Among plenty of online payment options that have a reputation for safety and security, PayPal comes in as one of the most trusted choices for a majority of ecommerce business entities across the globe.
Unfortunately, though, this online payment platform has witnessed its fair share of fraud and other criminal activities. There are quite several PayPal scams out there. However, here are the most common PayPal scams that anyone who regularly transacts business over PayPal needs to be aware of:
Shipping Address
This is one of the most common PayPal scams that individuals and business entities need to be mindful of. Here, immediately after a customer initiates a purchase and the payment placed to the seller’s PayPal account, a scammer comes in asking the seller to ship the items purchased to an invalid/wrong delivery address.
After a couple of failed delivery attempts, the firm shipping the item flags it to their system and labels them as ‘undeliverable.’ After that, the scammer makes contact with the shipping firm and gives them a new and valid address where the item is to be shipped.
The moment the scammer receives his or her shipment, s/he files a complaint with PayPal and claim that they never received the item. Here, the seller has got no proof of delivery, since the transaction indicates the original, but invalid address.
Sadly, PayPal’s Seller Protection does not cover shipments that are made to addresses that are not on file, meaning that the seller loses both the payment funds and the item they shipped to a customer.
Fake Emails
Lately, a lot of people have reported receiving fake email s, some of which have ended up affecting them terribly. When it comes to PayPal, scammers work by sending forged emails to sellers that seem to be from PayPal. Here, they lie to the seller that a scammer has paid money into their accounts and that PayPal won’t release the funds until they receive a shipment tracking number from the seller.
But you need to be aware that being a professional firm, PayPal does not work in this manner. Pay Pal has got no history of holding people’s funds in escrow. Here the scammer hopes that the seller will be in a quick rush to ship the item(s) purchased and send a tracking number that will enable them to receive the money.
Once the item gets shipped, then it’s too late – the scammer will receive the item(s) they never paid for, with the seller realizing that in the real sense, PayPal was never holding any funds for them. This is another PayPal scam that people and individuals who prefer online payment need to be aware of since it has affected many.
Overpayment
This is another PayPal scam that is lately being adopted by a majority of PayPal scammers out there. This one works by a scammer making an overpayment to a seller’s PayPal account exceeding the cost of the item(s) that they are purchasing.
After that, they will immediately contact the seller, explaining how they had overpaid, and request for the balance to be credited back to their accounts. This is when the real thing happens. The moment the seller sends back the overpaid amount, the scammer goes ahead and sends a complaint to PayPal, arguing that their accounts were somewhat compromised, and it was never their intention to send some money to the seller initially.
Being a reputable firm, PayPal reimburses the total original payment back to the scammer’s account. If the seller has not shipped out any purchased item yet, they have already incurred a loss based on the “overpaid” amount that they had to send back.
Hacked PayPal
The moment a scammer is done hacking into an individual’s PayPal account, they go ahead to make purchases while sending payments with the money from an account that they have managed to take control of.
There is a chance that a seller will receive a notice of purchase and go-ahead to ship the item, only to later learn from PayPal that the transaction was not as desired, fraudulent and that the deal has to be reversed.
PayPal may go ahead to reimburse the seller, especially if they are in a position to confirm that the account in which the made the payment was compromised by hackers or any other person with ill intentions. There have been numerously cased of hacked PayPal accounts, another scam that you need to be aware of.
Phishing Email
This is also another PayPal scam that has negatively affected millions of people around the globe. This is a fake email scam that involves a scammer sending an email that appears to be originating from PayPal indicating that funds have been transferred to their accounts, but pending confirmation, with a button or link that the seller has to click to make the funds available to them.
This link leads to a PayPal account that is fake, requesting for a seller’s login details. If the seller happens to enter his or her email and password into the fake site, then it’s too late – the scammer can now use them to log in to the actual PayPal account of the seller, where they can withdraw funds or make payments.
The Bottom Line
We live in a digital age where almost everything is fast and easy. However, despite all this, we are surrounded by hackers from all corners ready to pounce on every little opportunity they can get to fleece you of your hard-earned cash.
Among some of the online payment platforms that have been affected the most by scammers, PayPal is one of them. Scammers have used several tricks to trick the company and customers of their items or hard-earned money.
While there are plenty of other PayPal scams that scammers employ, the ones highlighted in this blog are some of the most common PayPal scams that businesses and individuals need to be aware of. Secure your internet connection today and steer clear from hackers.
PureVPN
June 20, 2023
10 months ago
