PayPal scam, nearly caught out. Read if you use PayPal, might save you some hassle

NIMAN

I am usually fairly savvy when it comes to scams, but this has got me thinking. And not sure if it's genuine or not, so any advice would be welcome.

OH is selling something on FB Marketplace. €100.

Someone in Cork has contacted her and wants it. I told her to tell buyer to pay money to my PayPal account.

She says that PayPal is asking her to enter a 6 digit code to make sure she is sending it to the right person, and I did receive a code on my SMS messages that I usually receive messages from PayPal on.

Thing that stood out for me is that PayPal called it my password reset code. Surely it wasn't a password reset code.

I'm thinking if she has that and my email address, she could log in to my PayPal.

Needless to say, I've sent her nothing and I am thinking of telling her to forget about it, not comfortable proceeding.

I have tried googling but can't find anything outside of general stuff about 6 digit codes.

Spear

It's a scam. You don't need to exchange any codes like that.

ItHurtsWhenIP

For what it may be worth, you should report the account as a fraudster to FB. They may not do anything, but they might surprise everyone and do the right thing … for once.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122003655#Comment_122003655

I don't know who they are though. I only gave them my PayPal address.

NIMAN

It's elaborate, how did they get PayPal to send me a password reset code to my phone, coming in on the same number that PayPal officially use to message me?

Princess Calla

Would you not contact PayPal directly and see what they have to say?

If it's a scam that is elaborate, pretty certain they will want to know about it.

bennyx_o

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122003855#Comment_122003855

It could be as simple as them entering your email to log in, then clicking 'Forgotten Password' on the next screen which in turn triggers the text message to ensure it's actually you who's trying to reset your password.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122003979#Comment_122003979

Yeah that sounds like what has happened. It was a rookie mistake to actually give out my email address, should have given them my @username instead.

I woke this morning to an email from PayPal saying there was a login from a new device around that time. That must have been when they generated the 6 digit code text to me. They even sent an authentic looking screenshot to me showing a PayPal screen with 6 little boxes and text above it saying "ask seller to give you 6 digit code to authorise payment " or something along those lines.

Luckily I got suspicious at that point. And added a passkey to my account. I checked my PayPal this morning and no activity and all as it was, so looks like they didn't gain access. Changed password this morning.

As I said, I'm usually asking myself "could this be a scam", but this one could easily work on less suspicious users

NIMAN

Called PayPal and spoke to them (in Dundalk), as the links on the app are a bit useless.

Had a good chat to them and offered plenty of ways to be more careful in the future! As said, kinda a little disappointed I nearly fell for such a scam, but I'd be a regular PayPal user and I could see how it would easily work on many others.

NIMAN

I have edited thread title to perhaps make some people read it, might save them falling for same scam.

bennyx_o

Goes to show how easy it can be to fall for them, and on another day where you may have had more going on and not spotted the 'Password Reset' in the email and it could have ended a lot different