Is this a genuine Paypal email?

UOcUK Poopscoop · 2 Apr 2007 at 02:32

Header just says Paypal Inc.

And email says:

"PayPal is constantly working to ensure security by regularly screening the accounts in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information to help us provide you with secure service. Until we can collect this information, your access to sensitive account features will be limited. We would like to restore your access as soon as possible, and we apologize for the inconvenience.

Why is my account access limited?

Your account access has been limited for the following reason(s):

April 1, 2007: We have reason to believe that your account was accessed by a third party. Because protecting the security of your account is our primary concern, we have limited access to sensitive PayPal account features. We understand that this may be an inconvenience but please understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection.

(Your case ID for this re

To remove the limitation click on the following link:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_resolution-center"

Google filed this email in my spam folder and comments that it might not be from who it says it is.
The link takes you to a page saying :

"You have requested an outdated version of PayPal. This error is often the result of using bookmarks. To enter the PayPal website, please click on the Welcome tab.
If you are already logged in, please click on the My Account tab to continue."

I have only used Paypal 2 times and after getting this mail I decided to cancel the account by manually typing in www.paypal.com and deleting my card, then deleting my account entirely.

Question remains though, was the initial email a scam?

Cheers.

dbmzk1 · 2 Apr 2007 at 02:35

It's an April Fools

As long as the address is paypal.com it's not fake. Just make sure the link actually is what it says it is. Quite often its not!

EDIT: I had a similar one recently but the link was clearly fake:

"It has come to our attention that your PayPal® account information needs to be updated as partof ourcontinuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website.If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal recordsyou will not run into any future problems with the online service. However, failure to update yourrecords will result in account suspension.

Once you have updated your account records, your PayPal® session will not be interrupted and willcontinue as normal.

To update your PayPal® records click on the following link:
http://www.paypal.com.user-login.info/cgi-bin/webscrcmd-submi/index.php

Accounts Management As outlined in our User Agreement, PayPal® will periodically send youinformation about site changes and enhancements. "

Vixen · 2 Apr 2007 at 02:36

Almost certainly a phishing scam. Never follow a link from an email. If you log in to your account by typing in the address manually and nothing comes up, then it was just an attempt to get you to log in with your email address and password.

Emails from Paypal will always address you by the full name you've registered with, so anything with "Dear User" should go straight in the bin.

NokkonWud · 2 Apr 2007 at 02:39

It's a scam, I've had 2 now, highlight the link and it's to some random site.

Beansprout · 2 Apr 2007 at 02:40

dbmzk1 said:
Look real to me. Either that or its an April Fools

As long as the address is paypal.com I don't see how it can be fake. Just make sure the link actually is what it says it is.

This is extremely bad advice. You are very wrong - 'tis easy to fake the sender

General rules:

1. Real e-mails always address you by name.
2. Always visit the site in question directly, through your browser, by typing in www.paypal.com or whatever

dbmzk1 · 2 Apr 2007 at 02:42

Beansprout said:
This is extremely bad advice. You are very wrong - 'tis easy to fake the sender

General rules:

1. Real e-mails always address you by name.
2. Always visit the site in question directly, through your browser, by typing in www.paypal.com or whatever

I said the link not the sender.

Still it is probably fake. I forgot that copy/paste would not reveal the true link. Its late

UOcUK Poopscoop · 2 Apr 2007 at 02:45

Cheers people

unwashed potato! · 2 Apr 2007 at 03:24

No offense to the OP but i dont understand how people have to question this, its common knowledge i thought that any email like this is a scam and never wont be, espcially if a huge company like paypal sent you an email and hotmail or whatever thought it was junk.

Another one is if somenoe from nigeria contacts you, or somene that wants to give you millions of pounds? kind of obvious isn't it that someone doens't want to give you 10 million to hold for them.

Dont understand how these things still happen epscially the ghold onto 10 million for me emails. If it was say £100 i'd actually think for a split second if it was real or not.

PhillyDee · 2 Apr 2007 at 10:01

I had one from "paypal" that even asked for my passport and national insurance number. The problem is, some people will actually fall for it and give them all the details that they need.