Paypal Scam-Limited Access
By tammyr
@tammyr (5946)
Etowah, Tennessee
May 18, 2008 10:52am CST
I received an e-mail from service@paypal.us saying I needed to log in and go to the resolution center to correct the issue.
I recently had my wallet stolen and I was afraid that perhaps the person had gotten to my paypal account!
So, I went to the resolution center at paypal and entered the case # they provided and it told me there was no such case #.
Luckily. i knew better than to click the link provided in the e-mail. I went to paypal myself by entering www.paypal.com into the browser,
THIS IS A SCAM!!
Here is a copy of the e-mail; DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM!!!
[i]Dear PayPal member,
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.We requested information from you for the following reason:
Our system requires further account verification.
Case ID Number: PP-552-277-785
Click here to restore your account information
This is a second reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible. Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access.
In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement, your account access will remain limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further limitations or eventual account closure. We encourage you to log in to your PayPal account as soon as possible to help avoid this.
To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution Center. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal by visiting the Help Center and clicking "Contact Us".
We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
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Copyright © 1999-2008 PayPal. All rights reserved.
PayPal Email ID PP58[/i]
If this stops one of you from clicking the link, I will be happy! This person that sent this will get your paypal info and wipe you out!
Have you ever been taken in by a scam e-mail?
Have you known someone who was?
6 people like this
17 responses
@sconibear (8016)
• United States
18 May 08
yup, i received that same e-mail a few days ago. i only deal with my payment processor accounts by actually going to their website and logging in.
so, needless to say, that e-mail took a 1 way trip to the SPAM folder.
just a note to anyone reading this:
when opening a PayPal, AlertPay, or any account that deals with your money, make sure you create a totally unique password. don't use the same password you use for sites that you earn money with....believe it or not...there is some site administrators out there who are nothing but crooks.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (157485)
• United States
18 May 08
I have not had the misfortune to fall prey to this scam. I do agree that you are performing a great service for those who do not know about this. Also there are a lot of scams from IRS, EBAY, United States Postal Service. We all have very little money, and lots of willing takers that want to rip us off.
@kamran12 (5526)
• Pakistan
18 May 08
Hello Tammy,
It was very wise of you not to follow the link provided in the email and a very nice gesture to come here and warn others.
Problem with paypal and many other services is that they allow members to message other members and it appears as though it is coming from paypal. I have got such emails several times but deleted them the moment I saw a link asking for updating my info. I personally don't know any who got into trouble by this scam but I have seen people mention it on here. As a general rule, one should NEVER follow a link from email, especially the one asking for personal information.
A couple of other members have already suggested what to do. I just hope that many people see this thread and like you, I'll be happy if even a single person is saved by your effort.
1 person likes this
@kamran12 (5526)
• Pakistan
19 May 08
I also tried without much success! 
I was able to get 6 referrals (3 from my own lab, and 3 other colleagues from my job) just by telling them about discussions and that they can join and take part in them and along the way they will make great friends. I even told them that their English language skills will also improve .
Well, three never started here after joining and other three left after some time, mostly disappointed with the environment here. I have recently tried again but without success, as yet.
I was able to get 6 referrals (3 from my own lab, and 3 other colleagues from my job) just by telling them about discussions and that they can join and take part in them and along the way they will make great friends. I even told them that their English language skills will also improve .
Well, three never started here after joining and other three left after some time, mostly disappointed with the environment here. I have recently tried again but without success, as yet.@kamran12 (5526)
• Pakistan
18 May 08
You are wise in handling links, Tammy. And, it is a great suggestion that people may forward this discussion to their friends. I have already done it in past, not from mylot though. I am used to send messages to my friends to give them heads up, so I did this for such types of emails too, a little while ago.
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
18 May 08
Tammy - thanks for the alert.
I get emails all the time like this and I forward every one of them on to paypal at 'spoof@paypal.com'
The BEST way to discern the difference between a spam paypal email and a real one is very simple:
Paypal ALWAYS addresses you by your NAME in beginning of the email to you. If you don't see 'Dear so and so' using your real name, then the email is a spam one and should be forwarded to paypal at the above addy asap.
1 person likes this
@tammyr (5946)
• Etowah, Tennessee
19 May 08
I don't think I have gotten any e-mails from them except when mylot puts money in. I don't even open those e-mails I just go to paypal and see if it is what I think it was suppose to be. I haven't made payout since ... GOOSH! has it been last ?July or August!! I have been away a long time!1 I am glad to be back and glad things are better than they were!
1 person likes this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
18 May 08
They always always use our names - that's how I really know it's them.
1 person likes this
@rev1wendy (611)
• United States
18 May 08
Thank you for this info, tammyr. I will definately pass it along to my other friends who use paypal. As for other scams, I almost got caught in a phone scam that was allegedly the IRS. I had to close out a bank account and get a new one. Thankfully, the bank was very helpful and worked with me so I didn't loose anything. My significant other was taken for almost $5,000 though. It was before he and I met. There are some desperate people out there. I believe that we are entering a depression. But it will be a much different one than in the 40's. I think it will be much more dangerous.
@tammyr (5946)
• Etowah, Tennessee
18 May 08
Thank goodness the bank was helpful! I hope you SO learned something from that lesson. It was an expensive one for sure!
I got taken by Bidfeul, but got my money back. They are a big scam! BUT... I learned a lesson from it.I now search for info on any company before I deal with them. Had I done that with Bidfeul, I would have never joined up!
I know that the IRS NEVER sends e-mails. They will mail you a letter if they want something from you.
2 people like this
@rev1wendy (611)
• United States
18 May 08
I learned something, for sure! I didn't loose any money. My man was the one who lost $4,595. It was shortly before we met. He paid much for the lesson that he learned!
2 people like this
@panupongsk (313)
• Thailand
18 May 08
Thanks for the warning.
However, did you see the source of sender specified in mail header?
2 people like this
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
18 May 08
I haven't gotten a scam paypal message but I have been getting them from banks that I do not belong to lol
he first tip off for you message should have been the sender: service@paypal.us
1 person likes this
@Sir_bobby88 (8231)
• Singapore
19 May 08
Well it seems like there are lots of people receving such emails from a paypal scammer yea . just becareful and don't get scam
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
19 May 08
I've gotten alot of these too and in case you didn't know there is an easy way to tell if it's on the up and up. A true email from PayPal will be addressed to you by your name (Dear Joe Blow) Not by Dear PayPal member. You can check the PayPal site and it is on there. The best thing you can do is go to the website (by typing in the address in your address bar), see if there is any problem, contact PayPal through their site (at the top of the page is a link called Security Center) and then forward them the email you received (under report phishing). I hope this helps.
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
@choudhary03 (943)
• Hyderabad, India
18 May 08
Thank you buddy i got this email lukily i always have pop ups disabled so i wasnt unable to open this hyperlink so typed the link into the browser and then to my horror there was no case Id.
1 person likes this
@athinapie (1150)
• Philippines
19 May 08
hi there! thanks so much for the warning. I hope that this will be resolved soon. This is actually the first time I heard about a scam from paypal though.
@blackmantra_x (2732)
• Philippines
18 May 08
yeah we must ever be vigilant specially when we are dealing with our on line accounts. Scams are becoming more elaborate and designed to deceive unsuspecting victims
1 person likes this
@sanell (2112)
• United States
19 May 08
well I had already had limited access to my account, now I can not even clear it up and I did get this notice but I have been dealing with this issue before this email has appeared. I hope it is not a scam, although I will say when I looked up the case id there was no such case, so I am still trying to figure out what to do with this.
@only1shi (404)
• United States
19 May 08
i got an email similar to this one. i have found that i have been getting it more frequently lately than i used to. i was curious about it at first because i do have a paypal account but the email was going to the wrong email address. i just spam it and go about my business. i make it a habit to not open email from addresses that i don't know. i also make my first line in my contacts aaa@aaa.com. that way, if you were to open an attachment that has a virus in it, it would be diverted to a fradulant account and hopefully not be emailed to the rest of your contacts.
