Anybody use PayPal? I'm suspicious.

[baby_bear]

I signed up to use it with EBay. Today I got an email saying that I needed to update my billing information. I clicked onto the link and was asked - on a website that looked just like PayPal - for all my bank info INCLUDING MY 4-DIGIT PIN for withdrawing information from my personal bank account.

I immediately got out of there and went to www.paypal.com and checked my personal information. All by billing info is up to date and no one has ever asked me for my PIN.

Should I ditch PayPal altogether? Was this a scam in my inbox?
I have always been told to NEVER divulge a PIN.

Thanks for any thoughts/experience.

b_b

[Catshrink]

1. I use PayPal a lot and have had no trouble.

But.. I do get those phishing emails like you described. Ignore them.

[Book Lover]

2. It was a scam, BUT PayPal is OK

You were almost hooked by a phisher; I've gotten emails supposedly from Yahoo, PayPal, Citibank... The Internet Golden Rule of only replying to emails from people you know applies in this instance. As for PayPal itself; I myself have not ever had a problem, and I've used it for around 3 years now.

[tuvor]

3. I signed up with paypal a few years ago.

Don't use them often, but so far no concerns.

And they've NEVER asked me for any PIN numbers.

Talk to your bank, too.

[Cadence]

4. I know that is a little scary but it will be o.k.

it's called a phishing scam that crooks send out hoping someone will put in all of their information. Send the email to paypal. You'll be fine just never click on any links in an email EVER. That goes for your bank, a credit card company, ebay, paypal. Then forward the email you get to the company asking if it's a phishing scam. They'll get back to you right away.

[mike_c]

5. DO NOT do that-- Paypal will NEVER ask you for account info...

...via email. Do not respond. Paypal will send you reminders if you need to do things, like verify your account info, but you do that directly by logging into your Paypal account, NOT by responding to an email.

[ISUGRADIA]

6. It's a scam e-mail

Always log in directly through paypal.com and never through an e-mail address. There are scam e-mails out there for ebay, paypal, banks all asking for personal information because your account has been "compromised" or other nonsense.

I've never had problems with paypal and always delete messages such as these.

[miss_kitty]

7. I'd forward that email to Pay Pal

They like to know stuff like that, I think.

[ISUGRADIA]

8. Go to snopes.com they have a page about the e-mail tpye you received

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/paypal.asp

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

9. PayPal is a solid service, but you just got spammed.

Rule of thumb: Legitimate companies will nver ask for you account info, unless you didn't pay your bill, or you did something to your account. Check the link CAREFULLY. A close inspection will reveal the fake.

[Amich]

10. up until last month I had no problems with paypal

I ordered a couple of things from ebay and when I went to pay on the third thing there was someone Else's email address entered already. never had that happen before. usually it is blank and has examples down at the bottom of what to do. I looked back at my ebay account a few weeks later and it showed that I still owed someone money, I checked my bank account and the money was taken out over a week prior. I went on last night and it showed that I owed someone else money, but I have already received what I ordered. I sent off a letter to paypal and questioned them on their security. I haven't heard anything yet.

[shawcomm]

11. paypal is good. You got trolled for a scam with that email.

POS always trying to screw with good people.

When you went to that page, did you notice an odd looking address bar? I have my address bar in a different spot than normal, and I checked out one of these sites from a 'paypal' email once. They had a java app pop up a window to cover the real address bar so that it looked like I was at the actual paypal site. It wasn't, of course. I turned 'em in to Paypal.

[osaMABUSh]

12. PayPal is great been using it 5 years - phishing is what

you got. Plenty of scam emails. You can usually tell because the links always points to some bogus URL.

I like to follow the links and then enter my name as something like: "Fuck You Assholes" and bogus Credit card numbers. I assume some idiot at the other end sees it.

[benburch]

13. Even people with no PayPal accounts get those!

Those are what are called "Phishing". Email that looks official that goes to a website that looks official, but which exists to steal your information for purposes of identity theft and bank fraud.

You were right to ditch out of there.

If you ever get email from PayPal, and are unsure, instead of clicking on the link, go long onto PayPal manually. If they wanted something from you, let their web site ask for it,and it will.

[Liberal In Texas]

14. It's OK. But just that. OK. You'll be a part a database. n/t

[baby_bear]

15. Wow, thanks for all the info

I feel REALLY ignorant. At least I did bail out and I took the advice and sent the email to PayPal.

And it DID have a funky URL, although it didn't appear to be when I clicked on it, and it really did look just like PayPal.

One thing that bugged me is that whoever sent it knew I had both debit and credit cards with PayPal. How would they know that?

This identity theft thing is horrible! I have read stories where people suffered for years from it. The burden is on the victim, apparently.

Thanks to all for the advice.

b_b

[grace0418]

16. Paypal works fine BUT that email you got was a big

scam. They send them A LOT (the scammers). I just forward them to the eBay fraud department.