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Not really sure where to post this.
There is a current Paypal email scam in which you will receive an email stating something to the effect that your that your Paypal account has been “limited” because someone tried to access it from an “unknown device.”
There is a link to follow to have the limits lifted. DO NOT follow the link.
The email is easily identifiable as a scam. The header address is not from Paypal and the email is addressed to “Dear Client” rather than to your name.
Paypal customers who clicked on the link reported that the scammer than hit their credit cards multipole times for $600, causing the Bank to freeze their cards.
DO NOT follow the link. Delete the email
If you’re uncertain, login and check you account to see that there are no limits, and /or contact Paypal.
My Paypal address is not something easily accessible. I’m guessing that one of the vendors that I buy from, or one of the libraries that sell through me was hacked.
Better safe than sorry.
Whenever you get an email that appears to come from a bank, financial institution, etc. (or anyone with your sensitive information), never click any links in the email. If you think it might be real, go to that institution’s website directly via your browser and log in.
Also,you can just hover the curse over the senders name and the email address will popup and usually you’ll see some half baked email address like paypalservice@tomshouse.com or something that’s a dead giveaway.
Got it 1-2 times this month,appeared on my junk list.
Like Pat said,it’s easily identified as fishing scam,mainly because of the weird email address they use.Btw,i got another fishing scam email today,this time from “Bank of America”.
Again,they claimed my account is “limited” because of unidentified access attempt.Funny thing,i don’t have an account in this bank!I’m usually pretty savvy when it comes to the phishing emails (which I get pretty much daily), but I got totally done last year when I got a call from an automated voice saying they were from my credit card company (a fairly small one), asking me to choose a pin number and then enter my zip… D’OH!
Figured it all out at the end when the call ended with a sinister ‘sorry, your request could not be completed at this time.. goodBYEE!’. I immediately called to cancel / re-issue my card.
This scam is actually not new. I first started getting those emails more than a year ago. As a habit I never click on any links in an email that references my bank or Paypal. I always go directly to Paypal’s website and sign in from there.
I’m usually quite savvy as well but I got caught by one that looked like it was from my web host in regard to a domain name. It appeared totally legit and, since it wasn’t from a bank or other financial institution, I didn’t think about it and clicked the link that took me to an actual log in at the host’s website. Everything was in order and I never thought a thing about it until I got another email from them a couple of weeks later informing me that I was a victim of a phishing scam so I should log in and make sure that everything’s okay. They also offered to sell me a privacy service that would protect me against phishing scams so ultimately I had to wonder if this wasn’t actually perpetrated by them as an attempt to get me to buy this service. Tricky world we got…