Scam Alert: Fake PayPal Verification Email

waffles

January 27, 2014

An email claiming to be from PayPal is in circulation this week which urging readers to “re-confirm” their accounts. The email is bogus.

Although the email claims to be from Paypal, the actual return address in the sample we spotted was [email protected], which is obviously not an official PayPal account.

Let’s take a look at the contents of the bogus email below.

===================================
We need your help
===================================

Dear PayPal Customer,
On January 26, 2014, We recently have determined that different computers have logged in your PayPal account.

And multiple password failures were present before the logo’s. We now need you to re-confirm your account information to us.

If this is not completed by 30, 01, 2014, we will be forced to suspend your account indefinitely.

Case ID Number PP-001-772-291

To restore your account,

Please download the attached form to verify your Profile information and restore your account access.

Make sure you enter the information accurately, and according to the formats required.
Fill in all the required fields.

It’s usually pretty easy to take care of things like this. Most of the
time, we just need a little more information about your account or latest
transactions.

To help us with this and to see what you can and can’t do with your account
until the issue is resolved, log in to your account and go to the
Resolution Center.
Yours sincerely,
PayPal

Unlike some phishing emails claiming to be from Paypal and urge readers to click a link, this one includes a file which they ask you to download and fill out. We have not yet verified the nature of the attachment, but it is almost certainly malicious. This format has been a favorite delivery method for such malicious attacks as Cryptolocker, which holds computers hostage for hundreds of dollars. In some cases, emails such as this are an attempt to steal your login information and drain your account. Either way, any email resembling the one above should be avoided.

We received this email to an address that is not even associated with a PayPal account, which is indicative of a mass mailing to any addresses the scammers can obtain.

PayPal asks its users to report “anything out of the ordinary” such as phishing attempts like this. They also have additional anti-phishing information here.

Bottom Line

If you receive an email similar to the one above, by all means do not click any links or open any attachments. When in doubt, log directly into PayPal and see if you have any notifications there.

Have you received an email similar to the one above? Let us know if you have any additional information.