don't use AOL for any financial based account. Never for PayPal. More of just a legacy account, now relegated mostly for website subscriptions.

Ironically, I was at an event last month with Steve Case.

[wildtoad]

Ha! I too dumped PayPal & eBay for their political positions. Haven’t looked back.

rk911 wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Not a reflection on PayPal.
This junk is all around. Nothing looks legit. Maybe drop the AOL.

agreed but we dropped paypal after their little TOS event where they were gonna fine people who posted "disinformation" (AKA a different opinion). and eBay is no longer about small, individual sellers. hasn't been for a while. since i no longer use eBay I no longer needed PayPal.

[rk911]

time2roll wrote:
Not a reflection on PayPal.
This junk is all around. Nothing looks legit. Maybe drop the AOL.

agreed but we dropped paypal after their little TOS event where they were gonna fine people who posted "disinformation" (AKA a different opinion). and eBay is no longer about small, individual sellers. hasn't been for a while. since i no longer use eBay I no longer needed PayPal.

[time2roll]

Not a reflection on PayPal.
This junk is all around. Nothing looks legit. Maybe drop the AOL.

[Fizz]

Just now on our local news they showed some poor sod who was taken for $40,000 !!!