PayPal Phishing Wants Account Info. Hackers and scammers have hit the ground running in 2021, launching an extensive new phishing campaign that targets the legions of PayPal users around the world. The campaign is running on both text message and email channels. If you’re a PayPal user, you may have already seen it. If you haven’t, you’ll probably get a text or an email to the effect that the company has detected suspicious activity on your account.
It will say PayPal has taken the step of “limiting” your account, which puts restrictions on withdrawing, sending, or receiving money. Whether you get the text or email variant of the communication, the scammers will “helpfully” include a link and ask you to verify your account information to remove these restrictions.
Naturally, this isn’t a legitimate PayPal communication, and if you tap or click on the link, they’ll send you to a spoof page that looks like it contains a PayPal login box. Unfortunately, if you attempt to log in, all you’ll be doing is handing your login credentials because PayPal Phishing wants your Account information, giving them unfettered access to your account. If you maintain a balance in your PayPal account, hackers will drain it. If you have bank accounts or credit cards linked to your account, you can expect them to abuse them as well.
Phishing
Phishing isn’t a new idea or a new type of campaign, but it is one of the first coordinated efforts we’ve seen in 2021, and as such, it pays to be aware of it.
