Suspitious spam email received after client sent payment.

[MidnightHera]

After a client tried to make a payment, I received an email that was labeled as spam from the address you can see in the screenshot below, saying that my account is not a business one (which it is) and that it is limited and that I need to upgrade it in order to receive the payment.

After the client sent the payment, they received a receipt but I have nothing on my end, exept from this email.

It says that for me to expand my account limit, the client needs to send another payment and that, once I receive the new payment, I need to refund the extra money that was sent to me to upgrade the account.

It really sounds like a scam to me and I'm not sure what to do with my client since they have already sent the payment. Is that a legit paypal email? 

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

@MidnightHera 

All those emails are fake and a scam. Your client is a scammer. Ignore and move on. You’re not going to be paid.

Why would you be asked to upgrade to a business account when your account is already a business account?

PayPal does not use gmail to contact you, see “From” email address in the first image. They aliased it to try to hide the gmail email address. There’s even a big red alert saying message seems dangerous.

[MidnightHera]

Thank you so much for replying.

I figured this was all a big scam. I just wasn't sure and wanted to make sure a potential client wasn't losing money. 

I thought there was a chance the big red alert was just a generic one and again just wanted to be extra safe and ask.

I also already changed my account's password just in case.

Thank you again!

[sharpiemarker]

@MidnightHera 

You’re welcome 🙂