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Original poster

Paypal scam please read

12 replies

clpsmum · 03/03/2011 21:55

I got an email from paypal last week telling me a payment of £44.99 could not be made. If this was not an authorised transaction please click on link to cancel. This transaction was not authorised so I clicked on link which took me through to paypal. I logged in with my user name and password. I was asked to verify all my details which I did, I was then told the transaction was cancelled and would no longer show on my account. I thought nothing more of this until today. This morning I had a similar email but this time for £199.99 so phoned paypal to query it. They told me this was a con and not from them they advised me to contact my bank and cancel all cards and check all transactions immediately. I did this only to find my bank account has now been emptied. Someone has transferred all my money via western union online. If you receive any emails from paypal remotely like this please contact the fraud dept at your bank and forward the emails to [email protected]

OP posts:
SixtyFootDoll · 03/03/2011 22:02

I had that same email, luckily i realised it was a fake one, but very easy to fall for.

nailak · 03/03/2011 22:03

thank you for the info,

did you get the money back from your bank?

Original poster
clpsmum · 03/03/2011 22:11

Feel so stupid for not realising it was a scam. Fraud team at the bank are looking into it and will get back to me within two weeks to let me know if I will get money back. I will also now be hit with charges galore as no money in account to cover direct debits. Can't believe this has happened. Feel so stupid for falling for it

OP posts:
tyzer2001 · 04/03/2011 07:20

Please, please, please NEVER click on a link in a Paypal email. Always go direct to Paypal in a new window and log in from there.

These scams are so very convincing Sad

IngridBergmann · 04/03/2011 07:28

You poor thing. I hope you get some of it back at least.

If an email arrives unexpectedly, ie you did not try to make a transaction, or you weren't expecting to be sent money, just don't click.

Ring them up instead. You can go to your paypal account via your ebay page or just via a bookmark, so you don't have to click on anything if it seems a bit strange or out of the blue.

Saying that, paypal is really odd and complicated so they sometimes do weird things and that makes people think that odd emails must be ok, which they are usually not. Sad

I know this doesn't help you now but I hope it helps someone else avoid trouble. It was really good of you to post x

MrsWalton · 04/03/2011 18:04

Thanks for the warning.

Stay optimistic the banks and paypal are often very reasonable in these sort of situations. It could happen so easily to anyone.

Your warning may well have saved someone else from the same dilemma.

I hope you get your money back soon.

Pandsbear · 15/03/2011 10:16

I really hope you get your money back soon. But I wanted to thank you for letting people know - i had an email this morning and had I not read this yesterday I could well have clicked through (was in big rush and would have wondered what was up with my paypal account and not checked the way it was addressed etc properly Blush)

DooinMeCleanin · 15/03/2011 10:20

Thanks for the warning. DH got an email from them yesterday, when he asked me about it I remembered reading this thread.

His account is linked to a credit card with a 5k limit so you have potentially saved us a small fortune. Not that makes things any better for you Sad

Hope you have things sorted soon. I'll tell DH to forward his email.

MumsieNonna · 16/03/2011 09:53

clpsmum,
Ask your bank if they will refund the bank charges as a token of goodwill. They might just do it. Tesco refunded some charges to me when I asked them to.

wannaBe · 16/03/2011 09:58

the paypal scam emails are very authentic-looking. It's worth bearing in mind that when paypal send out genuine emails they always advise to go to paypal and log in rather than providing a link to click on iyswim.

Tryharder · 17/03/2011 15:05

I received the same email but realised it was a scam. Genuine paypal emails always say "Dear [Your name] whereas a scam email will say "Dear Paypal client".

Sorry you lost the money and hope you can get it back.

OhCobblers · 19/03/2011 14:28

For those with hotmail a/cs you will have a green tick aginst a legit paypal email (plus have your name it in too which another poster mentioned).

i have had similar "paypal fraud emails" but because it didn't have a green tick next to it i contacted paypal straight away. i've had 2nd and 3rd dodgy paypal emails too and have deleted straight away.

OP hope you get it sorted.

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