Got a new PayPal identity fraud attempt in my inbox today. A whole new angle this time.
The common thread here and with all these Paypal hoaxes is they will lie any way they can if it gets you to click on the link to "update your info" or in this case "contact customer service". The lie is that an email address has been added to your Paypal account. That has not happened. And even if you want to be sure, you can check it yourself by manually typing in www.paypal.com into your browser's address and sign on to Paypal. Then you can check your profile and see which email addresses are associated with your account.
These criminals are getting craftier. They are not stupid. That means you have to be more and more alert. Alert is a far better word than "careful" because it means you're on the offensive (even if just slightly) and maintaining a viewpoint that is causative, rather than the opposite. Being careful is just a step or two above being scared, and that just gives the criminals more room to do what they do.
[red text added by Hans]
You have added [email protected] as a new email address for your
PayPal account.
If you did not authorize this change or if you need assistance with
your account, please contact PayPal customer service at:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run
Thank
you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
Please do not reply to this
e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be
answered. For assistance, log in
to your PayPal account and choose the
"Help" link in the header of any
page.
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PROTECT YOUR PASSWORD
NEVER give your password to anyone and ONLY log
in at
https://www.paypal.com/.Protect yourself against fraudulent
websites
by opening a new web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Netscape)
and typing
in the PayPal URL every time you log in to your account.
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PayPal Email ID PP00510