Many people use PayPal for safe online holiday shopping which is why scammers and identity thieves often pose as PayPal in an effort to steal money or the identity of their victims.  The scam generally begins with an email that purports to acknowledge payment by you for something that you have obviously not purchase.  A link in the email, however, is provided if you wish to dispute the charge.  Don’t click on the link.  As I have told you many times before clicking on links which you are not sure are secure places you in danger of identity theft by taking you to a website where you are prompted to provide information that can make you a victim of identity theft or even worse, clicking on the link can result in your downloading a keystroke logging malware program that will steal all of the information from your computer including passwords, credit card numbers, bank account information and your Social Security number.

TIPS

If you receive such an email, remember that you can never be sure when you receive an email whether it is legitmate or not.  If you have any questions, you should contact the company, such as PayPal directly through their official website, an email directed to an address that you know is correct or by phone at a number that you know is correct.  It is also important to remember that PayPal and other legitimate companies will not ask for your Social Security number or PINs.