How to deal with scam emails and suspicious activities.

Help protect your data is our top priority, and we’re working 24/7 to ensure that. It’s important you familiarise yourself with a few ways you can keep yourself protected.

How to spot scam emails.

Scam emails are meant to deceive you, so they will always try hard to look familiar.
But you can easily identify that something’s wrong by double-checking a couple of small details

Verify the senders address

Stay away from weird addresses. In Ireland a valid PayPal address would include the paypal.ie domain name.

Don’t rush

Many scam emails tell you that your account will be in jeopardy if something critical is not updated right away. It’s not true.

Check your PayPal account first

If a suspicious email announces that you have received money, log in to your PayPal account to verify that it actually happened.

Be wary of impersonal greetings

Emails calling you “Dear User”, or “Dear [email address]” are not emails from PayPal.

Don’t ignore typos and poor grammar

Emails sent by trustable companies are almost always free of misspellings and grammatical errors. If you notice mistakes, it’s probably phishy.

Don’t open attachments

A real email from PayPal will never include attachments. You should never open an attachment unless you are 100% sure it’s legitimate, because they can contain spyware or viruses.

Here’s what to do when you receive a suspicious email.


1

Forward the entire email to phishing@paypal.com

2

Do not alter the subject line or forward the message as an attachment

3

Delete the suspicious email from your inbox

How to stay safe online

A suspicious email asked you to go to a webpage, and you did?
Don’t worry: with a couple of good tips in mind, you can easily spot the impostors.

Even if a URL contains the word 'PayPal', it may not be a PayPal webpage.

If you provided any personal information in response to a phishing email or on a phishing website, change your PayPal password and security questions immediately.

When using PayPal, always ensure that the URL address listed at the top of the browser displays as https://www.paypal.com/ie. The 's' in ‘https’ means the website is secure.

If you provided any financial information, contact your bank and your credit card issuer and tell them about the situation.

Look for the 'lock' symbol that appears in the address bar. This symbol indicates that the site you are visiting is secure.

Review your PayPal account history to check that you recognise all recent payments.


Be cautious when communicating with others through direct messaging as scammers may attempt to trick you into providing personal information. PayPal users should never share sensitive personal or financial information, for example:

Bank Account Numbers or IBAN, including last four digits

Credit Card Number and CVV/CVV2/PINs

Passwords/PINs

Credit Data or Credit Score

Social Security Number or Personal Public Service Number

Account Balance, Credit Balance of any PayPal account or service

Government Issued ID information, for example: Passport, Driving Licence or National ID Numbers

Home address, date of birth, or personal family information


Need help? Contact us

If you think someone has used your account without your permission, tell us right away and we’ll help you as much as possible.

Contact Us