Is this a PayPal scam?
Example text message
PayPal: You authorized a payment of $749.99 to CryptoMart. To dispute, call 1-888-555-0133 or click: paypal-resolve.com
SCAM
Usually a scam, and PayPal gives you a fast way to tell. It never opens with an impersonal greeting: its own guidance is that it never says things like "Dear user" or "Hello PayPal member", because real messages carry the full name on your account. Everything else follows from that, since a message that does not know who you are was not sent by a company that does.
How to spot the PayPal scam
- It greets you generically. PayPal states it never uses "Dear user" or "Hello PayPal member"; genuine messages use your full name.
- There is a phone number to dispute a charge. Real disputes are raised in the Resolution Centre inside your account, not by ringing a number printed in the message.
- It reports a payment or invoice you do not recognise, for an alarming amount. Fake invoices are cheap to send and are designed to make you call.
- The link is not paypal.com. Read the domain immediately before the first single slash and ignore the reassuring words in front of it.
- It asks for your password or a security code. PayPal only ever asks for your password on its own login page.
- It asks to install remote-access software so a refund can be processed. Refunds do not require control of your computer.
What to do now
- Do not tap the link or ring the number. Open the PayPal app or type paypal.com yourself and look at your account.
- Real activity appears in your account and in the Resolution Centre. If nothing is there, nothing happened.
- Forward the entire message to phishing@paypal.com, which is the address PayPal publishes for this, then delete it.
- If you entered your password on a linked page, change it immediately from a device you trust and review active sessions.
- If money moved, report it in the Resolution Centre and contact your bank or card issuer the same day.
What it looks like on your phone
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Sources and reporting
Use official channels to confirm a suspicious request and report fraud.