Cybercriminals want to steal your money. In order to achieve their goal, they try to steal your PayPal data using a phishing scam. This is how you recognize the fraud.
- Fraudsters use phishing to gain access to your PayPal account.
- The pretext is a data update due to an account suspension.
- Don’t click on the link, otherwise financial damage will follow.
If you have received an email from PayPal stating that your account has been temporarily restricted, you should not immediately believe the content. This is a phishing scam that cybercriminals use to take over your account.
According to the sender, the blocking occurred due to suspicious activity at a bank connected to your PayPal account. Apparently you were asked to take action in a previous message and did not follow the request. Because of this, it is no longer possible to send or withdraw money. However, it is very easy to reverse these restrictions.
The scammers point to a link that says “Check Now” and state that you only need to complete “the required tasks.” Once this has happened, your account will supposedly be checked within five days and you will receive a response. However, the truth is different.
As the consumer advice center reports, the fraudsters hope that you will provide all the necessary data on the linked phishing page so that they can gain access to your account and thus your money. If you want to prevent this, don’t reply to the email and move it to the spam folder.
Simple signs: How to recognize every phishing email
A first indication that you have received a phishing email: The email will ask you to confirm personal information or enter it on a website. This Under no circumstances should you comply with the demand. In addition, criminals often use the official logos of the companies they are copying in their emails, but not official sender addresses.
If the sender seems suspicious to you, you should read the email twice. You will often find spelling errors or inconsistencies in German grammar. The attackers usually do not write their own emails, but instead use automatically generated messages or translate known emails with a translation program. But why actually go to all this effort?
What do criminals achieve with phishing attacks?
Phishing is used on the Internet to collect real user data. These can be used to make money when email addresses, names and other information are sold for advertising purposes or passed on in criminal forums. With the data obtained, cyber criminals can also target future phishing attacks more specifically, making their attacks more effective.
Have you received a suspicious email?
Forward it to [email protected]
or follow us on:
Phishing checklist
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Spelling mistake? - ✔
Sensitive data requested? - ✔
Official logos? - ✔
Unknown sender?
Attachments and links contained in malicious emails often introduce malware or viruses to your computer. In addition, you should not simply ignore suspicious emails. Forward it to the email address above and help us report future phishing attacks.
More fraud warnings on netzwelt – stay one step ahead of cybercriminals
But phishing emails are not the only danger lurking on the Internet. In addition to attempted fraud, there are all sorts of viruses, Trojans and malware that can infect your computer. Unfortunately, data scandals are also part of everyday digital life. You can see the five most recent articles on the topic of “fraud warnings” below:
If you want to stay informed about the latest fraud reports, subscribe to netzwelt on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can also find all articles on the topic on the next page.
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