Paypal is a popular way to buy and sell products, and services online and is used by millions of people around the world. The scammers have come up with a number of ways to scam people out of money using PayPal including
- Order Confirmation: You receive an official-looking email from PayPal requesting you confirm the order you have made. The email will include a website link that will take you to criminals’ websites where they will try and install a virus, or malware on your computer and steal your money.
- Password Reset: You receive an email from PayPal asking you to reset your password. They ask you to click on a link included in the email which will take you to the scammer’s website to steal your identity and money.
- Payment Transfer Request: You receive an email, Whats app, or text asking you to complete a payment transfer for a product or service you have not purchased.
- Refund Request: You are asked to provide a refund for a product or service or transfer the money via PayPal to the scammer’s PayPal account
- Overpayment: The criminal will overpay for a product, or service using a fake or stolen credit card or bank account number, then contact the seller to ask them to return the overpaid amount, usually to a different account than the one they used to make the initial payment. Once they get the money back, the scammer will contact PayPal to cancel the original transaction, leaving the seller out of both their product and payment.
- Promotional Offer: You receive an email offering a cash rebate or some other financial incentive, and all you have to do is log in to your PayPal account to verify a few details. Just like other email scams, the link in the email directs you to a fake PayPal website. If you click on the link and enter your login credentials, the scammers get access to your credentials and can drain your account.
- You Have Money Waiting: You get an email telling you that you’ve received the money in your PayPal account. All you need to do is click on the link to release the funds! Unfortunately, the link in the scam email directs you to yet another pretend PayPal site. Once there, if you type in your PayPal login credentials, the scammers get that information and use it to gain access to your legitimate PayPal account.
- Hacked Account: A buyer uses a hacked PayPal account to pay you for your goods. You don’t know the account was hacked, so you ship the product as soon as payment is confirmed. Unfortunately, once PayPal discovers the hack, they will withdraw the funds from your account. You’re left without the product or the payment.