They Never Quit - New Scam Email

[redhawker]

Just got a new email notice from PayPal. It starts off with...

"HELLO to Gerard Guckin
We are greatful to inform you that reference no-721499 is being on process.
Please confirm us your address Midland, MI 48640.
From Locating on 951 W Philadelphia Ave,
Thankyou for your participation on 02 Jun 25 - 18:46:03
Please confirm us or let us know before reaching to us."

Then this "official looking" (LOL) PayPal notice...

...and then it ends with...

 thankyou.

First off, not my name, of course, not my city, no such address in that city (I checked), and, as you can see, several spelling and grammatical errors in the greeting. Additionally, since I moved two years ago, I no longer have a bank account associated with my PayPal account, which I haven't used since shortly before the move (the bank account linked to it has been closed for almost two years). Nice try though.

 

[hittman]

Get em all the time …. By email or text ……the delete button works great on those

 

[Wvfarrier]

Sometimes its like they arent even trying

 

[Kevin]

But wait Mr. Guckin, there’s more!

What a name!

Last week I got about 50 spam phone calls. Just all day long non stop. The emails ive gotten under control, and with filters I’ve really cut down on them.

My daughter took a pre-SAT test. The company then of course sold her name and contact info to every university in the country. She gets about 50 emails a week from different colleges and probably 1 or 2 mailed advertisements per day.

 

[redhawker]

Almost forgot. In this line, "Thankyou for your participation on 02 Jun 25 - 18:46:03". It is saying today (02 Jun 25) at 6:46.03 pm (which I think most of us know, that's what 18:46:03 means). They emailed this at 2:46 pm, so this supposedly happened 4 hours in the future...

 

[AJGUNNER]

I have received 3 text just today from the DMV telling me I have an unpaid ticket and as of June 3rd they are prepared to take action as follows---suspend license, suspend car registration, send to collections, tarnish credit rating, etc. I can take care of it simple and easy by clicking the attached link and paying the past due traffic violation fine.

Pretty certain the DMV has no idea what my phone number is.
I know I don't have any unpaid violations.
Etc, etc, etc.

Report as spam and delete.

 

[redhawker]

I have received 3 text just today from the DMV telling me I have an unpaid ticket and as of June 3rd they are prepared to take action as follows---suspend license, suspend car registration, send to collections, tarnish credit rating, etc. I can take care of it simple and easy by clicking the attached link and paying the past due traffic violation fine.

Pretty certain the DMV has no idea what my phone number is.
II know I don't have any unpaid violations.
Etc, etc, etc.

Report as spam and delete.

I get a couple of these a week, and because I didn't change my cell phone number when I moved, they are referencing "violations" from a state, county, and highway about 2300 miles from where I live now. Again, nice try.

 

[Danjet500]

My email provider has a "Block Sender" icon. When I press that icon it not only deletes the email but it also prevents it from going to my trash folder.

 

[Fox Mike]

Spam filter gets most of those and I just delete the rest.. I don't do PayPal, Norton, Geek Squad. I forgot McAfee and iCloud

 

[Ale-8(1)]

My email provider has a "Block Sender" icon. When I press that icon it not only deletes the email but it also prevents it from going to my trash folder.

Yep, me, too.

 

[Lt92]

Just got a new email notice from PayPal. It starts off with...

"HELLO to Gerard Guckin
We are greatful to inform you that reference no-721499 is being on process.
Please confirm us your address Midland, MI 48640.
From Locating on 951 W Philadelphia Ave,
Thankyou for your participation on 02 Jun 25 - 18:46:03
Please confirm us or let us know before reaching to us."

Then this "official looking" (LOL) PayPal notice...

View attachment 74610

...and then it ends with...

 thankyou.

First off, not my name, of course, not my city, no such address in that city (I checked), and, as you can see, several spelling and grammatical errors in the greeting. Additionally, since I moved two years ago, I no longer have a bank account associated with my PayPal account, which I haven't used since shortly before the move (the bank account linked to it has been closed for almost two years). Nice try though.

Yeah but they will send this out to a thousand random folks...if just one of them bites, their effort may pay off...caveat emptor

 

[vito]

The scammers have gotten a lot more clever than the Nigerian prince attempts a few years back. And by copying legitimate logos they sometimes can appear to be valid communications. I think it is a public service to tell as many folks as you can about the scam messages, emails, and phone calls as possible so that if they get the same attempt they will recognize it for what it really is.

A few months back I received what appeared to be a legitimate message from my bank. I then contacted the bank myself to confirm the legitimacy of the communication. A simple and effective method to keep from inadvertently giving any information at all to a possible scam.

 

[moparclan]

Get them quite often either delete or send a colorful message back then delete.
Watch the movie Beekeeper.

 

[Jeepnik]

I just wish my wife could stop opening every email she gets on her phone. Then she complains about all the spam/scams she gets. Fortunately, that phone is on an entirely stand alone account.

 

[redhawker]

A few months back I received what appeared to be a legitimate message from my bank. I then contacted the bank myself to confirm the legitimacy of the communication. A simple and effective method to keep from inadvertently giving any information at all to a possible scam.

Yeah, all of you probably already know this, but if you receive something that looks like it might be legitimate, don't click on the link in the email. Contact the company, bank, or other entity in the way you usually would. If there is a problem, a message will be displayed on the legitimate web page for your attention. If there is no message, then you can be sure it was a scam attempt.

 

[Yaworski]

I got a text from Paypal asking me about a transaction. I hadn't paypalled in quite a while so I looked at my account and found a $3,000 ebay transaction. Went on ebay and found the transaction. Called PayPal and they reversed the transaction post haste.

During my conversation with the PayPal rep I mentioned the text. She said, "We don't send texts. That was a fishing attempt." So a fishing attempt alerted me to fraud on my account.

 

[Yaworski]

I just wish my wife could stop opening every email she gets on her phone. Then she complains about all the spam/scams she gets. Fortunately, that phone is on an entirely stand alone account.

Back when I did small office computer consulting I got a call from a client's secretary telling me that her computer was acting funny. I went to the office and started running a virus and malware checkers. Over 30,000 infected files. She would open every email and click on every link.

Client paid the bill and then told his secretary that if she ever did anything like that again, she'd be fired.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

Whenever the text reads as if some guy who held Captain Phillips hostage with an AK47 wrote it......you can pretty much bet it's boogus......;)

Yet there are people who fall victim to these shenanigans every day....then get upset with LE when it can't be brought to financial resolve. :rolleyes:

 

[MaxMan]

They do it up right with the logo and all.

 

[vito]

I have a son-in-law who plays with the scammers as sort of a hobby of his. He received an email from someone claiming to be offering him a surefire investment. He responded saying that he wanted the sender to send him a photo to prove he was a real person, and to wear a red shirt and a blue hat in the photo. Sure enough he received a photo of an Asian looking man in a red shirt and blue hat. Then my son-in-law asked for another photo, holding up that day's newspaper to prove that this was a real investment offer. Again, a photo came showing the same man as earlier holding up a Chinese appearing newspaper. Then my son-in-law said that before he would enter the investment, he wanted the sender to just send him some earnest money, say $500, to show his true intentions. He never got an answer, but he got a lot of laughs over the whole process.