Scams » Scam And Its Types » paypal support text scams

paypal support text scams

Understand the Seriousness of it:-

PayPal is one of the trusted digital payment online portal that has around 25 million active account holders in the UK alone. Recently a news that came as a surprise and big shock to British nationals were nothing but PayPal Support Text Scam. Scammers disguising themselves as senior officials of PayPal have sent hundreds of fake mails to PayPal account holders requesting them to change the password immediately. Hundreds of PayPal account holders fearing suspension of account changed their passwords using the link sent by the scammers and lost their money kept safely in PayPal account instantly.

PayPal account holders, especially Britons who transact regularly on this reputed platform should alert the PayPal customer support team and also cyber security forces when they receive following links:

We have recently seen plenty of suspicious activities in your PayPal account. For security reasons, we request you to change the password using the link "https://PayPal.... change password/

Scammers approach the innocent PayPal account holders with an objective to swindle their account information and sensitive data. Britons who hold one or multiple account in PayPal should never hesitate to intimate to concerned authorities when they get suspicious mails, text messages, alerts or MMS. PayPal account holders should understand that the company will never ask your User Id, Password, date of birth or other sensitive details from you. PayPal is a reputed digital payment gateway that never share or ask sensitive data like the ones listed below. If you get any suspicious mails in your inbox or spam folder then you should not delete the message after exploring the content. It is your responsibility to escalate the issue to cyber security force operating from Britain or register your complaint on the official PayPal portal for getting proper solution.

How to protect your data:-

The PayPal has gained worldwide reputation and stands as one of the top-notch digital payment apps till date. It can be downloaded easily from the official website and used instantly. If you are using PayPal mobile app for some time then you should sign-in regularly and check the transaction history. If you find anything abnormal in transaction history then you should take immediate efforts to raise a complaint with PayPal through time-tested methods.

PayPal support team sends promotional mails, text messages, downloadable documents and newsletters periodically. It never shoots mail or text messages requesting you to spare your user credentials. Business professionals and individual account holders who operate PayPal account regularly should take efforts to change their password periodically for security reasons.

Follow the below instructions carefully, if you are new user or regular PayPal account holders:

Block spamming texts and emails
Never reply to spamming emails or texts
Stop communicating with spammers
Never share credit card number, CVV and other sensitive details
Never share PayPal PIN number or password to spammers
Check the legitimacy of the sender and his official website, if he has one.

Don't show leniency or sympathy to scammers:-

Never show leniency against scammers who send voice, text or emails requesting you to spare your passwords and file a complaint immediately with PayPal support or grievance redressal officers. You should also forward the phishing mails to cyber security officers and register a detailed complain on their official websites. The government sponsored cyber security officers have arrested plenty of scammers in the past and recovered the amount from them. If you start reciprocating to phishing mails, the scammers will not only extract PayPal account details but they will play pressure tactics and try to extract your bank account details. The only way to put a full-stop to scamming activities is to bring to attention the scamming activities to PayPal authorities.

Some of the legitimate online crime complaint redressal forums and federal organizations that handle scamming activities are:

The Federal Trade Commission
The Internet Crime Complaint Center
The Federal Bureau of Investigation -online complaint redressal forum
The Phishing Report USA

You can find hotlines of government organizations that handle online frauds and scams when you explore the related websites. You can also send the spamming messages to SPAM 7726. The email id for reporting scamming activities is reportphishing@apwg.org.

How to protect mobile scams and vulnerabilities:-

Scammers operating from third world countries send varieties of fake messages and alerts requesting PayPal users to share their sensitive details through their mobile devices. They will also share images of PayPal official website and request you to update the passwords. The website address and all the details shared by the scammers will look professional and formal. It will be difficult for you to judge the authenticity of the sender at the first instance. But when you patiently scroll through the messages you will find that the text is nothing but scam.

There are time-tested ways to find out scamming activities and listed below are some of them.

The website URL address may contain typographical or spelling errors.
The messages may contain grammatical errors.
The signature and address may contain errors.

The mobile users who have PayPal accounts should follow the below instructions.

Update your mobile software regularly.
Download advanced security software and protect your data from scamming activities.
Back-up your mobile data, folders and files regularly.
Protect your accounts by using strong authentication.

protect-mobile-scams-and-vulnerabilities

Mobile phones are vulnerable to phishing and scamming attacks. You should never open the URL sent by the scammers and explore the contents. The perpetrators will play tricks and steal your password without signs or signals. PayPal account holders should never forward the messages to friends or close-circles since it will only aggravate the problems. They should bring to light such scamming activities only to PayPal authorities and security forces. PayPal account holders will receive scamming messages or links in social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. If you accidentally click the links, they may direct you to illegal websites where you will be promoted update your passwords. Never delete such scamming messages and forward them to the legitimate authorities that handles online scamming activities.