How to Avoid Scams Using PayPal Payments and Stay Safe
Scams using PayPal payments have been cropping up more and more these days. I’m finding people every day asking about emails they’ve received that they know nothing about, especially from a person called Brian Munch. It’s all because scammers have started faking emails and adding dodgy links in an attempt to snatch consumers personal and bank details. Which they then use to swipe money from your accounts and launder it away.
Why are Scammers using PayPal
PayPal itself is a great method of payment for products and services over the internet and is becoming a very popular method of buying and selling over the internet. More companies are setting up their online payment methods as PayPal rather than card payments. I am also beginning to see more Takeaways and delivery services start to utilise this payment method as well.
This is mainly because PayPal also offers a buyer protection policy and a seller protection policy:
These are created to protect us but unfortunately as long as there is a way of paying and receiving money online there will always be people who think it’s acceptable to find ways using these systems to con people out of their money. Scammers will find any possible way to cheat and steal and they are getting more and more imaginative. Below are a few methods I have been looking into to help protect others from these scammers.
Types of Scams using PayPal Payments!
PayPal Payment Scams
With the protection policies in mind, it doesn’t stop the scammers trying to find ways of using these protection policies to their advantage. Some simple scams are paying for items through Paypal having the products sent out and the buyer then claiming to Paypal that they haven’t received the goods. Paypal then refund the money to the buyer and the seller is out of pocket for the money for the product and also no longer has the product. This is not great for the seller and can put people off selling items. Just remember not everyone is dodgy and it’s unfortunate that the people who do scam others, spoil it for the rest.
Personal Experience of the payment scam
It happened to a friend of mine who used to sell quite a lot of stuff over Ebay using Paypal. He sold a set of 3D Goggles that were worth £350 and he made sure he wrapped the unit up so well padded you could have chucked it around and it wouldn’t have been damaged. Yet the buyer claimed that on delivery the unit was smashed. So went through the buyer protection policy and had his money taken out of the Sellers PayPal account and credit back into his. Even though he now had both the goggles and his money back. To this day he still hasn’t sent back the so-called ‘smashed goggles’.
What to Learn How to Make Money rather than Losing Money?
PayPal Over-Payment Scams
This type of scam is targeted at the seller. They look for high ticket items like cars or jewellery and they will start the purchase process. The buyer then receives a message to say the purchaser has overpaid for the product. the purchaser then tells the seller to send him back the money that was overpaid by. This is the point when the buyer he wants a refund as he hasn’t received any goods and he has his money back, the product and also the extra cash you’ve just sent him.
Moral to this scam if you get any buyer who is paying too much, stop the sale there and then and definitely don’t send them the products.
PayPal Phishing Emails by Brian Munch
These types of scams are becoming very common unfortunately as all these scammers need are email addresses and they spam enough of these out to hopefully catch a bite and steal your money. The idea of calling it Phishing is to imply that they are pretending to be a company but are trying to get you to give over you personal details.
This was the latest email my wife was sent. She just deleted it straight away as she doesn’t even have a PayPal account so she knew it wasn’t real.
My Steps on how to Spot Internet Scams!
I’ve blurred out my wife’s email but you can see it has her email on it and apparently she has sent a payment to some guys called Brian Munch. Not bad considering she doesn’t even have an account. The emails look like they are from PayPal and looks fairly legit.
The point of these type of emails is they want you to press the ‘cancel the payment‘ button where they will then ask you to put in your login and password for your PayPal account. Then once they get that they can take as much money as they like or even use your account to con someone else. Another big giveaway on this email, there is no PayPal logo anywhere on the email. Not very corporate is it!
Remember as I have said in many posts before signs of scammers are the lack of attention to detail. Sometimes you’ll get typing errors or in this case a missing company logo.
Don’t Press any links on these types of emails. Even if it’s from your bank, just close the email and login to your account on your browser to make sure the connection is clean.
Tips on Staying Safe
1. Look or for images that aren’t clear like the PayPal logo, like the images being slightly blurry. Sure sign the email is fake!
2. If it doesn’t feel right don’t follow it up or click on any link withing the email
3. Close any emails and log in through your own internet browser
4. If your still not sure call PayPals customer care
5. Don’t type in your details on anything apart from the actual site after logging in manually through your own internet browser
6. Anything that seems too good to be true, it usually is!
Your Defence From Malicious Emails!
Anti-Virus Software!
It is always recommended to have some sort of Anti-Virus software on your PC or Laptop will always help to keep you safe from clicking on anything. In case by clicking you end up downloading a virus or other software that will damage your PC or even watch what you type and start taking your personal logins and details.
Hi, I’m Graham, I’m the creator and founder of avoidonlinescamsandstaysafe.com. If you have come across any of these scams using PayPal payments then please share your experiences in the comments below and let’s help others not to get caught out by these types of Scammers. Thank’s for reading.
