I love the ease with which all monetary exchanges happen effortlessly with my Pay Pal account. I am grateful too for the internet and Google!
I have received a couple of emails telling me my Pay Pal account needs to be updated. I ignored the first two and then got nervous. But before clicking on the link in the email I Googled ”pay pal account security emails” and breathed a sigh of relief …
the email i got looks like this
Dear valued PayPal.com.au member,
It has come to our attention that your PayPal.com.au account information needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website. If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into any future problems with the online service.
However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension. Please update your records on or before December 25, 2009.
Once you have updated your account records, your PayPal session will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. [it then asks me to click on a link which i did not - went to Google first]
The first item I clicked on gave me all the information I needed to know it was a scam. The one line that remains with me is the fact that Pay Pal would address me by my full name (as registered) and /or my business ….
In part Pay Pal says …
Look for a PayPal Greeting: PayPal will never send an email with the greeting “Dear PayPal User” or “Dear PayPal Member.” Real PayPal emails will address you by your first and last name or the business name associated with your PayPal account. If you believe you have received a fraudulent email, please forward the entire email—including the header information—to spoof@paypal.com. We investigate every spoof reported. Please note that the automatic response you get from us may not address you by name.
Please check this link to get the full details on what to look out for regarding spam, phishing and fraud.
I also emailed to the spoof address. I feel so much more relaxed about having Pay Pal a part of my lifestyle.
Let me underline this with asking you to never be fearful of operating or having a Pay Pal account – it really is the bees knees (ie business – think Hungarian accent) .
Yes, PayPal would never send that type of email. You can click into your PayPal account and it will tell you the frauds to look out for.
ah .. i didnt know that ! … its all new to me – often one hasnt the time to flick around websites checking every nit – so many other itches that are more worthwhile …(didnt you recently write an article on instant gratification ? as much as i dislike the term it rings true !)
.. thanks Guy …
This is important info, as we all trust Pay pal, and many may not bother thinking twice. Thanks for the warning.
I received emails like these. I never bothered to respond. I knew they were scams.
I still don’t have pay pal account
Phoenix .. thats exactly what i was thinking when I received the emails. Thanks for underscoring that thought !
Athena … thank you so much for commenting. I was going to say you are lucky, but perhaps not. I am on a mac and i dont get many spam or phishing emails … 99% of the emails i get are ones I expect. So when i got the pay pal one, twice and ignored it the first time I decided to investigate. Its a little disconcerting as there is ‘no one’ you can call to check.
Needless to say I am a leetle wiser having had the experience. Thanks for your perspective too !
It was very nice of you to share this wonderful infomation with us. This is what is referred to as spoofing and many innocent people fell prey to such emails. Kudos to you for writing such a wonderful article.
I get so many of these I’m used to just hitting delete, thanks for sharing the info!
Anuradha … thank you for your sweet note, I appreciate it. I believe it is as you say; many people fall prey and I know in this day and age with these emails along with the nigerian scams, the love scams and so on having been around a long time that it seems silly that this still happens. But I can quite see how one could fall into the trap … >>> Gina
its so annoying – spam … thanks for stopping in Magic