I have been using Paypal for a few months now and at first it seemed a very good way or paying/receiving payment. However over the last few weeks I have encountered problems.

First off I had money refunded to a buyer whose item got lost in the post, despite having proof of postage, because paypal deemed my proof unsuficient. I cut my losses with this, but now I have found my account has been "limited" because suspicous activity was detected yesterday.

I have heard about accounts being "frozen" and people losing all the money in them because they can't proove they haven't been involved in anything, is this what has happened to mine?

The email I received told me to log on and go onto the "Resolution Center" to sort it out, but when I try to do that I can't log in. I'm asked to fill in some info to verify it's my account first and for some reason I put in my debit card number and it just tells me it's not a valid one.

What can I do? I can't even find an email address to email them and ask...

Has anybody had this happen to them?

Any replies appreciated. x

i haven't had this sort of problem before, but if you want to contact PayPal, then go visit this link
https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_contact-general
You may have already done so, but go through the steps shown in the page, then ask your questions

Ok, I'll give it a try. Thanks! x

Hi,

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The email I received told me to log on and go onto the "Resolution Center" to sort it out, but when I try to do that I can't log in. I'm asked to fill in some info to verify it's my account first and for some reason I put in my debit card number and it just tells me it's not a valid one.

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after reading it again, it does sound like a scam. the email address that paypal should of used to email you must be service@paypal.com/.co.uk

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Originally posted by Reaper
after reading it again, it does sound like a scam. the email address that paypal should of used to email you must be service@paypal.com/.co.uk

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Originally posted by Ddunk

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Originally posted by Reaper
after reading it again, it does sound like a scam. the email address that paypal should of used to email you must be service@paypal.com/.co.uk

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An email address can EASILY be faked. Just checking the email address will do no good.

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Originally posted by Reaper
i know that, but every single email i get from paypal has been from service@paypal.co.uk

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Originally posted by ShawnZ
yes, but EMAIL ADDRESSES CAN EASILY BE FAKED

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Hi again. It did turn out to be a scam in the end... I contacted my bank and they advised that the best thing was to to close my account and open a new one - so I have a new account number card number etc now. Thanks for all the replies.

Adeptus, looking at the link you gave I think this is what I was sent. Certainly seems to describe it.

Today I have received another "paypal" email... although I am being far more cautious this time around. Lol. This one even sounds suspicious to me. And the address it is sent from is not service@paypal.co.uk  as they usually are, but from the address service@bank.pay-pal.com

What I found strange about this one today is it's content;

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We recently noticed the following issue on your account:

Your bank has contacted us regarding some attempts of charges from your credit card via the Paypal system. We have reasons to believe that you changed your registration information or that someone else has unauthorized access to your Paypal account Due to recent activity, including possible unauthorized payments placed on your account, we will require a second confirmation of your identity with us in order to allow us to investigate this matter further. Your account is not suspended, but if in 48 hours after you receive this message your account is not confirmed we reserve the right to suspend your Paypal registration. If you received this notice and you are not the authorized account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of Paypal policy to represent oneself as another Paypal user. Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law. Paypal is committed to assist law enforcement with any inquires related to
attempts to misappropriate personal information with the intent to commit fraud or theft. Information will be provided at the request of law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

To confirm your identity with us click here:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr/?cmd=_login-run-secure

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Originally posted by Gin
Hi again. It did turn out to be a scam in the end... I contacted my bank and they advised that the best thing was to to close my account and open a new one - so I have a new account number card number etc now. Thanks for all the replies.

Adeptus, looking at the link you gave I think this is what I was sent. Certainly seems to describe it.

Today I have received another "paypal" email... although I am being far more cautious this time around. Lol. This one even sounds suspicious to me. And the address it is sent from is not service@paypal.co.uk  as they usually are, but from the address service@bank.pay-pal.com

What I found strange about this one today is it's content;


It's weird considering I have done this, but I don't think it's real as I have logged onto my paypal account and had no problems doing so, and found nothing saying I need to fill in information.

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Never EVER click on links of which the URL does not begin with the official host of the company the mail is from (or claims to be).

And by URL I mean the actual link, not the stuff you'll see in the mail itself.

The only way to see the true URL is by looking at your statusbar in your email client (or browser). What is displayed in the text can be whatever they wanted it to be...

eg: look at this link. Nothing suspicious right? Take a look again and this time hoover your mouse over the link and look at your status bar.

http://www.msgplus.net/

So, this is a very important reason why you should always have status bar visible (may sound stupid but I know many people who fail to see the use of them... well here you go )!

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Thus I'm very sure that this https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr/?cmd=_login-run-secure link was the think you saw in the mail, but what was the actual URL? I very highly doubt it was that same link...

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Also, email addresses themself say absolutely nothing. Except that official sites will always use offcial emails, but then again, so will sites and people who want to steal from you..

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
The only way to see the true URL is by looking at your statusbar in your email client (or browser). What is displayed in the text can be whatever they wanted it to be...

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yeah... true... (but you can have some control over that: eg: never enable scripting for emails...there is no use for it either actually)

so, indeed the truely only way would be to right click a link (provided that isn't your shortcut to open the link in a new window or whatever) and choose properties to see the actual URL (or script command) behind the link.

Gin,

You simply need to get in the habit of deleting all such unsolicited emails without even reading them.  Even if they were from Paypal, they probably would be advertising you can live without. 

To give you an idea how bad it can get, I receve 6 or more fake "Paypal" and various bank emails at one of my older email addresses, each day.

The only exception would be if you did something on Paypal or bank website and were explicitly told they will email you a confirmation with a link to click.  In that case, you should check for it right away and do it.

If you still read some unexpected email and feel concerned about it, just go to the site using your existing bookmark or typing in the address as you normally would.  If there is a real issue with your account, you should receive some notice about that after you log in.

P.S. Do not -- I repeat, do not -- rely on any suggestions on how to distinguish "good" emails from the "bad" ones.  While someone with a strong technical / security background may be able to do so by simple inspection, there are too many tricks to be aware of for a typical user -- and the list keeps growing.  False sense of security is a very bad thing.