The Stephen Bulgarelli PayPal Money Request scam is a recently reported scam targeting PayPal users. Scammers send Paypal invoices via email to people about ‘payment for Malwarebytes protection active’. The email prompts recipients to quickly call a number (+1 828 468 8044) if they didn’t authorize the transaction.
It’s obviously a phishing scam attempt as the email has the following red flags;
- The phone number in the email is NOT the number of PayPal
- The notification does not appear when recipients check their PayPal account on Paypal.com
- It contains grammatical errors
Who is Stephen Bulgarelli?
Stephen Bulgarelli is Applebee’s Chief Culinary Officer. His name is being used by scammers operating a PayPal Money Request scam. Stephen Bulgarelli holds no position or relationship with Malwarebytes protection service company.
How Does The Stephen Bulgarelli Paypal Request Scam Work?
The Stephen Bulgarelli PayPal Scam is a phishing attempt that attempts to make victims pay for service/product never ordered, and also give up their Paypal account, credit card or bank information. The scam works these ways;
- The invoice contains a fake Paypal customer service number which victims are directed to call. Upon calling the number, a scammer would fool them into paying the invoice or giving up personally identifiable information (PII), including financial data, such as PayPal account, credit card, or bank information.
- In some cases, the criminals ask victims to install software they claim will help with the recovery process. Instead, this software records the victim’s keystrokes or gives the criminals remote access to the victim’s computer.
- The fake Paypal Invoice may contain a spoofed URL which looks like paypal.com but is actually paypaI.com (capital ‘I’ in the end of PayPal instead of small letter L). Clicking on it takes the victims to a malicious website which would request for their Paypal account details. Then the scammers would use the account details provided to carry fraud attempt on the account.
Also, mere clicking on the link could expose your mobile device to viruses, spywares, or malware. This is because the website could’ve a malware program running in the background. Malware is software that is installed on a computer without the user’s consent and that performs malicious actions, such as stealing passwords or money. Malware can be installed in a variety of ways, including through email attachments, drive-by downloads, or by clicking on links in malicious websites.
What to do If You Received The Scam Paypal Invoice;
Report
Send an email to [email protected] with a screenshot of the scam email as an attachment. This can help them warn other customers and stop future scams.
Delete
Deleting the scam email will prevent you from mistakenly responding
Block
The final step you should take is blocking the email address that sent the scam email. You can do this by adding the email address in your phone’s spam list.
See similar trending PayPal Scam – Fern Doucette PayPal Request Scam
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