Bogus “Refund Pending” emails targeting PayPal customers

Fake PayPal notifications about a bogus refund are hitting inboxes around the world, trying to trick users into following the offered link and supposedly log into their accounts in order to receive it:

Unfortunately for those who fall for the ruse, the link will take them to a page that looks like PayPal’s login page, but is actually a fake one mimicking PayPal’s, and all the information submitted into it gets forwarded directly to the phishers behind this scheme, who can then use it to hijack the victim’s PayPal and probably even gain entrance to other online accounts.

“PayPal is a favorite target of phishers, probably because PayPal does conduct so much of its business via email,” points out Hoax-Slayer.

“But, PayPal will never send you an unsolicited email that asks you to verify or update your account by clicking a link. Or by opening an attachment as in some variants of these phishing scams. And PayPal will never send you a message that includes a generic greeting such as ‘Dear Customer’. Official PayPal emails will always address you by name.”