A PayPal account phishing scam email very similar to the ABSA bank scam reported is circulating around South Africa and has been for some time now. The mail is sent to thousands of random people around the country at any given time and asks the person to click on a link which takes them to a specific web page. Although to the trained eye and regular Internet users this hoax is quite obvious there are many that will enter personal credit card details and other private information online when prompted to do so. Be warned, if you fall for scams such as this you could fall victim to online crime and end up losing a lot of money.

The specific scam about updating a PayPal account circulating around South Africa that we are referring to looks something like this:

Dear PayPal client
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Closing Accounts and Limiting Account Access
This is your official notification that your account has been Limited. We recently reviewed your credit card and it seems that you are using the same credit card for 2 accounts. As you can read in our User Agreement ( section 5.11 ) opening multiple accounts is strictly forbidden. You are now requested to provide information relevant to your account. PayPal will investigate the matter promptly and if the investigation is in your favor, we will restore your account.

How can I restore my account access?

Click here and complete the steps to remove limitations.

Completing all of the checklist items will automatically restore your account access.

Thank you for using PayPal !
The PayPal Team

Copyright © 2009 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners

Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your Pravex Bank  account and choose the “Help” link in the footer of any page.

As you can see, the mail informs the user that they have entered details of the same credit card for two accounts. Upon clicking the provided link a user will be taken to a web page where they must rectify the situation by providing personal details in order for account limitations to be removed. Once again, DO NOT fall for this and NEVER enter any personal details online after clicking on a link in an email notification. Entering any personal information into the web pages you are redirected to will almost certainly result in identity theft or other types of Internet fraud.

There are others floating around imposing to be from South African banks such as FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank, but these banks will never ask you to click on a link and then provide personal information online. Whether you have an ABSA account, any of the other major bank accounts or a PayPal account in South Africa, be very alert to these email phishing scams doing the rounds and where possible, inform friends and family that regularly use the Internet.