The Green Sheet Online Edition
May 5, 2023 • 23:05:01
Readers Speak: PayPal scams 2023
Bryony Benfield of Journo Research, journoresearch.org, reached out to us, thinking that as part of maintaining good rapport, payments professionals might want to alert their merchant customers to the following PayPal scams directed at merchants selling on the platform:
- Shipping address scam: Scammers have a ton of shipping tricks up their sleeve to try and steal your money from PayPal.
Unlike unsolicited emails that lead you to a fake PayPal site, these scam methods involve actually engaging with you on the real PayPal platform. If you sell items online, then you're the target audience for these scams.
- Payment pending scam: A buyer will engage with you on PayPal to pay for an item you sell. They message you, claiming to have made the payment, but that PayPal won't release the money to you until you provide a shipment tracking number.
The scammer wants you to ship the product and provide the tracking number before you get paid and if you do, the fraudulent buyer gets the item and disappears without paying.
To avoid these scams, as well as those directed at consumers, Benfield advised to never send money outside PayPal if you transacted on the website; always use your own shipping method; only ship to the address on the Transaction Details page; only deal with verified buyers and sellers; be wary of email links and attachments; get a good antivirus software; and only contact PayPal using the number listed on its website.
What's resonating with merchants today?
In your day-to-day interactions with your merchant base and prospects, what approaches have you found to be most effective for building rapport? Is offering advice on current business trends and problems useful?
Please let us know your thoughts on this and other issues of interest to the payments community at greensheet@greensheet.com.
Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact information, links and other details may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.
