Consumer advice center warns
New wave of phishing targets PayPal users
01/13/2025 – 4:52 p.mReading time: 1 Min.
The consumer advice center is currently warning of a phishing email that is intended to lure PayPal users into a trap. Here’s how to spot the fraudulent message.
The consumer advice center is warning of a new phishing campaign that is specifically aimed at customers of the PayPal payment service. The scammers send emails with the subject “You need to confirm your details” and claim to have detected unusual activity on the recipients’ accounts.
The messages have PayPal logos on them. The scammers ask recipients to follow a link and log in to supposedly prevent unauthorized access to their account.
Experts from the consumer advice center have identified several features that clearly expose the emails as attempted fraud. What is particularly noticeable is the impersonal and incorrect salutation “Hello, dear Paypal customer!”. The text also contains numerous spelling errors such as “access” or “restriction” as well as grammatically incorrect wording such as “For your safety”.
Consumer advocates strongly advise against clicking on links in such emails or entering personal information. Instead, users should move suspicious messages to the spam folder if left unanswered. If you are unsure, you should only log into your account via the official PayPal app or website and check your account activity there.
If you do become a victim of fraud, you must act quickly and urgently change your password – and if possible, your log-in name too. If you no longer have access to the respective service, contact the relevant company and ask your bank to block your account.