fraud? Your PayPal account will be disabled today if you fail to update, visit:

[igsofamerica]

I received a text message: Message id <removed> Your PayPal account will be disabled today if you fail to update, visit:

then, ask me to go to <removed>

My Kaspersky blocked the site with my PC but on my iPhone, I went there.  

it appeared as login screen of PayPal. 

Is this fraud? 

[kernowlass]

@igsofamerica

Yep of course !!

If its a spoof, DO NOT USE ANY LINK.

Firstly if the email/ text addressed you as ''Dear Member'' / ''Customer'' / ''Client'' OR your ''email address'' then that confirms its a spoof as paypal would address you by your full name eg Dear John Smith.

Secondly if there was a link OR attachment in that email to ''cancel'' the transaction or ''confirm'' any details then again it would be a spoof.

If there was a problem with your account paypal would not ask you to click on an unsafe link in an email or by downloading an attachment, they would direct you to log in normally and go to the resolution or the message centre for more information.

More info here >>
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/how-to-spot-fake-emails-faq2340/2

[myee123]

I received the EXACT same text message today (Aug 2018).  I see your posting is from Jul 2018.  So, the scam has been going on for over a month and is still LIVE!  I would have thought that Paypal would have blocked these hackers/scammers by now.

Text Message: id <4 digit number> Your Paypal account will be disabled today if you fail to update, visit: <removed>

I have forwarded the message and screenshots to spoof@paypal.com.

Did you get any resolution on your problem?

Did you find out how they got your phone number?
Was the recipient's account hacked OR was it your account (the sender)?

Michael

[kernowlass]

@myee123

The scam as you call it has been going on for at least the last 10 years that I have been helping on here.

It has nothing to do with Paypal so not sure how you think they can stop it !!!!

You get 'spoof' emails from your bank  / card issuer / Paypal / etc etc etc.

All they are are emails from scammers probably working from an internet cafe somewhere in Afica.

They send out to emails or numbers they have managed to obtain or just send a whole load of them hoping some of the numbers are genuine.

They are made to 'look' as if they come from Paypal but of course they never are so your account has not been hacked.

Why do you think your bank and other financial bodies tell you to keep an eye out for 'spoof emails' pretending to be from them when they are not.

You can't 'stop' them because they just use other throw away numbers or email addresses.

[myee123]

@kernowlass  Thank you for your quick reply, but just to be clear, this is NOT a RANDOM 'spoof' emails issue.  Please read my posting more carefully. 

The SCAM STARTED with a TEXT MESSAGE (not email) to the phone number associated with my Paypal account. So the hackers somehow have access to the phone number associated with my Paypal account.

DETAILS

1. I SENT MONEY to a friend and then within 8 hours I received a FAKE Paypal text message. so somehow the hackers may be monitoring my account, for example they may have access to my email OR my Paypal account OR something else.
   
   
2. This STARTED with a TEXT MESSAGE to the phone number associated with my Paypal account, so the hackers somehow have access to the phone number associated with my Paypal account.

What I am trying to figure out is where my Paypal transactions and Paypal phone number could have been exposed to the hackers so I can close the leak.  Any help / insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[kernowlass]

@myee123

They send out spoof texts to thousands of phone numbers in the hope that some of them are linked to Paypal accounts and they can scam the account holders.

They can download a whole database of phone numbers from companies like these...

http://www.cell-phone-list.net/uk-united-kingdom-cell-phone-number-list.html

[Ranway]

I received this TEXT MESSAGE yesterday, August 26, 2018. This phishing scam is alive and kicking! I agree that somehow hackers are able to extract certain info directly associated with specific PayPal accounts. & I along with everyone, is not sure how. In my attempts to perform analysis, here are some things that might be of assistance: I am using the PayPal app for android. And secondly, I recently routed my app through a third party software that is inundated with adware IMO, (that is, supported by ads). I would like to provide further details, but since we are still unsure, I do not want to be guilty of implicating any party.

[myee123]

@Ranway Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you receive the TEXT message within 24 hours of a Paypal transaction OR did you receive it apparently randomly?

FYI, I did NOT have the Paypal app installing on mobile phone.  I am suspecting that (most likely) receiving the fake TEXT message within 8 hours of my Paypal transaction was just a coincident.  Alternately, the hacker could have had access to my email account and would have seen the Paypal transaction confirmation email and obtained my phone number from other emails in my mailbox.  I have already changed my email password, if this was the case.

Also, I have sent another Paypal transaction as a TEST and did NOT receive addition TEXT messages, so if hackers were monitoring my email or somehow monitoring my transactions, I am no longer receiving fake messages.

[Ranway]

This is getting stranger &stranger. I did not receive the text message shortly after a transaction. My last PayPal transaction is over 7 days ago. The email targeting is possible. But still we are not certain... I went through the entire process on the spoof site. First they ask you to log in. I entered a fake email, a 12 character password containing the same letter repeatedly. A fake name and address, fake credit card info and finally they request a snapshot of your ID, both back and front!!! Lol! Are they even serious??? Paypal needs to be more aggressive about warning their clients about this fraud!

[myee123]

Since you did NOT "receive the text message shortly after a transaction" that supports my theory that it was just a coincident that the TEXT message coincided with my Paypal transaction.  BTW, I also entered fake login credentials to the FAKE website, but stopped short of entering info on the credit card page.  Interesting that the website went above and beyond by asking for Photo IDs, UNBELIEVABLE!

Did you report your incident to spoof@paypal.com?  May be we can get Paypal to crack down on this hacker/spammer!