Here is another good example of a phishing email that is presently being circulated. Phishing emails, by which scammers and identity thieves attempt to lure you into either clicking on links contained within the email which will download malware or providing personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft, are nothing new. They are a staple of identity thieves and scammers and with good reason because they work. As always, they lure you by making it appear that there is an emergency that requires your immediate attention or else dire consequences will occur.
Here is the email presently circulating. I have deleted a link to click on to “Review the Document.”:
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We’ve detected an unauthorized Coinbase transaction on your PayPal account: Amount: $459.19 To ensure the security of your account and to receive a full refund, Customer Support team immediately at (888)X (356)X (2584) .Our team is available 24/7 to assist you and prevent any further unauthorized activity on your account. We take the security of your account very seriously and we are committed to helping you resolve this issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Best regards, |
TIPS
Legitimate emails from a company with which you do business would include the last four digits of your account and include your name. The email looks legitimate and has the logos for both docusign and PayPal, but both of those logos are easily counterfeited and AI can be used to maket the email appear to be legitimate.
As with all phishing emails, two things can happen if you click on the links provided or contact the scammer by a phone number provided. Either you will be sent to a legitimate looking, but phony webpage where you will be prompted to input personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft or, even worse, merely by clicking on the link, you will download malware such as keystroke logging malware that will steal all of your personal information from your computer and use it to make you a victim of identity theft.
If you call a phone number contained in the email, you will be prompted to provide credit card information or other personal information that will lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft. If you receive an email like this and think it may possibly be legitimate, merely call the company from which the email purports to originate at a telephone number that you know is accurate and you will be able to confirm that it is a scam. The phone number for customer service contained in the email is not a phone number used by PayPal. The customer service number for PayPal is 888-221-1161
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