The calls often begin with an automated announcement warning the recipient of an impending large transaction - a transaction that never actually took place. The aim of these calls is to obtain your personal information or to trick you into committing fraudulent actions.
This is how the scam works
The scammers use a simple but effective strategy. You play a recorded announcement claiming that a payment of several hundred euros was made through your PayPal account. Sometimes an alleged purchase on Amazon or third-party access to your account is faked.
To stop the transaction, you will be asked to press a button. If you do this, you will be connected to a fake call center agent who will attempt to obtain further sensitive information from you.
Variants of telephone scammers
This scam comes in different variants. The callers not only pose as PayPal employees, but also as representatives of Interpol, Europol, the police or well-known companies such as Amazon or Microsoft.
Their goal is always the same: to reveal personal data, access data or account details.
Protection against fraudulent calls
To protect yourself from this type of fraud, you should…
- Always be suspicious of calls with a recorded message.
- hang up without complying with a request.
- do not reveal any personal information.
- Avoid installing remote maintenance software or allowing strangers to access your devices.
If you are unsure, check the situation directly through the official PayPal or Amazon channels.
Conclusion: Stay alert and informed.
Telephone scams in the name of PayPal are a sophisticated scam to obtain your personal information. Stay vigilant, do not respond to such calls and protect your information. Also inform those around you about this scam.
Source: polizei-beratung.de
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )