Unclaimed payment email. Is it a scam.

[lmacmil]

Today I got an email that appeared to be from Paypal saying I had an unclaimed payment from a person whose name I did not recognize.  It said I needed to setup a Paypal business account to receive the payment.  The links in the message look legitimate (they all start with www.paypal.com and then have lengthy strings after that.  I have items for sale on Ebay and Swappa but not in the amount of the alleged payment.  Does this sound like a phishing email?

[TheJayJayStore]

It does sound like a scam of sort but I don't any knowledge of that. Although, you can forward it, do not copy and paste, to spoof@paypal.com and PayPal will investigate it for you. Also, do not make any edits to the forwarded email. After you send them the email, delete it from your inbox. If you clicked on any links or downloaded any attachments within the suspicious email or website, log in to your account at PayPal.com and look for any unwanted transactions or other unwanted information. It’s also a good idea to change your password.

For US and other countries, other steps you can take are shown below:

1. Login to your PayPal account.
2. At the bottom, there is a button that says "SECURITY."
3. On the next page, go towards the bottom and click on "Report a suspicious email or website."
4. The following page will tell you the appriopriate steps to take for your country.

Did this help? Let me know by giving me some kudos and selecting this as the solution. Otherwise, go ahead and reply to this forum with the correct solution. Also, help other's in this community! Enjoy!

[Snow-Cat]

Sounds phony ....

Look at the email address domain and wording in the email, grammar, salutation, spelling, etc.  If any of these are questionable, it's most likely a spoof.

* Forward the entire email to:    spoof@paypal.com.
* Do not alter the subject line or forward the message as an attachment.
* Delete the suspicious email from your inbox.
* Never click on any links within the email or open any attachments.

[lmacmil · Accepted solution]

Sorry folks.  I posted a little too soon.  The payment was for my phone on Swappa.  The amount was off because apparently Swappa bills their fee separately.  Also I had recently changed my Paypal primary email address and the payment went to the old address.  Once I added this back to my Paypal account, the payment went through.  

Once again, sorry for the false alarm.