PayPal scam

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — Some scammers are using online payment system PayPal as a part of their scam, even on people who don’t have PayPal accounts.

These phishing scams don’t involve PayPal, per se, but the scammers know so many people use it, they can use the brand and logo to trick them. Law enforcement agencies say these scams are surging.

Here’s one: An email confirming you made a purchase.

You clearly haven’t used PayPal to pay over $1,000 to the Beakman Library but since the email looks official with the PayPal logo, you might be led to call the number to dispute the charge.

“Can you hear me okay?”

First of all, never say yes to that question. The scammer can record your voice and use it as proof that you someday approved a charge or subscription of some kind.

When I called, I didn’t reach PayPal but a scammer offering to give me a free Life Alert device. Another time, I dialed a PayPal number to dispute a charge, I spoke to a scammer offering to return my money, but first I needed to follow his instructions.

“Voice of scammer: yes, just enter the code.”

He wanted me to enter a code into this bar on the desktop. If I had, and clicked the mouse, he would have likely installed malware on my computer. He could access my programs, and record my keystrokes. Cloning usernames, passwords, accounts, and anything else I typed or entered.

Scammers using PayPal will either try to trick you into paying for something or steal your credit card information. They may try to trick you into giving them access to your computer. Maybe all three.

Listen, PayPal is safe and I recommend it to anyone who shops online. But if you receive an email from PayPal that you weren’t expecting about a purchase you didn’t make, log into your PayPal account to check. You can dispute it if you need to. If you don’t have a PayPal account, just delete the emails.

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