E-mail Scam?

[Skatecov]

Notification of Limited Account Access Dear Member,

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.We requested information from you for the following reason:

We recently received a report of unauthorized credit card use associated with this account. As a precaution, we have limited access to your PayPal account in order to protect against future unauthorized transactions.

Case ID Number: PP-204-863-417

In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement, your account access will remain limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further limitations or eventual account closure. We encourage you to follow our verification procedure as soon as possible to help avoid this.

Click here to login and restore your account access

Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.

This is a final reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal Email ID PP-204-863-417

[surplusdealdude]

Yup, it's a scam.

The "www.paypal.com" that's under the link is actually "www.paypai.com" with a capital "i".  In sans serif, it's indistinguishable from a regular lowere-case "l".

NEVER sign in to your Paypal account from an email link.


And, to make your Paypal account bullet-proof, visit the security center in your Paypal account and buy one of their security keys for $5.  It puts a separate, randomly-generated numerical password on your account that changes every 30 seconds and cannot be hijacked, even if the scammer has your password.

[wnettles]

I received a nearly identical email that wanted me to open a bank account, just to remain a customer of Paypal.   I sent the email to spoof@paypal.com and hope that they have addressed the issue appropriately.   

In any communication with Paypal, you should be the initiator of contact, not a response to an email.   The tricksters are getting pretty good at scamming not only Paypal customers, but, customers and users of many online services, including Craigslist and Overstock.  

If there is any question if an email that appears to be from Paypal is fraudulent, forward the entire email to spoof@paypal.com.   Paypal recommends deleting it, but, I have a tendency to keep them in a special folder, just in case they are needed for prosecution of a criminal fraudster.  

I do not intend to open a bank account just to do business with Paypal.   If the email was for real, then, I will find another method of payment and adjust my transactions accordingly.   Paypal will loose a long time customer.  When enough of Paypal's customers follow suite, they will be eligible for a Chapter 13  or Chapter 11 status.

[surplusdealdude]

---

@wnettles wrote:

I received a nearly identical email that wanted me to open a bank account, just to remain a customer of Paypal.   I sent the email to spoof@paypal.com and hope that they have addressed the issue appropriately.   

In any communication with Paypal, you should be the initiator of contact, not a response to an email.   The tricksters are getting pretty good at scamming not only Paypal customers, but, customers and users of many online services, including Craigslist and Overstock.  

If there is any question if an email that appears to be from Paypal is fraudulent, forward the entire email to spoof@paypal.com.   Paypal recommends deleting it, but, I have a tendency to keep them in a special folder, just in case they are needed for prosecution of a criminal fraudster.  

I do not intend to open a bank account just to do business with Paypal.   If the email was for real, then, I will find another method of payment and adjust my transactions accordingly.   Paypal will loose a long time customer.  When enough of Paypal's customers follow suite, they will be eligible for a Chapter 13  or Chapter 11 status.

---

Unfortunately, that email may be real.

Paypal is requiring all user to confirm their identity through an attached, verified bank account now.  It's a Homeland Security issue designed to make sure that Paypal isn't being used for money laundering or terrorist funding.

[wnettles]

Been nice doing business with Paypal.   Hope that new policy works out for ya.   Gonna miss ya.   But, we will get over your absence in the marketplace.   Take care now.

[surplusdealdude]

Paypal has added 4 million new users in the last 4 months - they're not going to be absent any time soon.

[wnettles]

Just goes to show that there is more than one born every day!