A new scam going around the internet, originating from “security@paypalfraudcheck.com”, tells Paypal users that their account has been limited, and to remove the limit, they must scan and email a copy of their passport or driver’s license, a copy of their Paypal credit or debit card, and a copy of a recent utility bill.
The email, with the subject “Notification of Limited Account Access”, surfaced yesterday, and has been hitting Paypal users hard.
We would hope that the obviousness of this scam would keep people from sending in their passport or driver’s license, but Paypal is used by so many people around the world now that the scammers are bound to snag at least a few people, and what a haul they will have made with a readymade ID package of passport and credit card!
A tip of the hat goes to MemberGate CEO Tim Kerber for sharing this with us.
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I also received this email. I was suspicious at first, so I went to PayPal’s official site to see what was going on, and sure enough, my account was limited. I submitted the info they needed, and now I get a new email asking me why someone from Iran tried to access my account.
Apparently not everything paypal demands is illegal: they refuse to allow me to buy any more on eBay unless I allow them access to my bank account, which I refuse to do. It should be illegal, but they simply don’t care. I miss eBay quite a lot, but an organization with paypal’s record of being hacked they should not have this information. I would dearly love to join some kind of legal action, but given the variety & inchoherence of the various things they pull on both buyers and sellers I don’t see how that could happen.
Yes, I do receive the same email 2 weeks ago and I nearly believe in him and send the details. Luckily I double check on the email contents and that’s able to help me to find out it’s a fake one.
I wrote a blog post that show how to identify it’s a fake one, I thought I can share with you and your readers here.
Thanks,
Steven Wong
http://StevenWongBlog.com
Ha, I got an email recently from the paypalfraudcheck.com and paypail.com (whois info is protected on this one), do a WHOIS lookup on the domain name and you will find Ryan Gunness of Ontario is the owner of the domain, whether or not thats a real person or if he knows or has perpetrated this fraud is what the authorities should find out.