COLORADO SPRINGS — More than 300 million consumers worldwide use PayPal to purchase items online. With all of that money changing hands, fraudsters and scammers know this is an area they can steal money and information by tripping people up.
One of our local viewers wants to shed light on one of the most recent attacks.
”They are picking on old people. You know? I’m an old guy," said News5 viewer Ed Kley. " I don’t feel it. I’m 26 between the ears, but they take advantage of people that just don’t know any better.”
Kley says he uses PayPal from time to time to pay for things.
”There’s so many things that you can pay on PayPal and I’ve used it to pay for parking," he said.
But when Kley opened his email and saw a $451 charge for a new iPhone, he panicked.
”I mean you see a charge that’s going to be on your account and you think, oh my god. I can’t live with that,” said Kley.
But before taking action, Kley says he reached out to his family.
”My son, bless his heart, taught me how to spot a dodgy email,” said Kley.
This helped him to spot the scheme behind this phony email that appeared to be from PayPal.
”Then you go and they say if you want to contest this call this number, call our support team. Well, that’s the bait and that’s the hook," warned Kley. "Then they’re going to get you to pay something and then like you said they’re going to want sensitive information.”
He is right. In fact, PayPal scams like this are such a common threat that the company itself has a portion of it’s website dedicated to outlining more than a dozen potential scams to help customers spot them.
For Kley, he says talking to someone he trusted before calling the number in the email was an important step he hopes others will take.
”It’s excellent support because you don’t feel alone and they understand," said Kley. "They want the best for you and if it’s a family member they don’t want you trapped in that.”
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