March 31, 2020

A Legitimate Admin PayPal Email. Or is it?

Brian Online Scams PayPal, Scam 6 Comments

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Welcome back folks! I want to share with you a legitimate Admin PayPal Email! I mean, it says it is from the Admin him/herself so it must absolutely be legitimate, right? I mean sure, I’ve shown other emails from PayPal that turned out to be scams in the past, but this one actually seems real!

I really don’t see any spelling mistakes in the email I’m getting ready to show you so I think the what they are saying is true. If I click on the link, I’ll certainly be able to keep my account from being closed because I don’t want it to be closed at a time like this especially when it is getting a little harder to access and send money.

In all seriousness, the email I’m going to reveal is definitely another scam, but this one might scare more people into believing that it is real just because the name of who it’s sent by says Admin PayPal. I’m going to reveal just exactly how this email is a scam email and the little tidbits that give it away as this email not truly being from PayPal and then folks I will reveal a TRUE email from PayPal so that you can actually see the differences between the two. Without further ado, let’s take a look at this fake email.

The Content of the Email

Here is what this fake email actually says: “We don’t want to say goodbye. We see that you haven’t used your PayPal lately, because your security is a top priority, we plan to close

account created using defiant6_**@yahoo.com. The account will be closed in 30 days, unless you act immediately.

To maintain your account, just log in before 22 April 2020.“

First off, the sentence around the beginning of the email says that I haven’t used PayPal lately. That is completely false as I’ve used it the last 3 weeks and even if I didn’t, they wouldn’t close it just like that. There was a time I didn’t even use my PayPal account for a year and they still kept it open and never threatened to close it for non-use, so them saying they’re going to close my account, let’s me know that this is a false email.

One thing I’ve noticed lately with the newest scam emails that I’ve been receiving is that there have been less and less spelling errors. There are still a few grammatical issues, but they are getting harder to spot. What is really concerning to me is that the frequency that I’ve been receiving these types of emails, have greatly increased. Because of what we’re going through with the virus, I’m really concerned because people may be getting desperate during these challenging times and might be alarmed by these types of emails and sadly, could end up becoming victims of them. I’m hoping that by reading these articles I post, people can avoid becoming victims.

The Biggest Red Flag of a Fradulant Email

If you’re ever in doubt as to the authenticity of an email, the first thing you should check is the email address of where it came from. I know that I say that a lot, but this will be your biggest tip off. In this case, the email address is as follows: notifications-limited-serviceyhxs51ek18@aninditharahma.id. Does that look anything like a legitimate email address from PayPal?

Definitely not! There’s nothing that even mentions PayPal in that email address. This will always be your biggest red flag as to the legitimacy of an email from a large company such as PayPal. When all else fails from checking to see if the email message is real or not, just look at the email address.

In fact, this should honestly be the first thing you check. I will show you an actual legitimate email from PayPal and the email address they use to show that it’s really them so just keep on reading.

 

Whenever you get something that’s supposedly from Apple, PayPal, Netflix, Amazon, and Facebook, just to name a few, you can usually tell it’s from them because they will have the name of their respective company in the actual email address. In the case of the email that I’ve received, PayPal is definitely not in it so anything else that’s actually said in the body of the email is irrelevant because the entire email itself is fraudulent.

What Can Happen If You Click One of the Links

Clicking on one of the links in a phishing email can be very bad. First of all, the website that comes up might be made to look like it’s PayPal, but it’s really not. If you input your actual login credentials from your real PayPal account, the scammers will now have access to that information and sadly can get into your account at any time and withdraw money from it and have a potential back door to your bank account.

That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to details in these types of emails. There’s also the potential for your computer to be infected with malware, viruses or your computer to be hijacked in what’s called ransomware, where scammers or hackers completely lock access to your computer and the only way to get it unlocked is to send them money or cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin and even then you may still not be able to get access to your computer.

I nearly fell for one of these kinds of scam emails before, years ago and started typing in my login information for one of the credit card companies I had a card with and then mid-type, I noticed something odd about the website and I stopped and closed the web browser immediately. Had I gone all the way, they more than likely would’ve had access to my credit card account info online and could’ve started using the credit I had on the card at the time.

If you’ve clicked on a link and a fraudulent email and provided login information on a fake website, you’ll need to contact the actual company immediately, but don’t call the number on the phishing site as it’s more than likely a fake number that will get you in contact with scammers.

You can actually look up the company on Google and or type in PayPal customer service and it should give you some options for contacting them or any other company to let them know you may have become victim of a scam. Usually they will immediately freeze your account so that the scammers can’t do any damage or at least do anymore damage from getting access to your account. Now let’s take a look a true email from PayPal.

A REAL PayPal Email

I’m going to post the body of an actual email from PayPal itself including the header:

“A Message from PayPal’s President and CEO, Dan Schulman”

“This is an unprecedented time in our history. The COVID-19 pandemic is having an impact on the health of our loved ones, the businesses we rely upon, the health of the global economy, and the way we live our daily lives. As we all continue to navigate through these unique and evolving challenges, we want you to know that PayPal is here for you.

Coming together as a Community

In our more than 20 years of business, we’ve weathered with you the storms of the dot com bust, 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis and the recession that followed, major weather events and wild fires that have touched all parts of the world, and government shutdowns — and throughout this shared journey we have worked to support and sustain our employees, our customers and our partners. As we address a pandemic that will no doubt become a chapter in the history books, our commitment to you will not waver.

Many businesses today are stepping up to help, because no one business can do it alone. We’re calling on companies across the financial ecosystem, to come together to help the most vulnerable during this crisis. We all need to support our employees and look for ways to help our customers navigate these waters. In the last few months, we’ve seen generosity and kindness, intergenerational support and solidarity, and remarkable fortitude. It is during times like these that courage and generosity and resilience make a difference.

We are here to help our customers

If you are a PayPal customer and are unsure of how you will pay your PayPal Credit bill this month, or need assistance on how best to send money safely and affordably to friends and family, we want to help. You can find immediate answers to your questions on the PayPal Help Center, or by clicking “Help” located on any PayPal page or email.

We stand ready to help you with safe, secure and affordable digital payment services as you navigate these uncertain financial times:

Person-to-person (P2P) payments are a quick, safe and easy way to send and receive money with PayPal and Venmo.

Xoom allows you to send money quickly, securely and safely to support your loved ones who live in other countries.

With PayPal you can donate online or on your phone to the charities helping fight the cause.

Look for Purchase Protection and Return Shipping on Us where available when buying and paying online. PayPal will never ask you for any of your personal information on an approved merchants’ site.

If you are looking for other local product offerings that can help you, please go to your local PayPal or Xoom site, or PayPal, Xoom and Venmo apps, to learn more.

Supporting the small business community, the backbone of our economy

Digital payments have become a lifeline for businesses of every size as more and more businesses and their customers adopt new mobile and in-store technology. As businesses venture into new ways of selling, they are finding that digital payments are proving to be a trusted way to accept payments safely and securely. We are continuously exploring ways to help our small business merchants navigate these times with adjustments to existing products based on business conditions and customer needs. During this period of uncertainty, PayPal is able to provide access to 305 million active customer accounts around the world and ensure that you can transact safely and confidently, and with the highest conversion rates in the payments industry. We have been with you at every step along the way to provide the reliability, security and service you need, and we will stay at your side now.

If you are a PayPal or iZettle business and are feeling unusual pressure on your cash flow, our PayPal business financing solutions or iZettle Advance may be able to help. We have customer service experts that can help guide you, give recommendations and share advice. Go to the PayPal or iZettle website to learn more.

I hope all of you will join PayPal in supporting the community of merchants who are selling online, or are working hard to adjust their business models to support you.

Taking care of our employees, who serve you every day

Supporting our PayPal employees during this crisis period is critical to providing you with the services you need and expect. We have taken action as COVID-19 has spread, to protect the physical well-being and financial security of our employees so that they are in a position to care for their health while also supporting our customers. Many employees are now working remotely, and we will also be transitioning several of our customer service centers to this remote working structure. As these employees make the transition, we might see an impact on wait times for our phone or email service. During this time, you can find immediate answers to your questions on the PayPal Help Center. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this together. The commitments we have made to support and care for our employees will ensure that we are ready and equipped to also support our customers during these uncertain times.

How else can we help?

We know consumers and businesses of all sizes are under stress and that some of you are facing significant hardship. We are working to find new ways to meet your needs and will draw on our technology and resources to make a difference for you. Please visit the PayPal Newsroom Hub to find helpful resources to help you navigate our products and tools during this unprecedented time.

Thank you for being a PayPal customer – and for the trust you place in us every day.

Dan”

Notice the content of the email. It’s not saying you’re going to lose access to your account, that there is suspicious activity, or that they want you to login so that your account can supposedly be stopped from being shutdown. No, this email is telling you about the ongoing crises affecting us and the steps that PayPal is taking as well as helpful ideas and other content should you need it.

Any links that are posted in this email are towards frequently asked questions or other helpful resources, not a link to the login page. Here is the email address that this email came from: paypal@mail.paypal.com. You see how the email address is much shorter and that it actually has the name of the company as part of the email address? The email address from the fraudlent email I showed above looks absolutely nothing like this and as I said before, this will be your biggest indicator of whether the email is a phishing email or one from the actual company.

Now that you know what a real email from PayPal looks like vs one from that’s not from them, my hope is that it will be easier for you to spot these type of fraudulent emails that are going around these days. I don’t want anyone to become a victim of them especially in the tough times we are facing now. Feel free to comment below and please be safe!