PayPal is now the largest online payment provider and is offered on almost all online marketplaces and online shops. We make around 40 transactions a year via PayPal, which underscores the popularity of the provider. However, due to its high popularity, PayPal is the focus of many attacks. Experts have suggested installing the total security software could protect your account.
In our article, we briefly present the most famous criminals'
scams so that you can protect yourself better in the future.
1.
Phishing Emails
The most well-known and perhaps even the most effective method
are so-called phishing attacks. Criminals send a spam e-mail to
the victim with a note on security, for example, it is mentioned that unusual
transactions are taking place on the PayPal account. In the e-mail, there
is usually a link that forwards the victim to a PayPal website that was
counterfeited by the fraudster, where the user is asked to enter his access
data. If you enter your access data on this fake website, you are already
in the crosshairs, because this gives the criminal access to your account.
Often the perpetrators behind this scam aim to gain access to
your banks to carry out transactions.
2.
Lottery and Prize Fraud
Another scam is the so-called lottery or prize fraud. Here you
will be informed about an alleged win, although you have not participated in
any lottery or raffle. To get the alleged profit paid out, a
transaction fee is required in return, from which the criminal benefits.
3. Fake
Bills
Criminals are also increasingly using PayPal to issue fake
charity invoices. The big difference here is that the payment request is
actually created from the PayPal dashboard and is displayed in your account as
a payment reminder. Never pay such bills!
4. Package
Acceptance
It is more and more common that fraudsters use hacked login data
to buy goods and have them sent to addresses, mostly apartment buildings. You
pretend to be a neighbor on-site, take the package and leave the building
immediately.
How Can I
Protect Me from Such Scams?
1. Never
make any transactions when connected to a public WiFi network. This is the
first and actually pretty simple protective measure. Because criminals
like to use public networks to carry out such attacks.
2. Use a strong password. Pay attention to upper and lower case letters, special characters, and generally to the length of your password. As a rule of thumb, the longer a password, the more secure it is. You are also welcome to read through our articles on the most common password errors to prevent them in the future.
3. Activate
the 2-factor authentication. I know the two-factor authentication (2FA)
can be annoying, especially if you have to log in again at the beginning of
your working day or on your mobile phone. However, it protects you
enormously!
4. Use a 4-digit code or even better a biometric lock in your PayPal app. This makes it difficult for someone to gain access to your account if you should lose your cell phone. Pay attention to the security of your lock screen, because this is just as important!
5. A little tip on the side: If you receive an email from PayPal and are asked to enter your access data, you can use a very simple trick to check whether the website is actually PayPal. Just enter the wrong email address and the wrong password - if you still get to the PayPal user interface in the next step, you can be sure that there are fraudsters behind the website.
6. You
can of course use this trick for all other phishing attacks. But do not forget to install our total security software to get advanced security features.
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