phishing scam with sms

[Pursacat]

I was flying back to Atlanta from Orlando when I realized I left my laptop at the security check point. I googled how to contact the airport and came across a site that seemed legit. they asked for $29 to process a form for lost and found, the money paying for shipping if found. I quickly learned it was a scam so i attempted to cancel the transaction, which i could not do. So i tried calling paypal and heard nothing. Immediately after i received a call from an Indian sounding man claiming to be from paypal. I explained i just wanted to cancel the transaction and at first he seemed helpful. But then things turned creepy. He said he was sending me a text message with a number inside and to tell him the number. Being distraught from losing my laptop and getting scammed once, i thought nothing about it. He then said he saw where a friend sent me x amount of money which made me think he was legit. He said he could recovery money but only if i go to a gas station and get an authorization number. I told him no. he asked why not and i said that isnt how paypal works. so he argued it was the only way to get my money back. by then i had caught on to this scam and felt stupid for it. I demanded to speak to someone else and he again maintained there was no one else to speak to. then i said he was trying to scam me and he hung up. I went onto my paypal app and contacted paypal there and got it all sorted out. then i was i formed that when a text is sent with a number, paypal will never ask for that number. I still dont know how that number helped this guy gain access to my account. im sure he was disappointed to see at the time i only had $.58 in my account and no link to a bank account.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @Pursacat,

I'm very sorry to hear that you were victimized by a scam. It's probable that the fraudster you were speaking to had attempted password recovery and was asking you to watch for the email or text message that is sent to verify that the email address or mobile number is valid and owned by the person trying to access the account. If a fraudster has access to personal details and is able to give the number received in that email or text, they can get access to your account. The personal details used were probably able to be gotten through the earlier phishing attempt.

If you have not already done so, please change passwords on your PayPal account as well as on your email account. Make sure to use strong and unique passwords that you haven't used elsewhere.

When calling PayPal, please always use the number found on the Contact page found by clicking the link at the bottom of the PayPal website. That way you'll know you are talking to a legitimate PayPal representative and not a fraudster.

I hope everything was able to be resolved for you!

Olivia