LifestyleHoliday

Actions

Have online orders on the way? You may be a prime target for fraud

There were at least three different customers that went into Waukesha State Bank recently thinking someone spent more than $4,000 through their PayPal account.
WHEDA phishing
Posted
and last updated

WAUKESHA, Wis. — If you have online orders on the way, you may be a prime target for fraud.

There were at least three different customers that went into Waukesha State Bank recently thinking someone spent more than $4,000 through their PayPal account. They were very relieved to find out from employees that it was not real.

We spoke to Waukesha State Bank Fraud Analyst Amber Moore. All day she works to protect her customers from getting taken advantage of, including this latest phishing email going around.

At first glance, it looks legit. But as you can see, in a matter of seconds, our fraud analyst was able to circle at least ten tell-tale signs this is not real.

"The PayPal logo is fuzzy, it looks like it was cut and pasted," Moore said.

circles.jpg

She says the point is to scare a victim, "And wanting our customers to do something about it immediately without thinking."

The crooks' hope is for the victim to call the number at the bottom of the email.

Moore said, "They might say we'll do a refund so what they'll ask you for is your routing number and your bank account number."

Luckily, none of her customers fell for it.

Lisa Schiller with the Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin says this ploy has spread statewide, as potential victims are posting similar emails on the BBB Scam Tracker.

"I can tell you Paypal is one of those common brand names used in phishing scams all of the time on a regular basis along with Amazon which was number one posted to our office last year," Moore said.

Both Amazon and Paypal have areas on their websites for customers to report potential spoofing.

Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip