I received an unsolicited invoice for $50.00 this morning, August 15th and, after reading this post and the responses, I did some research.
First, if it's not clear to anyone that hasn't already done so, the invoice CAN be canceled. Click on Activity, then on the transaction, and then Cancel. Be sure to send a nice message about why you're canceling! Interestingly, PayPal would allow an issue to be opened against the transaction. Not clear to me why that is but seems suspicious.
I looked the WHO web-site. According to them:
The only call for donations WHO has issued is the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, which is linked to below. Any other appeal for funding or donations that appears to be from WHO is a scam.
COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
This is not the same web-site that was in my invoice.
I did a WHOIS search on the URL that was in my invoice: COVID19ResponseFund.ORG. Here is the results:
Domain Name: COVID19RESPONSEFUND.ORG
Registry Domain ID: D402200000012777850-LROR
Updated Date: 2020-05-05T03:50:31Z
Creation Date: 2020-03-05T15:33:55Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2021-03-05T15:33:55Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date:
Registrar: GoDaddy, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: [Removed. Phone #s not permitted]
Reseller:
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Registrant Organization: United Nations Foundation
Registrant State/Province: District of Columbia
Registrant Country: US
Name Server: NS-1120.AWSDNS-12.ORG
Name Server: NS-263.AWSDNS-32.COM
Name Server: NS-1829.AWSDNS-36.CO.UK
Name Server: NS-999.AWSDNS-60.NET
DNSSEC: unsigned
So I looked up United Nations Foundation. When you go to their site you immediately get a pop-up for donations that takes you to the site that was in my invoice. The UN Foundation appears to be real, however, the person's name on my invoice "Devante <removed>" appears to be fake. The only Devante <removed> I was able to find is someone wanted for a hit-and-run in California. There is a Leslie <removed> that is one of the VPs at the UN Foundation. Unclear if these is a connection.
Bottom line... the UN Foundation appears to be real. However, according to WHO this is not done on their behalf. AND there's no denying that the invoices are unsolicited. I do not know how the UN Foundation was able to send all of these invoices to PayPal users without their consent. PayPal has some explaining to do, for sure.
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