Fake PayPal payment reversal notification leads to phishing

PayPal phishing attempts take many forms, and one of the most often used techniques is fake emails containing a warning and a prompt to act quickly.

An active phishing campaign of this sort is currently targeting users, trying to make them believe that a payment they received was reversed:

The link in the email, which apparently takes the victims to PayPal’s “Resolution Center,” actually leads to a spoofed PayPal login page.

If they enter their login credentials and submit them, they will be redirected to another fake page containing a “Dispute Resolution” form that asks for their personal and payment card information, which will also, as the login credentials, be sent to the phishers once the “Submit” button is pressed.

“Because PayPal, by its very nature, conducts almost all of its business via email and the web, PayPal customers are a prime target for phishing scammers,” Hoax-Slayer explains, and advises: “It is always safest to login your PayPal account by entering the web address into your browser’s address bar or via an official PayPal app.”

In this particular case, the use of a generic greeting (“Dear Customer”) and the use of the email address in place of the customer’s name is a clear indication that the email is fake – PayPal addresses their customers by their name, because unlike the scammers, the company actually knowns their full names.