Paypal spam phishing or real?

[cwillson80]

I've used PayPal for every eligible transaction for 20ish years now, for both protection and paper-trail purposes. I got message in my spam folder stating there is a limitation on my account, which I've never seen before after all of these years and thousands of PayPal transactions. It isn't a familiar PayPal message like I recieve almost daily, but rather from an encrypted sender <removed>. It seems pretty obvious on the surface that this is fraudulent. A quick browser search revealed that this can and does actually does happen by PayPal. Kudos! That's why I use it! I've never seen anything legitimately from PayPal go to spam, nor have I ever seen anything like this on my account. I wish I could attach my screenshots of how real this looks. Aside from wanting to know if this is happening to other people, I want to warn other members that this is occurring, and not to open or move this email to your inbox! Please advise (and be advised), as it is almost impossible to get in touch with actual humans that represent PayPal... Thanks in advance all!

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@cwillson80 

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/selfhelp/article/how-to-spot-fake-emails-faq2340/2
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/suspicious-activity

[cwillson80]

Thank you for your assurance! Unbelievably, I didn't even notice that the now two messages use my email address, not my name. I'm glad I reached out and hope this can help someone else! Thanks again!