Did you get a strange call from PayPal? Then you are not alone. We’ll tell you what’s behind it.
A PayPal call causes horror. (Source: Krakenimages.com / depositphotos.com)
- A shocking call unsettles PayPal’s customers.
- Apparently several hundred euros were transferred from your account to Coin Base LLC.
- However, there is a simple solution to the problem.
The scenario may sound familiar to you: a private or suppressed number appears on your display. Without thinking anything bad, you answer your cell phone and an automatic voice answers on the other end of the line with the words “Hello, this is PayPal. You have just sent 700 euros to Coin Base LLC. To cancel this process, press the 1.” Recently, calls of this type have been reaching more and more PayPal customers. So you are not alone.
This is a spam call
This call is a blatant scam. Cyber criminals want to put you under pressure with the shocking announcement and want you to act without thinking.
If you press 1, you will be connected to a call center provider, according to the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office. This forcefully demands the disclosure of your sensitive data. In some cases it will ask you to download a file.
What should you do when you call?
You can be sure that PayPal will not call you. There are definitely scammers behind this. As soon as you hear the female computer voice, you should hang up immediately. Even if you don’t have a PayPal account, you shouldn’t get involved in the scam. So don’t tap on your phone’s keypad.
Under no circumstances should you respond to the call center employee’s requests. If you reveal personal information such as address, account details or pictures of your ID card, in the worst case scenario, identity theft can occur.
No matter what excuse the criminals have, you should never download a third-party file. This is how malware is spread that infects your device and steals sensitive data from you. It is also possible to take over your PayPal or bank account.
To be on the safe side, whether everything is really OK with your PayPal account, you should log in and check for yourself. If there was an unauthorized transfer, it would be displayed here.
Unfortunately, since it is not possible to block the number, the best protective measure is to hang up.
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