Pennsylvania AG Warns Consumers of PayPal Invoice Scam

Pennsylvania’s Attorney General is warning consumers to be aware of an online scam that seems to be happening more and more.

Dave Sunday released a statement this week warning Pennsylvanians about a PayPal invoice scam that’s being perpetrated at a growing rate. 

In this fraud, scammers send bogus invoices through PayPal. Consumers get a notification of this fake invoice through their inbox. Sometimes, they’ll get multiple emails to give the impression that paying the invoice is urgent. In these emails, a toll-free phone number is included, asking anyone with questions to call.

When people call the phone number, scammers use the opportunity to collect sensitive personal information on their marks.

“Scammers are well aware that many Pennsylvanians rely on PayPal to send and receive money to their friends and family, or as part of a small business,” Sunday says.

To avoid becoming the next victim of this scam, consumers are urged to follow two simple steps: 

Check the email address. Anything from an address other than service@paypal.com should raise a red flag. If it’s from any other email than that, ignore it.

Investigate the request for payment. If you don’t recognize the request for money, ignore it. Do this even if the email address attached to the invoice looks legit.

If you’ve gotten a phony PayPal invoice sent to you, you’re encouraged to contact PayPal customer service. You can also file a complaint with Sunday’s office.

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