I know many of you use PayPal to pay for items. I know I do.
Yesterday I received an e-mail from service@paypal.com asking me to update
my information to verify my PayPal status.
OK. Classmates updates a couple of times a year, so maybe PayPal does
randomly verify the status of members.
I clicked on the link to the PayPal site and started to fill in the form
with the usual name address, etc. Then it started getting a little more
personal. To the point I was being asked for my credit/debit card number
(specifically which), the 3 digit code on the back of the card, the PIN
number, my mother's maiden name, my Social Security number, and on and on.
I think they wanted to know if I was about to start a cavity on a back
tooth.
I looked at the questions and thought NOBODY had a right to that much
information about me. I decided that if PayPal needed that much information
about me I could get a merchant account and handle my own credit cards,
which may be financially reasonable in the near future anyway. I sent
PayPal an e-mail telling them that they could cancel my account, but there
was no way I was going to fill out that form and return it to them. This
was just way too much personal information.
I received a response from PayPal asking me to forward the message to their
fraud department. In spite of all of the exact PayPal appearance, this is a
scam. Apparently a very successful one. If you received this e-mail from
what appears to be PayPal and responded, start canceling things, changing
bank accounts, and contacting credit reporting agencies to start trying to
protect yourself now.
This is the second time I have had someone attempt to scam me under the
PayPal guise. The first time they just sent a bill, which could be paid
using PayPal. Keep your eyes open and think before you respond. The
Security Department at PayPal is very responsive and wants to hear about
anything that looks funny in any way. They will let you know if what you
are seeing is true or not.
Tom Hendricksen
69 2000
Portland
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