March 13, 2024, 8:08 am | Read time: 3 minutes
Once again, users of the online payment service PayPal are “in the focus of fraud attempts.” The consumer center currently warns about this. You can read about the latest phishing scam and what to do if you receive a suspicious email at TECHBOOK.
PayPal employs various measures to protect its users’ accounts, including the so-called two-factor authentication (2FA). However, fraudsters still find ways to access PayPal users’ data–and thus their money. About a year ago, phishing emails threatened account suspensions. To prevent this, overwhelmed recipients were instructed to log in via a linked button and provide information; TECHBOOK reported. Now, a new scam is circulating, taking advantage of a convenient timing.
Overview
Fraudsters use PayPal’s terms and conditions changes for phishing
Since the beginning of the month, users have also been receiving genuine emails from PayPal. In these, the online payment service explains that it is making changes to its terms and conditions. Information on the individual changes is available through linked keywords in the email, including how users can reject certain changes.
A call to action, just as one knows from phishing emails. Such emails have also been circulating for several days, triggering the phishing radar of the consumer center.
Also interesting: Can you distinguish legitimate emails from phishing?
Amazon Customers Warned of Account Suspension! Beware of Phishing Scam
3 Quick Tips to Spot Phishing Emails at a Glance
This is what the current scam looks like
“Unlock your PayPal account according to new terms and conditions,” reads the subject line of the current phishing emails. The fraudsters use a “familiar” topic that the recipient has recently dealt with or at least heard about in passing.
The consumer center has also depicted the further content of the fake mail. It points out the “necessity of revising the terms of use.” Users are therefore required to immediately, within the next few minutes, check and update their personal data “to ensure the quality of the service.” The organization strongly advises against clicking the attached, linked button. Instead, the phishing email should be moved to the spam folder without a response.
How to recognize the current phishing emails
Upon closer inspection, phishing emails can be identified by various peculiarities. They often call for a quick response–so that users act rashly in supposed haste and overlook suspicious clues.
The current phishing emails to PayPal users are quite well done. Also, because they are not riddled with spelling and grammar errors. Such errors are generally a reliable sign that the emails were written in another language and translated into German using an online service, according to the consumer center. One should be even more skeptical if the text appears in a foreign language, and a missing salutation is also a clear indication of a fraud attempt. In the current case, the sender’s address “clearly identifies the email as phishing.”
Pro Tips
TECHBOOK has collected more tips for recognizing phishing, including a proven trick with dark mode. When copied into this mode, phishing emails can be easily identified: by white edges that reveal fake logos and signatures, due to their non-authentic formatting.