Received invoice from one seller which I didn't make any purchase. Is it a scam?

[MichaelCHK]

Hi all. I received a notification from PayPal that someone sent me an invoice to make a payment of USD 500 for purchasing a anti virus software which I didn't make. Could I just leave it like that with out paying or how do I cancel or report this?

[Temp20221219d]

Always releable

[Dave329]

IMO canceling and then sending a phish message to PayPal is a 'bad' solution. Just give me a simple option to blanket refuse any payment requests either in total and/or outside of my contacts. I've seen 3 come through in under a week - I'm assuming a website go hacked where I used my PayPal account and now I'm a target.

I shouldn't have to find these and report them. This is a great way for folk to lose money. The spammers do it because it works! So the assumption is folk are losing money.  I wonder how many are actually going through? Does Paypal offer to pay me back if I maker a mistake with something I'm expecting and inadvertently pay a bad invoice? Sooner or later the scammers will hit me with an invoice for a product I actually have....more likely I'll just go ahead and pay, particularly with companies moving to subscription based services.

Any idea how many folk PayPal have from their Ebay days who are reaching the stage where they can more easily get confused, see the request and just pay it?

[cnclng_cwrdc]

Hi, I'll be adding to your kudos.

I will forward several messages to phishing@paypal.com but want to add beware of the salutation "PayPal User"

That's my final factor for phishing confirmation.

Cheers,

[l_d_allan]

This first-time community member received what seems like a phishing email from [expletive deleted] with attachment claiming I used a PayPal Credit card with Payment Method: Auto-Debit to purchase 5 $100 Apple E-gift cards for a total of $500.
Phone number[Removed. Phone #s not permitted] Order ID VYYKDFWHIRZE8993128236VYYKDFWHIRZE Invoice ID: INV/05413117/ASQGMDF0

I attempted to use the chat-bot to report this, but the bot indicated my Paypal account would be suspended until resolved. I would need to create a new password and verification questions to re-authorize, which I'd rather avoid.

[kernowlass]

@l_d_allan 

If its a spoof then NEVER USE ANY LINK OR ANY PHONE NUMBER.

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/text to ''cancel'' any transaction or ''confirm'' any details then again it would be a spoof.

Also if they ask you to call the number in the email then it would be fake paypal agents trying to scam you for money to 'fix' something. 

If there was a problem with your account Paypal would not ask you to click on an unsafe link in an email / download an attachment OR phone them on a number in an email, 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/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-spot-and-report-a-fake%2C-fraudulent%2C-or-phis...
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/suspicious-activity

[moriwastaken]

I've two invoices from a random person I don't know stuck on my dashboard. I can't cancel or remove them at all either as it says "no longer available" when I click on them. What do I do?

[PayPal_RebeccaN]

Hello @moriwastaken, 

From your post, I understand you have received a money request or invoice and you would like some clarity with this. If you believe an email or invoice is fake, don’t click on any links; please forward it to us. The email you can forward this to is: phishing@paypal.com. You wouldn't be charged if you didn’t purchase the item in question. 

In some cases, you can cancel a received invoice. However, if you can’t, we ask that you disregard the invoice and forward the email you received to us. PayPal is working on deleting invoices that were created by bad actors.

For more information on spotting a spoof email, see: How do I spot and report a fake, fraudulent, or phishing PayPal email or website?

I hope this can help.

Rebecca

If this post or any other was helpful, please enrich the community by giving kudos or accepting it as a solution.

[omry]

How about PayPal work on a way to allow users to reject a fraudulent invoice?

This way:

1. users are happy because they don't get constantly spammed by the same scammer.

2. PayPal is happy because it gets lots of training data to train your classifiers on and because it gets to actually take those bad actors down sooner.

3. Scammers are not happy.

Everybody wins.

[kernowlass]

@omry 

How would they know it was fraudulent, telepathy?

I could offer you something for sale and you agree to purchase it so I send you a money request or invoice.

So paypal are supposed to know what I am selling or whether I am a fraudster or not??? 

[omry]

@kernowlass 

If by "they" you mean PayPal, they would know because me, the user receiving it, would TELL THEM using a UI they can implement.

If you mean the users, then - well - I know when I receive a **bleep** demand from money for a service/product I never acquired.

Telepathy not required. It's pretty simple really.