Suspicious Email From Paypal?!

[betlynjua]

Dear Fellow Members,

I was not sure which discussion board to include this post on; I figured it may be of help and support to other Paypal users.

Even though there was a similar post about Paypal recently, I wanted to share in a new thread what I experienced. 

Yesterday I received 2 suspicious emails from a sender claiming to be Paypal.  The red flags went up immediately.  One said something about an account limited statement and that I had to re-activate.

The other email said I had an unexpected sign-in attempt.

When I logged into my actual account, everything was just as I had left it upon the last time I logged out.  There were no problems with my account. So, from the actual, legitimate, authorized Paypal page, I scrolled to the bottom, opened the support tab and sent an email to the address they give for this type of issue.

I copied and pasted the emails to Paypal letting them know that I was not going to take any action until I heard back from them.  About 8 hours after I sent that email, I heard back from Paypal. 

The emails I got were not sent by them and when Paypal went to the website on the emails, I was informed that they were fake. 

Paypal assured me that they were going to investigate and try to stop the fraud. 

I know that many of you use Paypal.  It's a great processor and they are very legit.  If you ever get anything that just does not add up like asking for personal information, report it ASAP to the official Paypal site. 

Many of us work hard for our money but unfortunately others work hard to take it away. 

Hope this helps avoid a problem before it happens. 

[fantasydream3]

Yes. PayPal will always show any notifications if they are real when you log in through the real site. There are many spam emails trying to spoof PayPal info and phishing.

[braggin]

Yes I get these fake emails from paypal on a regular basis. I just forward them to abuse@paypal.com.

[ladavia89]

If it doesn't actually refer to you by name on the email it's fake. Paypal always will refer to you by your name instead of just member

[appy9104]

I get fake e-mails all the time from "Paypal" the kicker is it is not at the correct e-mail address but my "junk" address at Hotmail.  It is funny when you look at some of these fakes I get ITunes and banks,  is how badly some are written and put together they look nothing like real e-mails.  When I do receive something I think maybe real.  I just go directly to the website and login or call and investigate but I never follow links in those kind of e-mails.

[fantasydream3]

I'm thankful the fakes are poorly written/designed. If they were too good and looked original, that would be bad and can fool a lot more people.

[betlynjua]

If it doesn't actually refer to you by name on the email it's fake. Paypal always will refer to you by your name instead of just member

Yes, I did notice that as well; one of many red flags in all of this.  The more I looked at this mess the more I saw red flags. The fake email was addressed, Dear Member.  Paypal has always used my first name.

[betlynjua]

I'm thankful the fakes are poorly written/designed. If they were too good and looked original, that would be bad and can fool a lot more people.

That's true.  Let's hope it never comes to that.  Just to be on the safe side, it will always be a good idea to contact Paypal when in doubt. 

[berthabutt]

I have also had these fake PayPal emails.   They usually go to my spam folder.  DO NOT click on any links in these phishing emails but instead log into your PayPal account in a another window.  Your account will probably be fine.

[daeth2]

Report any fake PayPal emails to Paypal.  They are very receptive and will investigate them.

[kevint5]

About a every couple of weeks I will get one saying my account has been temporarily limited. I delete it and go on.

[dsawan]

i usually ignore those emails unless i know i triggered them.

[dbsaus1]

Why so many scams out there it pays to be extra careful. Thanks for the heads up.

[luvh8tragedy87]

That happened to my mom and when she showed me the e-mail it came from I told her it wasn't from paypal. She changed her password and then contacted paypal. A good way to know if it's really them is that they'll use your first name in the e-mail, that's what paypal said. They said whenever they contact you via e-mail they always start with your first name.

[teresa3200]

I actually just saw one in my email right now, I just deleted it. I used to send them into Paypal, but I figured so many people do they know all about them. So I just delete them now.