Lifelock Blog – Identity Theft Protection and LifeLock Reviews

PayPal is a very useful and popular tool to send and receive electronic payments. It’s a trusted service as evident in the number of major players (Ebay, Dell, Barnes & Noble etc.) that use PayPal to accept credit card payments.

It’s generally a helpful tool but some problems might arise such as frozen/closed accounts and identity fraud. In order to prevent these problems, here are some tips:

First, make sure you read and follow the rules stated in the PayPal Terms of Service (TOS). If you violate the PayPal TOS, your account may be frozen or closed. Some of these violations include selling electronic equipment, artifacts, event tickets and games software. There are over 39 categories in PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy so it’s best to check the list.

Second, awareness of scams concerning PayPal is vital. The most common PayPal scam involves identity fraud via email. To not fall prey to this scam, there are some signs that you should look out for.

For example, the email claims to be from PayPal requesting you to verify your information. Often the email will be sent to an email address that is not the same one PayPal has on file. Moreover, the email has forged headers, greets you with “Dear PayPal user/member”, or threatens to suspend your account if you don’t take immediate action.  Another sign would be if you click on the email link and you are led to a non-secure page (no https in the URL and no little padlock in the lower left hand corner of your browser).

Another common scam preys on World of Warcraft players who buy/sell items with real money. While using real money is already banned by Blizzard, there are some that cannot avoid it. Basically in this scam, you are sent a false PayPal proof of payment. So when you hand over whatever you were trying to sell, the scammer then gets your stuff for free.

Apart from being aware of these scams, it’s also wise to be more proactive in terms of protecting your PayPal account.

First, make sure that you use an effective password, one with a good mix of letters/numbers/lower and uppercase, less easy to translate and at least 8 letters long. It’s also recommended to change this password frequently (like every month). Another suggestion to keep your account safe is to never go to PayPal from your email account. It’s also a good idea to keep a record of PayPal account actions offline as well as to print out and keep in file all PayPal receipts.

When you follow the rules stated in the PayPal TOS, when you are aware of scams and proactive in keeping your account safe, then having a pleasant problem-free PayPal experience is a guarantee.  Get protected. Get LifeLock Identity theft protection.