PayPal ‘Payment Reversal’ Phishing Scam

According to the subject line of this email, which purports to be from PayPal, the company is investigating a payment reversal involving Apple. The text of the email claims that you account has been limited “due to login from unknown device” and you must therefore click a “Login Now” button to to resolve the issue.

However, the email is not from PayPal. It is a phishing scam designed to trick you into divulging personal and financial information to Internet criminals. If you click the “Login” button you will be taken to a fake website that is designed to emulate the genuine PayPal website. After you provide your PayPal login details on the fake site, you will then be asked to prove your identity by providing your name, address, credit card information, and other personal information. After supplying this information, you may see a message stating that the issue has now been resolved.

Meanwhile, however, the scammers can collect the information you provided and hijack your PayPal account. They can use the account and your credit card to commit fraudulent transactions in your name. They may also try to steal your identity.

Phishing scams like this one are very common and PayPal customers are almost constantly targeted. If you receive an email like this one, do not click any links or open any attachments that it contains.

The PayPal website has information about phishing and how to report scam emails.

Subject: We’re investigating a apple payment reversal (Case ID -003-498-237-832)