paypal scam

So I was over at monacome.com and was shocked to read this particular post. It’s a paypal scam. Before opening e-mails, even from sites that look really legitimate and/or official, be very careful. Notice the circled areas, as explained below.

Here are some really important stuff to take note. 

PayPal doesn’t address its clients as “Dear Customer”, “Dear PayPal User”, “Dear Member” or “Dear Valued Client.” They always address their members by their complete registered names.

Don’t give out any information such as your name, account number and password, credit card details, etc. that the email asks for. Once you do that, it’s goodbye to your account for these scammers act very fast, emptying accounts the minute they receive the vital information they need.

Don’t click on any link provided in the email. Hover your mouse over the link and check for its URL. If in doubt, don’t touch the email. What I did when I first received such scams was to contact PayPal and forward the email to them. I then received a prompt reply to my query together with a verification of the email and guidelines on how to avoid being scammed in the future.

If you have already entered valuable information, or clicked the link provided, you take immediate action to protect your identity and data. Report it to PayPal at once. If you only clicked on a link inside of a spoofed email, you may also want to run a security scan on your computer. eBay has a help page with valuable information regarding the steps you should take to protect yourself (http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/index.html).

Tell your friends about it and publish your experience as much as possible. This will help disseminate valued information and, more importantly, always make others aware of this ongoing threat in cyberspace. This scam has been as old as the internet itself but many are still being victimized because of complacency. The email scam syndicates will never stop as long there are “willing” victims out there.

Please be reminded that this scam does not only happen to PayPal clients. eBay, bank clients (especially those involved in online transactions) and credit card holders are also a prime target. But let us always remember that awareness is the key to fight this. Rina has learned her lesson, and I hope this post will serve as a reminder to other out there to be more careful next time.