PayPal users, the email "Receipt for your Payment to Apple Store Australia," is fake and a phishing scam. The email message claims that a payment was made from the recipients' accounts and they need to click the link within the email to get a refund. But, the email message was not sent by PayPal and is a scam created by scammers to steal the recipients' PayPal username, password and credit card information, which they(scammers) will use to hijack their accounts.
The PayPal Phishing Email Scam
Subject: Receipt for your payment to Apple Store Australia
PayPal
Transaction ID:F01JATYG515779
Dear User
You sent a payment of $158.00 AUD to Apple Australia
(payment @apple.com)
It may take a few moments for this trasactin to appear in your account
Merchant
Apple Ltd.
payment @apple.com
Instructions to merchant
Charge will appear on your credit card statement as "PAYPAL *APPLECOMPANY"
Invoice ID:20948-1-00917 Apple Company Ltd
If you haven't authorized this charge, click the link below to dispute transaction and get full refund
If you follow the instruction in the scam, you will be taken to a 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 a bogus PayPal page.
All the information that was entered on the bogus PayPal pages, 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 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: