More Scam-O-Rama - PayPal this time - $499.00 for BitCoin

[Cudedog]

This afternoon I received a VERY official looking email from what appeared to be PayPal.

It was an invoice for $499.00 worth of BitCoin that I had purchased, an invoice to be "paid immediately upon receipt". You can bet that got my attention!!!

(Nope, didn't purchase any BitCoin - never would, because, personally, I think BitCoin is a yet-to-be-proven scam all within itself).

Everything about this email was absolutely on point. Logos, correct English useage, even the return email address @paypal.com was correct.

At the bottom of this email was a button to click if I had questions about/needed to cancel this transaction.

I almost fell for this. . . almost but not quite. First off, although I do have PayPal, the email account that this "invoice" arrived at is not the email account I use for my PayPal business. . . but I almost clicked on the button anyway.

Instead, I logged in to my PayPal account to see what was what. Of course, there was NO pending invoice for any $499.00 "BitCoin purchase".

But, again, I very nearly panicked and clicked on the button within this fraudulent email.

I am getting really sick and tired of all of this crap going on ALL OF THE TIME. I no longer answer my phone unless I recognize the number, my voicemail message states that "if you do not to leave a message your phone number will be blocked". No voicemail message? I block the number.

I block about one or two phone numbers every single dang day, because the caller doesn't leave a message, and I don't recognize the number.

I also get one or two texts every day about "click here - your bank/credit card/Amazon account has detected fraud/has been suspended/has been compromised - click on this link to reinstate your account/s", and/or "Click here for our important survey, MAKE YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!! (Yeah, right. I'm not clicking on any survey button either).

And now the ####@@!!! email bombardment begins. It is so very easy to get sucked into this.

**BEWARE**

I wish it would stop - but I fear it is only going to get worse as time goes by.

Anne

[OregonLuvr]

NEVER EVER click on any links or "buttons" . You always need to go to your site and check for messages. There are never any there. You dodged a bullet not clicking on that button Anne, good for you/

[Bethers]

What Karen said. And you can click to see the address the email came from and that's always an obvious tell.

It's easy to understand how people fall for these.

[monik7]

I regularly receive similar emails for PayPal, Geek Squad and several others. I always go to the account that the email says was charged to make sure there’s no such charge. I think this is important so if somehow they’ve gotten into my account, I can take action to correct it. Afterwards I delete the email. Very frustrating and a disgusting sign of the times. Just never click on anything in the fake email.
Sandi

[Cudedog]

What Karen said. And you can click to see the address the email came from and that's always an obvious tell.

It's easy to understand how people fall for these.

I always check the return email address - in this case it appeared to be @paypal.com, which is very worrying. I guess they were counting on me clicking on the link.

Anne

[Colliemom]

I get Spam Risk calls all the time on my landline, but rarely on my cell because it is not my primary phone and few have that number. But I just delete them. And I get crazy emails too do which I don’t pay any attention to either. I don’t have PayPal or any of those things so I don’t have any worries there.The only one that sends me a valid email is the bank that handles my charge cards for fraud alerts. I can tell if they are valid and I have had a couple of false ones, but I can pick them out because of how they word it. But I always call the bank if I get the valid one from them to double check. And then of course there are those ones that, we will shut off this or that service if I don’t do thus and such. Yeah right. I have also quit ordering from Amazon because the last time I did I got a fraud alert on my charge card. We got that taken care of and I had a new card issued in about three weeks later I got another fraud alert. Doing some research, the two purchases that on the fraud alert were both traced back to companies that Amazon does business with. So I think Amazon probably had a breach and numbers were stolen. There are other places I can get the same things that I could get off Amazon if I want something which I rarely do. Actually I don’t do much ordering online except with reliable companies that I know like L.L. Bean, Chewy and the company that I get my Woodcraft patterns from. Once in a while I may order something from another company that I know has a good reputation and a secure site.

[OregonLuvr]

I have never had any trouble with Amazon. Yes I have got fraud alerts with links and phone number to call, but when I go to Amazon site and check messages or my account nothing there. Same with my bank site. Emails mean nothing to me only the actual secure website. I also look for the https in the url, and also the little secure lock. So far so good.

[MandysMom]

I'm with Karen. I've used Amazon for over 12 years, and never had an issue. Yes i get fake amazon emails, but, as Karen does, I don't fall for that and will report the spoofs to Amazon. I don't use emailed links, I go direct to the account. Smaller outside companies are much more likely to be breached because they don't have knowledge, expertise, or budget that Amazon has for protecting my account. Even Costco got breached and my card used, but, my Credit Union caught it and stopped it, with only minor inconvenience of having to go to CU to pick up new card (branch is only a mile from me).
I have also used PayPal for years. Because of their security, I've not had issue there either and the small company I might buy from never sees my credit card info, as they get paid direct from my PayPal.
Velda

[Cudedog]

I have been ordering stuff from Amazon for at least twenty years, without any problem at all. Sue, very sorry to hear that you did.

I put my card into Amazon, because I trust Amazon. I like to use PayPal when I might be ordering from an unfamiliar website, or maybe ordering something from Etsy (I purchase a lot of my jewelry-making supplies for my Etsy "shop" from Etsy vendors) because when using PayPal the vendor never sees my card number.

Have checked my PayPal account (directly!) a few more times to be sure that a major BitCoin order isn't suddenly on the way but there has been nothing. I deleted the scam text - so I guess I won't be getting any BitCoin anytime soon.

Thanks for your comments, everyone!

Anne

[JudyJB]

I got a call from "the Medicare Company" yesterday wanting to verify that I received my new card. When I asked what company they were calling from, the lady hung up on me!! And I always block the caller on my cell phone.

Back in the 90s, I used to handle our major phone lines and the listings in the yellow pages because that was part of marketing. The finance person used to send me the bills for the phone, and it was amazing how many of them were fake. They looked like they were official invoices and even had "Invoice" in large print at the top. Bills were "itemized" in a way to make them look real. In teeny tiny type hidden at the bottom there would be wording saying this was an offer to purchase services, not an invoice, but it was very hard to read and most finance people would have just paid it. I used to use it in my class when we talked about the ethics of communication.