TESTIMONY. I was scammed on PayPal and I didn’t realize it

PayPal, the most popular dematerialized payment platform, is in a way a victim of its own success. Indeed, PayPal account scams are on the rise. The scammers will take care to imitate the logo and the layout of the website of the much used platform. According to Signal Scams, there are two different ways you can get tricked.

First, a phishing scam, the purpose of which is to collect your personal data, such as your PayPal credentials in this case. The scammers send emails asking for the password and the identifier of their victims. The emails are made in the image of real PayPal emails, and are often very well done.

Sandra, a 55-year-old medical secretary, was a victim of the second type of PayPal scam a few years ago: a scheme also based on platforms for the sale of objects between individuals. Wishing to quickly sell a helmet worth 50 euros to help her brother in need, she posted an ad on Leboncoin.

A buyer – who turns out to be a scammer – offers to pay it by PayPal, sending him a link to do so. Sandra follows this link and creates this famous account, from an in fact fake site… She then accepts a transaction of 60 euros, believing thus to validate the reception of the sum, and will consequently post the helmet.

Unfortunately, the sum had been stolen from him. The moral of the story: even when you find yourself in a stressful or even desperate situation, it is always better to take the time to ask yourself the right questions…

Of course, this is much easier said than done, but acquiring even a simple reflex or two can save the day. In this case, it would be useful to carefully examine the address of the sender of the email before clicking on any link or directive it contains.