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Very good PayPal scam. Please read so you don't get caught out. I almost gave away £750...

240 replies

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 06/12/2022 12:21

Was almost scammed to the tune of £750. This is a good one and I was sooooo close to falling for it. Was on the phone to the scammers! Woke up to an email from PayPal saying there's been what looked like fraudulent activity on my account. I checked the email address by clicking on it and it did look legit. I then decided I'd go to PayPal from Google rather than clicking any links in the email. Logged in and saw a pending transaction for £750. Not one I recognised and definitely wasn't me. So I clicked on the transaction and there is a note saying "this is fraudulent activity" and call this number. So I call the number, go through security, get sent a security code, I am then transferred to someone senior, they tell me my bank card number, confirm all my name and address etc. Then they ask for the 3 digits on the back of my card. I pause, with alarm bells ringing. This is the absolute crème de la crème of information you can give someone because once they have that they can make purchases. I said no, this sounds like a scam. Then all of a sudden the guy is like "well you called us with the number from PayPal. You've called us because you got an email saying fraudulent activity detected and you can see on your account there has been". Whilst I was on the phone I decided to check my PayPal account and I had been logged out and couldn't get back in. He told me that was an added security measure. Anyway, I said no it's a scam and he ended with "ok then you will lose all your money". I said ok and hung up. Changed my password immediately, found the £750 transaction and this is where I had gone wrong. The phone number to call "PayPal" was on a NOTE on the transaction but this note is from the scammers! So they put their number in there and then act as PayPal. Honestly I was sooo close to saying those three digits but that's the only thing that hasn't allowed this scam to be successful. All I had to do was click "cancel" against the money request!

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Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 09/12/2022 10:30

fromcitytocountry · 09/12/2022 10:22

I had this happen too....cheeky scammer put 10 requests through for £750 a go! Thankfully didn't call the number and just cancelled every request but frustrating that you can't report as a scam

I did call PayPal and they said they were investigating already but I'm skeptical about that tbh. At what point did they decide to investigate it since I hadn't called about it and to then would just look like me cancelling a money request.

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LearnerCook · 09/12/2022 10:31

Well done for stopping them in their tracks, OP, and thanks for sharing.

I'm going to let my Dad know about this. He used to be quite savvy but he's lost his confidence and I do worry about him panicking and falling for it.

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 09/12/2022 10:32

LearnerCook · 09/12/2022 10:31

Well done for stopping them in their tracks, OP, and thanks for sharing.

I'm going to let my Dad know about this. He used to be quite savvy but he's lost his confidence and I do worry about him panicking and falling for it.

That's ok and yes please do tell him. They will rely on people panicking just like I did.

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fromcitytocountry · 09/12/2022 14:11

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 09/12/2022 10:30

I did call PayPal and they said they were investigating already but I'm skeptical about that tbh. At what point did they decide to investigate it since I hadn't called about it and to then would just look like me cancelling a money request.

Oh sorry I meant that thankfully I didn't call the number they'd quoted but I nearly did in a moment of panic after seeing so many requests coming through.
It's awful that people are happy to scam others without a second thought

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 09/12/2022 16:04

fromcitytocountry · 09/12/2022 14:11

Oh sorry I meant that thankfully I didn't call the number they'd quoted but I nearly did in a moment of panic after seeing so many requests coming through.
It's awful that people are happy to scam others without a second thought

Oh yes I know but it was your comment about not being able to report as a scam. It is annoying you can't just click some menu to highlight it as a scam.

But yeh, 10 requests for £750 is crazy.

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NotSorry · 13/12/2022 10:25

I’ve done some Googling and it seems this scam has been around for some years although I’d not heard of it (thanks for the heads up @Hungrycaterpillarsmummy)

The forum I found myself on was a paypal one where members were asking paypal if they could block any incoming money requests from an account setting and paypal just saying “sorry no” some of the posts date back 2 years. It’s disgraceful that paypal have known about it all this time and not alerted anyone or done anything their end to try to curtail the scammers.

Anyway, my question is, if I got one of these requests and did nothing ie. didn’t cancel it as other PPs have, would it just sit on my account doing nothing? As PPs said, the problem with cancelling it is that the scammers know that the account is live as they get notified.

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 13/12/2022 12:26

Yes I believe it just sits there open as a request

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NotSorry · 15/12/2022 12:42

Received today - thanks @Hungrycaterpillarsmummy I’d have panicked if not for this thread

Very good PayPal scam. Please read so you don't get caught out. I almost gave away £750...
Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 17/12/2022 01:22

I'm glad it has helped

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Eselch · 17/12/2022 09:12

I cancelled one this morning too. Scum
bags!

Very good PayPal scam. Please read so you don't get caught out. I almost gave away £750...
userxx · 17/12/2022 09:15

Eselch · 17/12/2022 09:12

I cancelled one this morning too. Scum
bags!

So can you cancel the payment yourself ?

TwoRockSalmonAndAHaporthOfChips · 17/12/2022 09:31

userxx · 17/12/2022 09:15

So can you cancel the payment yourself ?

There is no payment unless you agree and take the steps to send the money, but yes, you can cancel the request.

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 17/12/2022 09:36

userxx · 17/12/2022 09:15

So can you cancel the payment yourself ?

You cancel the request. Yes :)

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Pixiedust1234 · 17/12/2022 10:36

Thank you for posting this. I'm usually good at spotting scams but don't use PayPal much anymore so the Note would have caught me out too. I would have assumed it was from PayPal and not the scammers as I feel its a weird function for them to have on a financial page imo. Surely all "notes" regarding a sale would be on the alleged sellers page or via sellers email so it stands to reasoning its from PayPal and not the seller/scammer.

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 18/12/2022 08:36

I think that's why I fell for it! It seems crazy to still allow notes when this is clearly a huge flaw to allow their customers to be scammed.

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