I wanted to warn the community about the rash of fake paypal phishing schemes. I recently got a new cellphone (much overdue) and once a day I receive a "warning" from "paypal" that my account has been locked due to suspicious activity. Of course if I click on the link and enter my financial information my account will be "unfrozen".
I have not had a paypal account in almost 20 years. I did exactly one transaction on paypal and was ripped off 100%. I paid the "vendor' around $1700 and he strung me along for 30 days until I couldn't report him. Meanwhile he reported me as "no pay" and of course I never received my order. So AFAIC paypal is a scam itself.
The scam has all the usual hallmarks: no "paypal" in any addresses, different address every day, the usual terrible spelling and nonexistent grammar, and the claim that someone has hijacked my account and is ruining my good name.
Maybe this one isn't new but it's new to me. I've received the "IRS" threat call (you will be arrested in a half an hour by a policeman with a thick Indian accent) hundreds or thousands of times. I'm terribly suspicious in general of anything and everything on the web.
I have not had a paypal account in almost 20 years. I did exactly one transaction on paypal and was ripped off 100%. I paid the "vendor' around $1700 and he strung me along for 30 days until I couldn't report him. Meanwhile he reported me as "no pay" and of course I never received my order. So AFAIC paypal is a scam itself.
The scam has all the usual hallmarks: no "paypal" in any addresses, different address every day, the usual terrible spelling and nonexistent grammar, and the claim that someone has hijacked my account and is ruining my good name.
Maybe this one isn't new but it's new to me. I've received the "IRS" threat call (you will be arrested in a half an hour by a policeman with a thick Indian accent) hundreds or thousands of times. I'm terribly suspicious in general of anything and everything on the web.
I just got a new phone number less than 2 months ago. Tax season season is coming up so we'll see.
I remember when you knew who you were dealing with. There was accountability and scams were hard to get away with. Now it's the wild west and I don't even really trust my bank to protect my money. And it seems like 95% of correspondences are nothing but the most repulsive forms of scam. I barely trust brick and mortar stores any more. I carry cash for everything and I mean everything. I still use checks to pay my bills.
I remember when you knew who you were dealing with. There was accountability and scams were hard to get away with. Now it's the wild west and I don't even really trust my bank to protect my money. And it seems like 95% of correspondences are nothing but the most repulsive forms of scam. I barely trust brick and mortar stores any more. I carry cash for everything and I mean everything. I still use checks to pay my bills.
There is an uptick of wire frauds lately. Targeted phishing is the most dangerous, because it is not obvious. There are no spelling or grammar errors, and the email has been forged with informations gathered from previous data leaks. It looks relevant to some activity and familiar. As example, it uses the same template of a bank/utility/courier and contains some personalized informations. Another targeted phishing is done via text messages to sidestep multi factor authentication. Enabling multi factor authentication (MFA) on paypal is very important. I was saved by MFA last year, when someone bruteforced my paypal account password because it was only 8 characters long.
I'll never use paypal again. I've gotten a couple things off Amazon through my neighbor's account. The big truck stops at her house multiple times a day. No way am I going to sign up for Amazon.
Wow. Sorry to hear about your experiences, Eddie!
I honestly can't remember when I last wrote a cheque or even had a bloody chequebook!
I've also had no issues with Paypal or any other financial institution. Part of that is down to the Canadian banks not being nearly as "fly by night" as "Jim's Bank" at the corner of Ghetto and Gang in Bumblesuck, Idaho. Besides, we have CDIC (similar to your FDIC) and I don't have anywhere near 50,000 in the bank so my entire balance is insured.
I used to use cash for everything - but then I found a good no-fee bank account so now I use debit instead. Even when I want to buy something considered contraband, I e-mail transfer the money now - going to an ATM is an annoying bunch of crap. The last time I needed to grab cash, it was 12:30 in the morning and the banks in Downtown Toronto have issues with homeless people sleeping in the bank vestibule where the machines are so they just lock it up - no easy ATM access at night 🙁
Paypal has buyer protection for 6 months... My only gripe with them is the outrageous fees! - I now pay for my one of my TV services with Etherium as it saves me almost 7 dollars a month 🙂
I have been the victim of credit card fraud one time - a quick call to CIBC sorted that within 5 minutes.
LOL as I typed that message I got a scam e-mail... But it's obviously not real - The sender's address doesn't make any sense for it to have come from Microsoft...
I honestly can't remember when I last wrote a cheque or even had a bloody chequebook!
I've also had no issues with Paypal or any other financial institution. Part of that is down to the Canadian banks not being nearly as "fly by night" as "Jim's Bank" at the corner of Ghetto and Gang in Bumblesuck, Idaho. Besides, we have CDIC (similar to your FDIC) and I don't have anywhere near 50,000 in the bank so my entire balance is insured.
I used to use cash for everything - but then I found a good no-fee bank account so now I use debit instead. Even when I want to buy something considered contraband, I e-mail transfer the money now - going to an ATM is an annoying bunch of crap. The last time I needed to grab cash, it was 12:30 in the morning and the banks in Downtown Toronto have issues with homeless people sleeping in the bank vestibule where the machines are so they just lock it up - no easy ATM access at night 🙁
Paypal has buyer protection for 6 months... My only gripe with them is the outrageous fees! - I now pay for my one of my TV services with Etherium as it saves me almost 7 dollars a month 🙂
I have been the victim of credit card fraud one time - a quick call to CIBC sorted that within 5 minutes.
LOL as I typed that message I got a scam e-mail... But it's obviously not real - The sender's address doesn't make any sense for it to have come from Microsoft...
Sure, I get multiple phishing scam emails a day. Luckily most are directed to my Spam folder by my provider before I even see them. Only a few per week make it through to my regular inbox. When I check my spam folder every couple of weeks to see if there are any legit emails there I scroll through tens of such attempts to separate me from my money. There is a sucker born every day (at least) and people have been trying to scam others through any and every means necessary for all of time. They should teach some practical risk avoidance in school along with money management. I could have used these sort of skills - here are a couple of anecdotes about that:
In the old days scams were often perpetrated in person. When I was about 17 or 18 I was approached by a man outside my bank. He said his car had broken down on the turnpike and he didn't have enough cash to pay for the repair at the shop where it was towed but could he please write me a check and then give me the cash so he could be on his way. I was a naive and kind sort of kid, so I wanted to help this poor guy out. By the time I got home I started doubting the whole thing - the guy seemed a bit disheveled and had some bad looking teeth. So I told my dad and he immediately knew something was up. Sure enough the guy's check bounced - there was no money in the account. Later we found out he was wanted for fraud in a couple of states for pulling these sorts of schemes. I lost the couple of hundred dollars he got from me, and also had to pay my own bank a refused check fee or something like that. Ever since then, any time I am approach by someone anywhere who asks for a handout or money I basically tell them F-off. My good deed credit in this area has been used up for life I am afraid. One related example that I can remember was when I was approached in the parking lot of a grocery store by a woman who said she was hungry and wanted some money from me to buy some food. I said "no" and kept walking to my car to unload the groceries that I had just purchased. It was a hot day and as I unloaded stuff I thought "well even if I don't give her money I could at least give her something to eat". About the only ready-to-eat food I had was a bag of apples, so I picked it up and returned to the lady who was now over a row or two looking for the next person to approach. I said "here, have some apples" and she gave me this look of disgust and said "no thanks". Hmmm I thought that is odd that someone who is so hungry would refuse some nice fresh juicy apples. A few days later I read an article in the paper that there was a group of people who would come down the highway and try to get money from people using this sort of scam, and that the police had to be involved because of harassment of some customers. They were just drifters coming through and stopping in the nice part of town to try to scam the rich people.
Oh, these days it seems that about every 9 months a bunch of scam transactions pop up on my bank account via my debit card. Luckily my bank is very good at notifying me about these transactions. They usually try a $1 charge first, then a $10-$20 charge for a prepaid credit of some form, and this kind of thing will quickly escalate to a purchase of a TV or electronics worth hundreds of dollars at an online retailer, with a shipping address somewhere far away from where I live. My bank texts me an alert to verify any oddball charges, and I have to respond. As soon as fraud is discovered the bank deactivates my card. This is a pain because I use it to pay utilities and so on and I have to get a new card with a completely different card number and PIN and then take the time to change all the info at each company. But I am always rewarded by getting the lost money back, since I promptly reply to any such notifications.
This is unfortunately just a part of human behavior. They will try to scam you any way possible. For this reason I never answer my phone unless the number identifies as one of my contacts. Whether it's by phone, email, snail mail, land or sea, keep up your guard and don't be a victim.
In the old days scams were often perpetrated in person. When I was about 17 or 18 I was approached by a man outside my bank. He said his car had broken down on the turnpike and he didn't have enough cash to pay for the repair at the shop where it was towed but could he please write me a check and then give me the cash so he could be on his way. I was a naive and kind sort of kid, so I wanted to help this poor guy out. By the time I got home I started doubting the whole thing - the guy seemed a bit disheveled and had some bad looking teeth. So I told my dad and he immediately knew something was up. Sure enough the guy's check bounced - there was no money in the account. Later we found out he was wanted for fraud in a couple of states for pulling these sorts of schemes. I lost the couple of hundred dollars he got from me, and also had to pay my own bank a refused check fee or something like that. Ever since then, any time I am approach by someone anywhere who asks for a handout or money I basically tell them F-off. My good deed credit in this area has been used up for life I am afraid. One related example that I can remember was when I was approached in the parking lot of a grocery store by a woman who said she was hungry and wanted some money from me to buy some food. I said "no" and kept walking to my car to unload the groceries that I had just purchased. It was a hot day and as I unloaded stuff I thought "well even if I don't give her money I could at least give her something to eat". About the only ready-to-eat food I had was a bag of apples, so I picked it up and returned to the lady who was now over a row or two looking for the next person to approach. I said "here, have some apples" and she gave me this look of disgust and said "no thanks". Hmmm I thought that is odd that someone who is so hungry would refuse some nice fresh juicy apples. A few days later I read an article in the paper that there was a group of people who would come down the highway and try to get money from people using this sort of scam, and that the police had to be involved because of harassment of some customers. They were just drifters coming through and stopping in the nice part of town to try to scam the rich people.
Oh, these days it seems that about every 9 months a bunch of scam transactions pop up on my bank account via my debit card. Luckily my bank is very good at notifying me about these transactions. They usually try a $1 charge first, then a $10-$20 charge for a prepaid credit of some form, and this kind of thing will quickly escalate to a purchase of a TV or electronics worth hundreds of dollars at an online retailer, with a shipping address somewhere far away from where I live. My bank texts me an alert to verify any oddball charges, and I have to respond. As soon as fraud is discovered the bank deactivates my card. This is a pain because I use it to pay utilities and so on and I have to get a new card with a completely different card number and PIN and then take the time to change all the info at each company. But I am always rewarded by getting the lost money back, since I promptly reply to any such notifications.
This is unfortunately just a part of human behavior. They will try to scam you any way possible. For this reason I never answer my phone unless the number identifies as one of my contacts. Whether it's by phone, email, snail mail, land or sea, keep up your guard and don't be a victim.
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Still find it hilarious that the US is still using checks, but if it works for you then fine 🙂
The US still has very insecure banking compared to the European systems that I know about. Maybe that is why there is so much fraud attempted on US accounts?
So you still use Paypal and Amazon, but you managed to transfer the risk to your neighbour. Smart move.
Jan
Never answer your phone unless you absolutely know who is calling, even if it rings several times a day.
If a legitimate caller leaves a message, you can always call them back. If you answer a scam call,
there will be many more unwanted calls because they now know it is a working number.
If a legitimate caller leaves a message, you can always call them back. If you answer a scam call,
there will be many more unwanted calls because they now know it is a working number.
Or if you have a pixel 6 or 7, you can just have the Assistant screen the call for you...
https://www.androidpolice.com/how-to-use-google-pixel-phone-call-screen/
https://www.androidpolice.com/how-to-use-google-pixel-phone-call-screen/
Yeah, I got my identity stolen and they borrowed about $40,000 in my name. That was 20 years ago and I'm still dealing with it. Real bottom feeders are harassing me now (Midland etc) and I just keep giving them the high and hard one. It's called zombie debt and they have devious schemes to re-age debt (statue of limitations is 7 years on unsecured debt) and it becomes a game of whack-a-mole until the day you die.
All my debt was discharged with prejudice, even though I was the victim of fraud. The courts just can't see their way to discharge debt completely no matter the circumstances. I had better luck with some of it by talking to the bank; they dismissed it without prejudice with a simple affidavit.
All my debt was discharged with prejudice, even though I was the victim of fraud. The courts just can't see their way to discharge debt completely no matter the circumstances. I had better luck with some of it by talking to the bank; they dismissed it without prejudice with a simple affidavit.
I feel like if that happened to me, I would have had to declare bankruptcy...
What a crap thing to happen!
What a crap thing to happen!
Sure, the scammers get phone numbers with all different area codes so that they can reach out to you with a number that is coming from whatever area code you own phone number happens to have. Like others have said, just send all unknown callers to voicemail and if it is someone legit they can leave you a voicemail.
We have the same IRS scams in Canada. They're just CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) scams. Same deal. "Press 1 to speak with an OFFICER or you will be ARRESTED". How kind of them to phone ahead before they come out to arrest me. 🙂
"We have tried to deliver a package to you. There are customs fees due. If you don't respond immediately the package will be returned." Click on this random IP address to pay the fees... Um. Yeah. No.
Or a recent favourite of mine: "You are using our intellectual property on your website. Cease to use our IP within a week or we will take you to court. Please provide your registered business address so we can serve you." Um. Yeah... If you were a half decent lawyer you'd already have my registered business address.
I've never had issues with PayPal. Their fees are a bit high but actually not outrageous compared to what everybody else changes to take a credit card payment.
Tom
I fought it all the way. I was unemployed at the time and just kept showing up to court. Plaintiff had nothing but sleazy lawyers so it just goes around and around.