{"id":49564,"date":"2022-12-02T18:23:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T18:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/44a92a43-8e6c-4c56-812f-3b3d4c93c493"},"modified":"2022-12-02T18:23:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T18:23:00","slug":"watch-out-for-this-triple-pronged-paypal-phishing-and-fraud-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/watch-out-for-this-triple-pronged-paypal-phishing-and-fraud-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch out for this triple-pronged PayPal phishing and fraud scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"c-shortcodeImage u-clearfix c-shortcodeImage-large\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_imageContainer\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_image\"><picture class=\"c-cmsImage c-cmsImage_loaded\"><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/bead8a4d9773e0ba18b5d9f53ef4d6ea58fa093b\/2022\/01\/17\/e0e7d48d-443e-4c48-be8d-bf0c83859c7c\/phishing.jpg?auto=webp&amp;width=768\" alt=\"Visualization of phishing as a hook through a red envelope\"><source media=\"(max-width: 1023px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/4dad4f7eac14cdb8361c6afffc57f852c6612bd7\/2022\/01\/17\/e0e7d48d-443e-4c48-be8d-bf0c83859c7c\/phishing.jpg?auto=webp&amp;width=1024\" alt=\"Visualization of phishing as a hook through a red envelope\"><source media=\"(max-width: 1440px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/c7b18e5bf296a6f28413124f07df5fb8c0a49b73\/2022\/01\/17\/e0e7d48d-443e-4c48-be8d-bf0c83859c7c\/phishing.jpg?auto=webp&amp;width=1280\" alt=\"Visualization of phishing as a hook through a red envelope\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/c7b18e5bf296a6f28413124f07df5fb8c0a49b73\/2022\/01\/17\/e0e7d48d-443e-4c48-be8d-bf0c83859c7c\/phishing.jpg?auto=webp&amp;width=1280\" alt=\"Visualization of phishing as a hook through a red envelope\" width=\"1280\" height=\"855.1999999999999\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<p> <!----><\/div>\n<p> <!----><figcaption> <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">JLStock\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-shortcodePinbox c-shortcodePinbox-single g-border-thin-light-top g-outer-spacing-top-medium g-outer-spacing-bottom-medium g-inner-spacing-bottom-small\">\n<h3 class=\"c-sectionHeading\"><strong>ZDNET<\/strong> Recommends<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>My day started rough.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It was 7 a.m., and I was just partially through my first cup of coffee, when I noticed a new message in my email inbox.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It was from PayPal and the subject line said, &#8220;You&#8217;ve got a money request.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>And so began my first look at this three-pronged PayPal phishing scam. <\/p>\n<h2>The ask<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"c-shortcodeImage u-clearfix c-shortcodeImage-large\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_imageContainer\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_image\"><picture class=\"c-cmsImage\"><!----> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/watch-out-for-this-triple-pronged-paypal-phishing-and-fraud-scam\/\" alt=\"email line saying You've got a money request\" width=\"1280\" height=\"61.32678132678133\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!----><figcaption> <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">David Gewirtz\/ZDNET<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There&#8217;s nobody I know who would ask me for money through PayPal and reasonably expect to get it, especially without telling me ahead of time that they were invoicing me for something. I started to investigate the money request in my Gmail box. <\/p>\n<p>In Gmail, you can right-click on the message sender before opening the message, in order to see the full email address. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"c-shortcodeImage u-clearfix c-shortcodeImage-medium\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_imageContainer\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_image\"><picture class=\"c-cmsImage\"><!----> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/watch-out-for-this-triple-pronged-paypal-phishing-and-fraud-scam\/\" alt=\"Open detailed view of sender\" width=\"740\" height=\"330.6198830409357\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!----><figcaption> <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">David Gewirtz\/ZDNET<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The message was from PayPal, so I felt safe enough opening it. Once inside the message, I again looked at the sender, and it was still PayPal. The body of the message claimed to be from one Susan Bowman. Here, take a look at the message. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"c-shortcodeImage u-clearfix c-shortcodeImage-large\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_imageContainer\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_image\"><picture class=\"c-cmsImage\"><!----> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/watch-out-for-this-triple-pronged-paypal-phishing-and-fraud-scam\/\" alt=\"Message beginning &quot;We have detected some fraudulently activities with your PayPal account.&quot;\" width=\"1280\" height=\"1005.3441295546559\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!----><figcaption> <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">David Gewirtz\/ZDNET<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The mistaken &#8220;fraudulently&#8221; instead of &#8220;fraudulent&#8221; is one sign there. But the sentence that caught my attention was &#8220;You will be charged $699. 99 today.&#8221; Interestingly, there was a space between the period after $699 and the 99. Odd punctuation and spelling are often indicators of a scam message. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Also:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/this-phishing-attack-uses-a-countdown-clock-to-panic-you-into-handing-over-passwords\/\" rel=\"follow\"><strong>This phishing attack uses a countdown clock to panic you<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Another part of the message said, &#8220;Please call us as soon as possible at toll free number [REDACTED]. to cancel and claim a refund.&#8221; There was a period after the phone number, right in the middle of the sentence. Another important thing to note was that the idea of the message was to get me to call a number that I was supposed to think was PayPal, to stop the $699.99 from being sent out. Urgency is another common element of phishing scams.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom of the message had a Pay Now button, and a PayPal transaction ID. I do a lot of coding using the PayPal API. It did, indeed, look like what a PayPal transaction ID normally looks like. As it turns out, it was an actual transaction ID that had been created in the actual PayPal system. More about that in a minute.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"c-shortcodeImage u-clearfix c-shortcodeImage-large\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_imageContainer\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_image\"><picture class=\"c-cmsImage\"><!----> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/watch-out-for-this-triple-pronged-paypal-phishing-and-fraud-scam\/\" alt=\"Payment request details\" width=\"1280\" height=\"1006.0834454912516\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!----><figcaption> <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">David Gewirtz\/ZDNET<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2> Reaching out to PayPal <\/h2>\n<p>Rather than do anything with the message itself, I went to PayPal directly. I pointed my browser to <a href=\"https:\/\/paypal.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">PayPal.com<\/a> and, after verifying my identity with two-factor authentication, logged in. <\/p>\n<p>I scrolled down on the page, and there was, in fact, recent activity from Susan Bowman. The screenshot below shows the transaction as canceled, but when I first logged in, the activity item was listed as pending. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"c-shortcodeImage u-clearfix c-shortcodeImage-large\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_imageContainer\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_image\"><picture class=\"c-cmsImage\"><!----> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/watch-out-for-this-triple-pronged-paypal-phishing-and-fraud-scam\/\" alt=\"Canceled - Request Received\" width=\"1280\" height=\"375.0993377483444\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!----><figcaption> <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">David Gewirtz\/ZDNET<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I clicked on the Help button at the top of the screen and scrolled down until I found the Contact Us option. I clicked on that, and after the usual hoop jumping, found myself talking to an agent in the company&#8217;s fraud operation. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"c-shortcodeImage u-clearfix c-shortcodeImage-large\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_imageContainer\">\n<div class=\"c-shortcodeImage_image\"><picture class=\"c-cmsImage\"><!----> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/watch-out-for-this-triple-pronged-paypal-phishing-and-fraud-scam\/\" alt=\"The Help option at the top and the Contact us option at the bottom right\" width=\"1280\" height=\"705.4697286012527\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!----><figcaption> <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">David Gewirtz\/ZDNET<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I explained the situation. The agent knew exactly what I was calling about, and assured me that no money had been sent out. I was also guided through how to cancel this transaction. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Also<\/strong>:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/warning-this-scam-starts-with-a-fake-invoice-it-could-end-with-crooks-stealing-your-data\/\" rel=\"follow\"><strong>This phishing scam starts with a fake invoice<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you click into a requested money transaction, there are two buttons that you can choose from. One is Send Money and the other is Cancel. Unfortunately, I didn&#8217;t capture a screenshot before I canceled. I was much more focused (remember, I was still on my first cuppa coffee) on canceling the transaction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I clicked the Cancel button and the transaction was terminated. No money was lost. Then, I had a little chat with the PayPal agent and learned some things\u2026 <\/p>\n<h2> Anatomy of a three-pronged fraud attempt <\/h2>\n<p>This was a three-pronged fraud attempt, in that the attackers had three different ways to win.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As I suspected, and the agent confirmed, I was probably not personally targeted. Instead, my email address was one of thousands thrown against the wall to see what would stick. <\/p>\n<p>While the email address used for this account wasn&#8217;t one of my most actively used accounts, my email addresses have been all over the Internet for decades, so they&#8217;re undoubtedly available to attackers. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Also:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/these-file-types-are-the-ones-most-commonly-used-by-hackers-to-hide-their-malware\/\" rel=\"follow\"><strong>Hackers commonly use these file types to hide malware<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Anyone can ask someone for money through PayPal. All they need to do is feed an email address into the PayPal interface and request money. It&#8217;s a big part of what PayPal does, and it&#8217;s a service that provides a lot of legitimate value to a lot of people.<\/p>\n<p>Once that email address is fed in, PayPal does most of the work. This makes it pretty ideal for phishing attackers. <\/p>\n<p>There are three ways this attack works: <\/p>\n<p><strong>Prong No. 1: Pay out through PayPal:<\/strong> The first prong of the attack was the request for $699.99. While it&#8217;s fairly unlikely that anyone who gets hit with this attack will click &#8220;Send Money,&#8221; all it takes is one or two people doing that to make the entire attack worthwhile from the scammer&#8217;s perspective. Don&#8217;t pay enough attention, click the wrong button, and whoosh! Money gone. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Prong No. 2: Pay out by dialing the digits:<\/strong> The PayPal agent told me that the second prong of the attack that often also provides value to the scammers is the phone number they ask you to call. <\/p>\n<p>Depending on the scammer, the number itself may be billable. It&#8217;s called a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fcc.gov\/consumers\/guides\/one-ring-phone-scam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">one-ring phone scam<\/a>&#8221; and it works by spoofing numbers, possibly connecting you to an international number where you&#8217;re charged merely for connecting to the number. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Prong No. 3: Pay out by giving away too much personal info:<\/strong> The big score, I was told by the PayPal agent, is actually the third prong of the attack. That&#8217;s when somebody gets the email and calls the number they think is PayPal to prevent the payment. <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s at this point that the scammers, pretending to be PayPal&#8217;s fraud department, start asking questions, and by the time they&#8217;re done, they&#8217;ve separated their victims from a treasure trove of personal identifying information, which can fuel additional attacks into the future and can even be sold to other scammers and criminals. <\/p>\n<h2> How to protect yourself <\/h2>\n<p>My biggest piece of advice is simple: Pay attention. Don&#8217;t go through your day just mindlessly clicking to get through your email. Be present and notice things. <\/p>\n<p>Next, follow my advice about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/finance\/credit-cards\/the-single-best-way-to-protect-yourself-against-credit-card-fraud\/\" rel=\"follow\">protecting yourself from credit card fraud<\/a> and check your bank accounts and credit cards every week. Keep an active eye on your finances and you&#8217;ll be able to spot fraud attempts before it becomes too late to fix them. <\/p>\n<p>As for PayPal, understand that PayPal will never send payment without your explicit OK. The one exception to this is if you sign up for a subscription or a recurring donation. But even then, PayPal won&#8217;t begin the process of sending money unless you have explicitly approved it. <\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t click on links in suspicious email messages. Don&#8217;t call numbers that you can&#8217;t verify independently. Make sure your accounts all have two-factor authentication. <\/p>\n<p>Always update your operating system and browser when prompted. That will help prevent zero-day attacks from taking hold of your machine. <\/p>\n<p>And, finally, back up your devices. Follow my advice and institute a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnet.com\/tech\/computing\/backups-act-like-your-business-depends-on-them\/\" rel=\"follow\">3-2-1 backup strategy<\/a>. That way, if you are hit by malware or some other attack, you can recover more quickly. <\/p>\n<p>Good luck. Stay safe. Let us know if you have any other safety tips in the comments below. <\/p>\n<p><!----><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em>You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidgewirtz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">@DavidGewirtz<\/a>, on Facebook at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/davidgewirtz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Facebook.com\/DavidGewirtz<\/a>, on Instagram at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/DavidGewirtz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Instagram.com\/DavidGewirtz<\/a>, and on YouTube at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/DavidGewirtzTV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">YouTube.com\/DavidGewirtzTV<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>READ MORE <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/watch-out-for-this-triple-pronged-paypal-phishing-and-fraud-scam\/#ftag=RSSbaffb68\">HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We spotlight a nasty fraud attempt and show how you can protect yourself and your family.<br \/>\nREAD MORE HERE&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zdnet-security"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Watch out for this triple-pronged PayPal phishing and fraud scam 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security &amp; Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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