I’m kinda freaking out: I just got a receipt via email for an almost $500 purchase that I apparently made through Paypal to buy a cellphone from LWP Electronics, to be shipped to someone in Maine. But I didn’t make the purchase and when I log in to my Paypal account, I don’t see any trace of the transaction. What’s going on?
Kudos to you for recognizing that any time you get any email about Paypal or any other online commerce system, you should always log in to the site directly rather than clicking on any sort of link that might be embedded in the mail. Why? Because you have receive a “phishing” message from some malicious person who is trying to get your account and password so he (or she) can log in and send all your money to their own account.
I’m betting you got the following message:
If you’re familiar with Paypal messages, you’ll immediately be suspcious about the convenient “if you need to dispute this charge” link on the bottom, as legit Paypal transaction receipts just end with “Thank you for using PayPal! The PayPal Team” and a PayPal Email ID. No small print, no links back to your account, nothing.
Even if you’re not familiar with Paypal email receipts, you should always be following the basic rule of Never click on embedded links that lead to log in pages!
Many email programs will also show you on a status bar or as a tooltip or hover box the destination of a given clickable URL too. In Microsoft Entourage, for example, moving the cursor over “Dispute Transaction” shows:
It’s a safe bet that Paypal isn’t using a Russian site to channel disputes, so if there was any question about authenticity of the message, that should immediately end any worries!
Be careful out there, everyone. There are smart phishers and hackers trying to get our money, bank account info, Paypal login, and much more, every day. And once gotten, it’s sometimes impossible to fix or recover things, as I hear about every day with people who have been duped into revealing their Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL or other account information and passwords.
I see the responses are dated many years ago, so I hope the spoof @paypal.com works. I don’t even have a paypal account & I kept getting roadblocked trying to dispute the unknown account. Used an email which is no longer active, but went to secondary email. So in trying to fill out paypay ID information, have I given some unknown person information on my emails? Sorry technically challenged.
here’s an email that i got. sounds like teh fake stuff i saw above. as far as i know i never completed opening an account with PayPal and have NEVER ordered or PAID anything thru PayPal. can you help get rid of this fraud? can you also verify whether I AM indeed on your books as having an account?
copied and pasted:
This email confirms that you have sent an eBay payment for an eBay item using PayPal.
…
From:
PayPal Account
…
Add to Contacts
To:
PayPal
This email confirms that you have sent an eBay payment of $795.55USD to lcharlestodd.43@yahoo.com for an eBay item using PayPal.
Payment Details
Transaction ID: 3H8UYF7440ODHZ447
Item Price: $795.55USD
Total: $795.55USD
Order Description: ELEGANT GUCCI WATCH
Item/Product Number:
(248637441952)
Note: If you haven’t authorized this charge ,click the link below to dispute transaction and get full refund
Dispute transaction (Encrypted Link )
*SSL connection: PayPal automatically encrypts your confidential information in transit from your computer to ours using the Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) with an encryption key length of 128-bits (the highest level commercially available)
Item Information
eBay User ID: lcharlestodd43
Name: Charles Todd III
Address: 504 Osage Drive
City: Leander, TX 78641
State: United States
Important Note: Cheryl Blake has provided an Unconfirmed Address. If you are planning on shipping items to Cheryl Blake, please check the Transaction Details page of this payment to find out whether you will be covered by the PayPal Seller Protection Policy.
If your email program has problems with hypertext links, then you may also confirm your email address by logging into your PayPal account at. On your My Account page you will find a “Confirm Your Email Address” link. Click on this link and enter the following confirmation number:
9853-7412-5233-8856-1227
Thank you for using PayPal!
FOR INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS ONLY Commissions and Fees incurred by sender: $0.00
Rate of Exchange: The above exchange rate includes a 2.5% spread above the wholesale exchange rate at which PayPal obtains foreign currency, and the spread is retained by PayPal. If and when the Recipient chooses to withdraw these funds from the PayPal System, and if the withdrawal involves a currency conversion, the Recipient will convert the funds at the applicable currency exchange rate at the time of the withdrawal, and the Recipient may incur a withdrawal fee.
RIGHT TO REFUND
You, the customer, are entitled to a refund of the money to be transmitted as a result of this agreement if PayPal does not forward the money received from you within 10 days of the date of its receipt, or does not give instructions committing an equivalent amount of money to the person designated by you within 10 days of the date of the receipt of the funds from you unless otherwise instructed by you.
Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response.
PayPal Email id. 87HH3R0
I too got the criminal email this morning. I wasa able to phone PayPal who advised me to forward Chang’s email to spoof@paypal.com
They confirmed that nothing has gone from my account.
I have managed to find ‘Bill Chang’ in Russia and have asked some ‘people’ to sort the problem there.
I just received the exact same email !!!
***********************
Dear PayPal Member,
This email confirms that you have paid LWP ELECTRONICS (sales@lwpelectronics.com) $374.99 USD using PayPal.
This credit card transaction will appear on your bill as “PAYPAL LWPELECTRONICS*”.
——————————————————————————–
PayPal Shopping Cart Contents
Item Name: BRAND NEW NOKIA 3250 CELL PHONE
Quantity: 1
Total: $374.99 USD
Cart Subtotal: $254.99 USD
Shipping Charge: $20.00 USD
Cart Total: $374.99 USD
——————————————————————————–
Shipping Information
Shipping Info: Bill Chang
202 N Magnolia Dr.
Saco, ME 04072
United States
Address Status: Unconfirmed
——————————————————————————–
If you haven’t authorized this charge, click the link below to cancel the payment and get a full refund.
Dispute Transaction
——————————————————————————–
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the “Help” link in the footer of any page.
PayPal Email ID PP924
************************
Having seen many scams in the past, all I did was forward the email to spoof@paypal.com .
IF you do forward it DO NOT ADD ANYTHING TO THE BODY OF THE EMAIL, LEAVE IT UNMODIFIED but DO NOT CLICK ON THE EMBEDED LINK EITHER!
I have gotten about 5-6 bogus emails this week, but this one is the first of it’s type I have gotten!!! The date is 12/6/2008 !!! Obviously this one has been around for quite a while.
thanks….that helped alot when i recieved one today…occourse i wasnt gonna click on amy link be it real or not would had copied and pasted it….here is the name so if you get it you will know….Edward Harrell
211 David St.
Springtown, TX 76082
United States
Important Note: Edward Harrell has provided an Unconfirmed Address. If
you are planning on shipping items to Edward Harrell, please check the
Transaction Details page of this payment to find out whether you will
be covered by the PayPal Seller Protection Policy.
Guys and gals, the EASIEST way (IMHO) to spot a scam email is that it won’t be addressed to you PERSONALLY….i.e. it’ll say something like ‘Dear Paypal customer’ INSTEAD of the name you have registered in your Paypal account!
Stay vigilant!
Hello…
what is up with this from paypal ?
PayPal strongly discourages users from calling their credit card companies in order to obtain PayPal Expanded Use Number before receiving their monthly statement in the mail. If PayPal receives a complaint from your card issuer regarding a phone call to your credit card company to obtain the PayPal Expanded Use Number, your PayPal Account may be permanently closed
SOUNDS LIKE PAYPAL IS GETTING TO BE AS BAD AS THE SCAMERS WHO TRY TO CHEAT THIER CLIENTS
Sheeeesh …I immediately closed my paypal act upon reading this and having paypal ask in thier offical site for my online banking password so they could verify my bank act OMG you have got to be kidding me
anyhows paypal is a scam now too it seems and want your ss#, bank act number, personal info, credit card numbers and now even your online banking password ? that is insaine
thanks this helped a lot, I was in a panic, Typed in LWP electronics and came right to your page.
I received this email from ebay also! I clicked the link -panicked- though I did have a thought in the back of my mind that it was a fake email. I filled out the dispute w/credit card info (which thankfully is a card i had on paypal which has been cancelled and i don’t think the info i gave was accurate anyway). Then i cancelled my account with paypal. They can’t get in still and see my bank acct number that was on my paypal acct – can they?
ALL I’M GOING TO SAY IS AS SOON AS I TRACK DOWN A LEAD, I AM GOING TO SHOW UP AT THEIR OFFICE OR HOME WITH A 44, SILENCER, AND HOLLOWED TIP BULLETS. THEN I WILL SAY “BYE BILL”
I RECEIVED PAYPAL MEMBER E MAIL CONFIRMING PURCHASE FROM LWP ELECTRONICS
THE SHIPPING INFORMATION WAS JOSHUA BARTON IN BENTON HARPER, MI
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS ANOTHER ONE.
THANKS FOR POSTING THIS
I don’t think that the ‘holdings’ company is at fault, since when you actually go to the site, it gives you one of those ‘placeholder sites’. So I think that the scammer used a non-valid domain name, so that all ‘complaints’ would basically go to the bitbucket and be unanswered.
Re: Bill Chang, Saco, Maine, and the bogus PayPal/Cell phone purchase. The domain name LWPelectronics.com is owned by Chestertorton Holdings, 655 Flower St #254, Providence, CA 90017.
I got one of these emails and knew immediately it was a fake. It does not address me by name. Biggest tip was the fact it came to my work address, which I do NOT use for my PayPal account. By this point, everyone should know to watch out for these scams and not assume anything. Always check. And never respond to requests for personal information. If you’re not sure it’s legit, forward it to eBay or PayPal and they’ll tell you. There’s no reason to stop using those sites and services just because some criminals are trying to rob people with these fake emails.
“I received the above e-mail and almost fell for it. I had the “dispute page” all filled out to the part where it asked for my pin #. I was looking for LWP Electronics on-line and found your site. This is really good, it will take many people in.”
Dear PayPal Member,
This email confirms that you have paid LWP ELECTRONICS (sales@lwpelectronics.com) $274.99 USD using PayPal.
This credit card transaction will appear on your bill as “PAYPAL LWPELECTRONICS*”.
——————————————————————————–
PayPal Shopping Cart Contents
Item Name: BRAND NEW NOKIA 6600 CELL PHONE
Quantity: 1
Total: $274.99 USD
Cart Subtotal: $254.99 USD
Shipping Charge: $20.00 USD
Cart Total: $274.99 USD
——————————————————————————–
Shipping Information
Shipping Info: Bill Chang
202 N Magnolia Dr.
Saco, ME 04072
United States
Address Status: Unconfirmed
——————————————————————————–
If you haven’t authorized this charge, click the link below to Verify your Identity to cancel the payment and get a full refund.
Dispute Transaction
——————————————————————————–
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the “Help” link in the footer of any page.
PayPal Email ID PP120
They have increased the amount of their bogus purchases. To bad we can’t track down these bastards.
Dear PayPal Member,
Please confirm payment to LWPELECTRONICS (sales@lwpelectronics.com) $2,829.00 USD using PayPal and your Shipping Information.
This credit card payment will appear on your bill as “PAYPAL LWPELECTRONICS*”.
——————————————————————————–
PayPal Shopping Cart Contents
Item Name: MacBook Pro 17-inch 2.16Ghz Intel Core Duo
Quantity: 1
Total: $2,799.00 USD
Cart Subtotal: $2,799.00 USD
Shipping Charge: $30.00 USD
Cart Total: $2,829.00 USD
Payment Status: Unconfirmed
——————————————————————————–
Shipping Information
Shipping Info: Lynn Allen
10154 Hidden Dunes Lane
Orlando, FL 32832
United States
Address Status: Unconfirmed
——————————————————————————–
Please click the link below to confirm or to cancel your payment
Confirm Or Cancel Your Order
——————————————————————————–
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the “Help” link in the footer of any page.
They are increaseing their purchases!! If we could only find these bastards.
PayPal Email ID PP84521
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Let me tell you, that I just expierenced the same problem. I got that dang letter. I clicked (like a dummy) the cancell link and couldn’t even access my account. Not even using my personal id information that only I should know, to change password. Apparently it was all changed too. It was an old account. Never used anymore. So the idiots didn’t get any money from me. However though it makes me very suspicious about my other account. Cancelling as I type this. Thanks everyone.
bill chang got me but no money cant you stop him. this is supposed to be a secure site sorry cant see it… i too as well as many of my friends and their friends are cancelling paypal and ebay…. this should never have to happen….to anyone……
The biggest problem of them all is PayPal. They do not reveal a phone number that anyone can call and get instructions or to say “Stop Payment!”
What this has done for me is make sure to never use E-Bay again. in fact, I am going to cancel all bids right now. E-Bay and PayPal hide behind a circle of canned replies.
Thank you and saludos, Rolando.
Just been phished by Chang. Made my hair, or lack thereof, stand on end. Thanks for your help. We owe you!!
I have been trying to contact PAYPAL b/c I, too, get the same BILL CHANG thing. But I can’t get into paypal b/c it won’t accept my password anymore AND when I click on forgot password, it says it has sent me something and I never receive it. BUT!!! I was so frustrated this morning that I put LWP ELECTRONICS in a search and came upon your site! I was shocked. Anyhow, I don’t have a question or anything, just wanted to let you know that I was glad you had something out there to explain what BILL CHANG was al about … especially since the email I sent to LWP at the address give was returned this morning! Thanks.