The email message below with the subject: "Update Required! - You Just Need to Confirm your Billing Address," is a fake and a PayPal phishing scam. The email message claims that information on the recipients' PayPal account is missing or incοrrect and they need to update the information for their safety. But, the email message was not sent by PayPal and is a scam created by scammers to steal the recipients' PayPal usernames, passwords and credit card information, which they(scammers) will use to hijack their accounts and use their credit card information to make fraudulent purchases.
The PayPal Phishing Email
Subject: You just need to confirm your billing address
Update Required!!
Dear paypal user,
For your safety some information on your account appears to be missing or incorrect.
Please update your information promptly so that you can continue to enjoy
all the benefits of your PayPal account.
If you don't update your information within 2 days, we'll limit and suspend your paypal account.
sorry for any inconvenience caused by our security measurements
What to do
download the attachment as soon as possible. We may ask you to confirm information you provided when you created your account to make sure you're the account holder.
If you need help logging in, go to our Help Center by clicking the Help link located in the upper right-hand corner of any PayPal page.
Sincerely,
PayPal If you follow the instruction in this scam, you will be taken to the fake PayPal website and ask to sign-in with your PayPal username and password.
Whatever you do, DO NOT follow the instructions in the fake email message.
The bogus form attached will ask for username, password, personal and credit card information.
All the information entered on the bogus attached form, will be sent to the cybercriminals behind the scam. Once they have their victims' information, they use it to hijack their accounts and use it for fraudulent purposes. This includes stealing money from their accounts, using your PayPal and credit card to make fraudulent purchases.
If you have already entered your PayPal user name,password and credit card information on the fake website, please change your PayPal password and contact your bank immediately.
Please note that PayPal will always address you by your name, and will never refer to you using the following:
- Dear PayPal user
- Dear [Your Email Address]
- Dear PayPal customer
- Dear Valued Customer
- Dear Member
- Dear User
- Dear Customer
To avoid getting tricked by these phishing scams, never click on a link in an email message to sign into your PayPal account. Always go to www.paypal.com and sign into your account from there. PayPal will display important messages or notifications to you once you have signed into your account.
This PayPal phishing scam is similar to the following: