Unsuspecting Aussies have been warned about a new phishing scam that appears to be a legitimate email from payment platform PayPal.
Those targeted receive a fake payment receipt via email, purported to be sent by PayPal, for a subscription to Norton 360 Deluxe costing $360.98.
The receipt includes a phone number to call should the recipient believe the charges are incorrect.
A note on the receipt reads: “If you don’t authorised this charges you have 24hrs, to cancel and get an Instant refund of your annual subscription by contacting our customer support team +61 2 8091 5185”.
But rather than connecting the caller to PayPal, the phone number listed on the invoice connects them to a cybercriminal who seeks personal details from the victim, including credit card information, in order to ‘reverse’ the non-existent transaction.
Instead, they use the personal details and credit card information garnered for fraudulent purposes.
Ironically, Norton 360 Deluxe is a subscription for a cyber safety package which includes malware protection, a virtual private network, parental controls, webcam blocking, password management and computer file backup.
Mark Gorrie, APAC managing director for Norton told news.com.au that its cyber safety platforms block around 300,000 fraudulent emails and text messages every day in Australia.
He said brands such as Norton and PayPal often feature in scams because they are “common brands that people know and trust”.
Mr Gorrie added that people should never use the contact details provided in an unsolicited email or text but should instead look up the contact details for the company independently and contact it directly to query a message or transaction.
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Figures from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Scamwatch show Australians have lost more than $19 million due to phishing scams so far in 2023, with more than 62,000 phishing scams reported.
People over 65 have lost the most due to phishing scams.
A PayPal spokesperson told news.com.au: “One way customers can verify if a purchase really has been made using PayPal is to go to the official PayPal site or PayPal app, log into their account and check their transaction history. “
“Customers should only ever contact PayPal over the phone using our official customer service hotline.”
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“We encourage customers to always be vigilant of any emails or texts and if they’re not sure if an email is legitimate, avoid clicking on any links or opening any attachments.”
The spokesperson added that if members of the public ever receive a phishing email or SMS that claims to be from PayPal, they should “forward the entire email to phishing@paypal.com and delete it”.
Know more about this story or have a similar story? Get in touch | michelle.bowes@news.com.au
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