Guys, be careful...more careful than me

[Duke Maddog]

Yep, I also got one of those official looking Paypal e-mails asking for approval of a funds transfer. I looked at my Paypal account and saw no request for funds. I checked all past activity during the past month and nothing showed up. I promptly went back to my e-mail account and trashed it. It was certainly a convincing looking e-mail too; I almost called the number but decided to check my Paypal account first. I'm glad I did.

[LyleW]

I don't know how or when, but that request was on my paypal screen.

[LyleW]

If you can get by, unplug it from your network.

it was until i reconnected to get on here this morning. Just before I sent the post above, and almost immediately weird things started. Someone over there was watching for the connection,.so i dropped it, unplugged everything and took it to the computer store. about $110 b uccks to get it wiped clean and a factory restore.

Can you block this "Dennis" phone number? Also, pay attention to the phone number. If it shows up on caller ID, don't answer it. Or simply say so and so county sheriff fraud department, how may I help l you?

I am not worried about that. I can hang up on him. These clowns wijll usually just move on in a bit. It will be interesting to see if they try to pull lthat transaction again in the morning.

The internet and financial services - making theft easier for the tech savvy…

It does do that.

[midnightprowler]

Wow. I happens my friend. Glad it's turning out good. I got fooled, not easy to do a few years ago by a virus alert on my computer. I don't remember everything exactly, but I remember it really looked genuine. They had me going for some time, even gave them remote control of my computer, until I started getting suspicious, I unplugged the computer. Then hung up on them. They called me back exclaiming how important it was they finish. I told them to go to he'll them promptly bought spyware malware protection.

[LyleW]

I have a McAfee subscription, but I need to find out if it will catch this type of thing in the future.

[BlackSheep214]

When in doubt, it's probably too good to be true. Delete it with no remorse. I get all kinds of "official emails" all the time. I usually block them and report them as junk.

Definitely do be careful if you get text messages. PayPal and all financial institutions do not send text messages of warnings.

Best way to determine if it's legit.... look in the sender's address. A subtle misspelling is enough a hint. Again, when in doubt, ignore it.

Unfortunately, scammers tend to target senior citizens often because they know they will panic and do what they "recommend " what to do. Senior citizens almost always fall into that trap under the assumption it's really from their financial institution.

I apologize for ranting on but I'm glad you've got the situation handled.

These scammers are getting clever nowadays.

[LyleW]

Tom, e are on the same page. I honestly cannot explain why I did it listen to all the warning bells.

[Stikpusher]

Lyle, a long time ago, my training officers told me to trust my gut. Now many years later, I listen to both. My gut has gotten bigger, but my thrust hasn’t. Trust must be earned in life, as you well know.

[Tojo72]

Just delete everything not familiar.Texts,emails,links,anything.
Don't engage in phone conversations,they can record your voice saying yes or okay and use that to sign you up for something

Really sorry you got embroiled in that mess.

[Floki]

Wow so many red flags! I'm glad you're getting it sorted out. In the future if you get something like this call Paypal CS from a number on Paypals website and not from the email they should be able to sort things out in a few minutes. If all else fails go straight to your bank or CC company.