You Just Sent a Payment Text

You Just Sent a Payment Text Scam: How It Works

As online shopping has become very popular in the last few years, so did fraudulent transactions and text messages. The latest trap is the You Just Sent a Payment Text Scam hinting at a PayPal transfer. It could also happen by referencing other names of well-known money transaction processors. How does the scam work?

It is one of the most notorious text message scams out there. It works like this. You receive a text message that comes apparently from PayPal, starting with the phrase: “You sent a payment to”. It is a very similar text to the authentic ones that PayPal sends automatically every time you purchase something. Here is one example, in the screenshot below:

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The message informs that you've just sent an amount of money (it varies every time). The crooks rely on the fact that victims, knowing that they did not send any cash, will dispute the transaction. The text message offers, of course, a link to “Cancel payment now”.

Once clicked, the link opens replicas of the real PayPal or Venmo websites. You are invited to log in by typing your email address and obviously the password. Once you give scammers that information, you can rest assured that your account is compromised.

Alternatively, once you click on the link you might be taken to a questionable website having the risk to install malware on your device.

Below is a text message scammers sent to our Scam Detector phone today:

“You sent a payment to Clyve Murray. $431 was debited from your account via PayPal. To dispute the transaction, visit paypaI.club/members“.

The letters in the text could be different than what they look like. For example, the letter ‘l' in PayPal could be capital ‘i'.

You Just Sent a Payment Scam: How To Avoid

First, look for red flags. Check out for grammar mistakes, weird-looking characters, unusual phrasing. But most importantly, avoid clicking on links received via text messages. Period.

If you feel like doing it, look also at the domain name that shows up in the browser once the “Cancel the payment” button is clicked. If it's not from the company claiming to send the message, ignore it.

The best thing to do is to log into your account straight from PayPal's website, by typing paypal.com in your browser first.

 

You Sent a Payment To Scam: How to Report

Warn your family and online friends about the You Sent a Payment Text Scam by sharing it on social media now. You can also report the scammers to PayPal or the FTC using the two links below:

Report To PayPal Here
Report To The FTC Here

How To Protect Yourself More:

If you want to be the first to find out the most prevalent scams weekly – via email – feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter. You'll receive periodic notifications – we promise not to spam.

Last but not least, feel free to use the comments section below to expose other PayPal scammers.

Related articles:

Money Sent on Venmo Accidentally Scam

PayPal Alert Scam