PayPal is one of the most popular online payment systems worldwide and an excellent option for sending and receiving money. Its worldwide fame makes it a very attractive platform for cybercriminals and hackers, who keep trying to get a share of clueless or inexperienced users.
It is possible that at some point, you had fallen into the trap and ended up being a victim of a PayPal scam. If so, you have learned the lesson.
Common scams on PayPal – Quick list
While you’ll find the detailed list of most online scams related to PayPal in this guide later, for now, to give you a quick idea about what’s wrong there, here is a quick list of the most common PayPal scams.
- Problems with PayPal account – the scammer sends false warning about PayPal account closure or blocked payments.
- Fake messages seeking advanced payments – the scammer lures users by offering huge lottery or selling fake products against some advance payments.
- Invalid shipping address issue – posing as a buyer, the scammer aims at stealing money from the victim’s PayPal either by falsely claiming false that the ordered product never arrived.
- Zero-day operating kits – the scammer may use sophisticated techniques, such as vulnerability exploits or abusing legit but stolen email accounts, to steal money.
- Fake donations – it’s a common PayPal scam where the scammer seeks money as donations for fake charities.