PayPal users, the email message below with the subject: "[Paypal] Account Limitation," is a fake and a phishing scam. The email message claims that the recipients' PayPal accounts have been hacked and they need to remove the suspension that was placed on it. But, the email message was not sent by PayPal and is a scam created by cyber-criminals 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 Message
Subject: [Paypal] Account Limitation
Hello PayPal user,
Recently, we have detected different logins to your account from different country followed by some illegals buys sand we think that the hackers have hacked it, so we have suspended your account.
What do I need to do?
Open your account by clicking to "login" button, and remember to update your informations after logging in. we will give you 3 days to update your informations or wde will suspend your account forever.
Sincerely,
PayPal
P.S the following button contains a specila link that give you the possible to open your suspended account, but you should not logn from the page in office website because that can suspend your account forever.
Login
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.
You will then be asked to update your credit card information by entering it on the bogus PayPal page.
All the information entered on the bogus PayPal page, will be sent to the cybercriminals behind the scam. Once they have your PayPal credentials, they use it to hijack your account and use it for fraudulent purposes. This includes stealing money from your account, 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 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: