Warning: Suspicious Email Paypal Monthly Statement.

[Muttley Snickers]

I searched the forum prior to posting but couldn’t find anything specifically related and as the title suggests yesterday received an email which in appearance looks more or less completely legitimate and does include my correct name and primary email address, I didn’t open it and pictures are disabled in my Outlook anyway, hovering over the message links or a right mouse click on the message source revealed that it was from epl.paypal-communication.com and a Google search reveals that these types of phishing attempts have been around for quite a while but this is the first time I’ve personally encountered one like this, it was labelled as Paypal Monthly Statement which in itself is out of the ordinary as they do not send monthly statements.

Anyway, just a heads up and I’ve added it to the blocked senders list and might forward it on to Paypal in case they wish to address these parasites, they do actually request that questionable emails be forwarded to the site linked below but I’ve never had the need. The only trouble I am having with this scenario is that to forward it on I would need to download the included pictures which as far as I know may be risky in itself as indicated in the Outlook warning in the provided image, I’m not sure what action to take next or whether to just ignore it and delete the email, any guidance would be very much appreciated for future encounters. Also I’m pretty confident that I have redacted all personal information in the picture below but if anyone happens to notice something that I’ve missed could you please notify accordingly, many thanks.

Paypal link for forwarding (safe and official)
https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/phishing

[BradC]

I've had a few of these recently also. Oddly enough, they are being sent once a month like clockwork so they look like the real thing.

[Muttley Snickers]

My concern is that it was properly addressed and included my real name which I generally only use in official correspondence, I don't understand how they managed to obtain this unless they bought it from some other source, if it happened to be addressed to one of my many shifty and dodgy aliases then I wouldn't give a toss.   

[BradC]

Just for giggles, I clicked on the "login" link, and it redirected to the paypal site. All certs check out.
A quick whois on paypal-communication.com indicates it is owned by Paypal, so perhaps this is a new thing and they really are legit.

[Muttley Snickers]

I'm buggered if I know, I would have expected to see a notification of some type in advance to indicate that as from a particular date monthly statements will be provided, I didn't ask for them and really couldn't give a rats as to what my current Paypal account balance is just as long as nobody else has access to it, that's all I ask.

 

[Brumby]

I've been getting them for a couple of months now - but I really don't know why.  My PayPal balance is zero - and has been for quite a while.

[Muttley Snickers]

Well if you fellows reckon they are legitimate then that must be the case but I might just give Paypal a call just to settle my mind and make sure that the particular one I received was actually sent by them, I didn't know that other people were receiving these emails and my first direction was a Google search and by all accounts these types of emails out of the blue are judged by many to be professional in appearance phishing attempts, I generally see very few of these hence my concern.     

[Halcyon]

Yep, I can confirm these are legit. Even Gmail have marked this as "verified to originate from the sender". My Paypal account is always $0.00 but I still get these each month. They are also personally addressed to me and there are very few places on the internet where I use my actual legal name.

[Muttley Snickers]

 

Holy hell, I think I would rather deal with the idiots who occasionally attempt to scam my money than with the people at Paypal who consistently waste my time and frustrate me no end, I just got off the phone and they did confirm after a prolonged delay that they are in fact now sending out monthly account statements as others suggested but it didn't stop me from paying out on them for not sending out a formal notification in advance which they admitted to not supplying and made no apology for it either, I think this is just ridiculous and causes concern for people unnecessarily, anyway all is in order so many thanks for the assistance.

[Halcyon]

Holy hell, I think I would rather deal with the idiots who occasionally attempt to scam my money than with the people at Paypal who consistently waste my time and frustrate me no end, I just got off the phone and they did confirm after a prolonged delay that they are in fact now sending out monthly account statements as others suggested but it didn't stop me from paying out on them for not sending out a formal notification in advance which they admitted to not supplying and made no apology for it either, I think this is just ridiculous and causes concern for people unnecessarily, anyway all is in order so many thanks for the assistance.

I completely agree. Whilst I've given Paypal my real name (to match my credit card/bank details), they have nothing else. For years my account has been sitting in "limited" status because I refuse to give them copies of identifying documents (drivers licence etc...). But it hasn't prevented me from sending/receiving money, buying things or withdrawing money into my bank account.

They are absolutely brain dead when it comes to common sense. I remember years ago I had a Paypal account set up with a completely fabricated "name" -- It wasn't even a proper name though, it was something like "Anonymous A" or similar. I can't recall the actual sequence of events but for whatever reason I needed to change my details to my actual name (probably so I could link a card or whatever) which it wouldn't allow me to do. I even called them and explained "I set up a Paypal account with a fake name and I need to change some details...". They outright refused to do anything until I sent them copies of all kinds of ID, they wouldn't even delete the account. So bugger them, I just signed up for another one using a different e-mail address.

The way I see it, they aren't a bank, they don't need my details. If they absolutely needed them in order to comply with whatever laws or financial services obligations, then they wouldn't let me open an account in the first place.