6
nitnip
1y

Be careful with scams. The last scam-looking thing I've seen pop up a lot is a mail from Paypal saying my account has been terminated due to a breaking a rule that encompasses a lot of different things (from scams to illegal activity).

I don't even use Paypal all that much so I knew this had to be a mistake. I just have a CardA that sometimes gives me trouble when paying online because the bank is kind of shit, but doesn't give me trouble when paying with it through Paypal.

Naturally, I'm curious about this. However all the details are in some mystery PDF attached.
At this point I just opened the PDF out of morbid curiosity in another machine. The mystery PDF contained a link to an external site where I could "view what was wrong". Naturally, I just deleted the file.

What tipped me off originally was the domain name. the mail didn't come from paypal.com, but paypal-live.com.

Comments
  • 3
    with a not matching domain, I wouldn't even touch d pdf or any attachment for that matter, nor shall I click a link ( which even if all looks good I try first to inspect and see what's hiding under its fancy name... and even then I rarely click 'em ).

    If they invite me to go to their platform to do something even if all looks legit I will open a new tab login normally and navigate to whatever they want me to check/do

    trust no mail!
  • 2
    > "Be careful with scams."

    My daughter is selling a bunch of her old cloths on Facebook Marketplace and someone replied asking if they could pay via Paypal.

    It was someone with an account since 2019 and with what it seemed, an active user (friends, pics, posts, etc).

    My knee-jerk response was it's a scam (the person was only 20 or so miles away, why not meet at a safe place?). They didn't try to haggle and offered to pay shipping.

    I suppose it would have been safe if I initiated the Paypal transaction?
  • 1
    @PaperTrail PayPal has return policies in some cases, but not using it for years, also u did say sell, so u r the receiving part right, just get the money... but then again u r sharing ur email with a stranger... it's a delicate situation indeed. act w/ care
  • 0
    @PaperTrail I mean, that also sounds like just someone who doesn't like meeting in person.
  • 1
    @nitnip > "sounds like just someone who doesn't like meeting in person"

    Very possible.

    My brother-in-law found a too-good-to-be-true price on a truck for sale on craigslist. He inquired, they responded requested payment using Paypal, only wanting his Paypal email address (they would initiate the $$ request).

    Suspicious, he asked me and threw in my red flag ($30K truck for $10K and wanting to use Paypal..hmmm...no)

    Turned out to be a scam (same ad was on craiglist ads across the country), but I didn't quite understand how the scam worked. I assume they would send him a bogus link?
  • 1
    @PaperTrail Perhaps they were compiling a list of emails that have a minimum amount of money in paypal. That way they can bruteforce accounts that have ...well, a minimum of 10k if they get lucky .
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