There are more Paypal phishing schemes in the works all the times, it seems. In schemes to basically bait you to log into unsuspecting emails made to look like they’re from Paypal, thieves grab your account access info (user ID or email and password), steal your money and identity (identity theft) – and anything else they can, and take off and use it for their own gain.One of the latest schemes is the use of fake Paypal receipts, many with DELL on them. A sample is here:
Fake Dell receipt from Paypal:
> ———————————–
> Payment Details
> ———————————–
> Amount: $1604.63 USD
> Transaction ID: 88o3361272967
> Subject: DELL XPS 410 Gaming System
> Note:Don’t fall for this. If you feel the need to make sure no funds were involved of your own, head to the Paypal site on your own – i.e. do not click through any links in the emails. Then once you log in, you’ll see the emails were meaningless.

Identity Theft Protection: Email Safety Tips 

To be safer and practice safe email usage, note these tips and advice:

1) PayPal states on their own website that they only address PayPal members with the member’s first and last name. They do not address readers by e-mail address.

2) If you look closely at the Paypal links you are asked to click, you can sometimes spot fake ones fairly easily. For example:
Paypal URL: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run
Fake Paypal URL: https://www.paypal.com.dllsll2.us/icmd=_login-submit.htm
A genuine PayPal URL needs to start with its domain name: www.paypal.com. While a fake link will contain other characters like: www.paypal.com.dllsll2.us .

3) Look for errors in spelling and grammar. Paypal is a large company that hires professional workers for marketing. They won’t be misspelling words and using sloppy grammar in your communications.
 
4) PayPal would never ask you for your access combo (password and email) via email. They know these scam artists are out there and won’t attempt to reach out to you in this manner.

5) PayPal would also not ask you for any of the following in an email either:
• driver’s license numbers
• banking account numbers
• credit card numbers
• social security numbers
• for you to download something to *fix* your account
• for you to download something so that you’ll be able to access new features

So head to the Paypal website to conduct your transactions and to check things out. Do not click on any links inside emails that say they are from Paypal. They may not be safe. Always practice identity theft protection or  get Lifelock protection.  Beware and be safe.