Is this a genuine PayPal communication?

[SurreyGuy]

I received this e-mail yesterday and was wondering if it is a hoax/scam? I've checked my account and can't see any unusual "activity".

T.I.A.

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. During a recent screening, we noticed an issue regarding your account.

We have reason to believe that your account was accessed by a third party. Because protecting the security of your account is our primary concern, we
have limited access to sensitive PayPal account features.

We understand that this may be an inconvenience but please understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection.

For your protection, we have limited access to your account until additional security measures can be completed. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the
Resolution Centre. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal
by visiting the Help Centre and clicking 'Contact Us'.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Yours sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department

PayPal (Europe) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution.

PayPal Email ID PP522

[buildersmate]

I would contact PayPal to ask about it BY GOING DIRECTLY TO THE PAYPAL WEBSITE - not by using any link in the email sent to you. Reading the wording of it, it does sound more genuine than the plethora of bogus security requests purportedly sent out by banks and building societies urging one to sign in using one's password to genuinely looking sites that turn out to be bogus. And it doesn't apparently ask you for your security details.

[jake-the-peg]

Never, Never , Never go to a website through the link provided in an email you've received unexpectedly.

If you went through a link in this e-mail it will without doubt have taken your details at a site that looks exactly like the real thing and passed you through to the real site. This is called Phishing

If you still have funds in the account change your password immediately!

If you didn't follow their link and typed in the address manually or went via a link in your favorites then you'll be OK.

[SurreyGuy]

Thanks for that guys.

buildersmate - I'll contact PayPal directly. I hadn't done so up till now as I figured I'd get a quicker response on AB.

jake-the-peg - all I've done at the mo is read the mail.

[jake-the-peg]

OK,

Then the chances are that the server hosting the phish has already been found and shut down - if you follow the link it may just give you an error.

If it is still up you can report it to www.antiphishing.org

Some of these things are very professional and you're right to be suspicious - glad you've not lost money loads of people do every year

[SurreyGuy]

Cheers jake. There was no link in the e-mail I got, so perhaps it is a genuine mail.

[jake-the-peg]

If there's no link it may have actually been real then!

Did you accidently key a password in wrongly recently? it could be an automated message advising you of this.

[SurreyGuy]

Yeah, it would seem pretty genuine. No I didn't key in an incorrect password.

[buildersmate]

Any idea why its called Phishing and not Fishing, Jake?

[imd123]

Had quite a few myself all spoofs. Send email on to [email protected] Just type this in email address and leave everything else alone or it won't get through to Paypal. They will reply and confirm spoof or not. I think Paypal and ebay always use your name ie Dear Mr Smith

[SurreyGuy]

Thanks to everyone who posted answers. It WAS a genuine e-mail and it's all been sorted now.

[imd123]

Are you sure it was genuine. It looks exactly like the spoof ones i've had.

[SurreyGuy]

100% positive. I went onto the PayPal website and got it confirmed.

[Catso]

I get something like this nearly every week.

Anyway, my reason for posting was to point out that 1/ you can alter the settings of your email program (both Microsoft ones, anyway) not to show graphics/pictures within emails. So you just see the link as text. It is usually then obviously apparent that the link isn't to eBay/Paypal. 2/ Or, if you hover the mouse over a link in an email, it shows you the address of the link (no matter what the image shows) Or right-click and show Properties.

[SurreyGuy]

Hi Catso. There was no link in the mail I got, but thanks for the advice anyway.