is this Paypal Fraud?

[mean micra]

Dear abdul salam ,

PayPal as a regulated financial services company is required under law
to assess its customers against certain lists of individuals and
entities which have had sanctions imposed against them. PayPal as a
financial institution is required to comply with these regulations in
multiple jurisdictions where we do business.

Where a potential name match is identified, PayPal's policy is to lock
the account and request further identifying documentation. The decision
to lock your account has been taken solely by PayPal in line with its
compliance policy in regards to the legislation covering financial
sanctions.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. To regain access to
your account, provide the following documentation within the next seven
days:

" A copy of a government-issued photograph identification (i.e.
passport, driver's license) that provides date of birth
" A copy of a utility bill verifying your address

Include the email address associated with your PayPal account on all
copies.

Fax the information to Attention: Compliance at +303-395-2802 or mail
the documentation to:

PayPal, Attention: Compliance
P.O. Box 45950
Omaha, NE 68145
United States

PayPal currently does not accept scanned documents. Reply to this e-mail
with all questions at [email protected].

Sincerely,
Greg
PayPal Compliance Department
PayPal, an eBay Company

Sincerely,
Gregory
Risk Operations
PayPal, an eBay Company

Copyright (c) 1999-2006 PayPal. All rights reserved. PayPal (Europe)
Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in
the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution. PayPal FSA
Register Number: 226056

 

[m1ck97]

forward it to paypal, see what their response is.

 

[sonic]

definately fraud, dont forward anything before you check with them first.

this is a reply I got when I got a spoof paypal email;

Thank you for contacting PayPal about a fraudulent (spoof) email or Web
site. We appreciate you bringing this suspicious email to our attention.

We can confirm that the email you received was not sent by PayPal. Any
website which may be linked to this email is not authorized or used by
PayPal.

Our fraud prevention team is working to disable any website linked to
this email. In the meantime, please do not enter any information into
this website. If you have already done so, you should immediately log
into your PayPal account and change your password, as well as your
security questions and answers. We also recommend that you contact your
bank and credit card company immediately.

Important: PayPal and its representatives will NEVER ask you to reveal
your password. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this policy. If anyone
claiming to work for PayPal asks for your password under any
circumstances, by email or by phone, please refuse and immediately
contact us via our secure webform online.

Dear abdul salam ,

PayPal as a regulated financial services company is required under law
to assess its customers against certain lists of individuals and
entities which have had sanctions imposed against them. PayPal as a
financial institution is required to comply with these regulations in
multiple jurisdictions where we do business.

Where a potential name match is identified, PayPal's policy is to lock
the account and request further identifying documentation. The decision
to lock your account has been taken solely by PayPal in line with its
compliance policy in regards to the legislation covering financial
sanctions.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. To regain access to
your account, provide the following documentation within the next seven
days:

" A copy of a government-issued photograph identification (i.e.
passport, driver's license) that provides date of birth
" A copy of a utility bill verifying your address

Include the email address associated with your PayPal account on all
copies.

Fax the information to Attention: Compliance at +303-395-2802 or mail
the documentation to:

PayPal, Attention: Compliance
P.O. Box 45950
Omaha, NE 68145
United States

PayPal currently does not accept scanned documents. Reply to this e-mail
with all questions at [email protected].

Sincerely,
Greg
PayPal Compliance Department
PayPal, an eBay Company

Sincerely,
Gregory
Risk Operations
PayPal, an eBay Company

Copyright (c) 1999-2006 PayPal. All rights reserved. PayPal (Europe)
Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in
the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution. PayPal FSA
Register Number: 226056

There's no ' in drivers, grammatical mistakes in an official document ? I think not.

 

[Demarest]

I agree it is Definatly fraud

 

[59 bhp is more than enough]

yeah i got fraudlent message from paypal and ebay full of grammer and spelling errors. i forwarded them both to ebay and paypal and got the same response

 

[mean micra]

well guys my paypal has been locked for some reason.... i dont know why...

i've emailed them so im just waiting on them now...

hope its not fraud done off my account... i hate bloody tinternet...lol

 

[Zephyr]

Sincerely,
Greg <---Eh?
PayPal Compliance Department
PayPal, an eBay Company

Sincerely,
Gregory
Risk Operations
PayPal, an eBay Company

Copyright (c) 1999-2006 PayPal. All rights reserved. PayPal (Europe)
Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in
the United Kingdom <---hmmm

Fax the information to Attention: Compliance at +303-395-2802 or mail
the documentation to:

PayPal, Attention: Compliance
P.O. Box 45950
Omaha, NE 68145
United States <---hmmm

i aint sure but "greg" even if its short for gregory y put greg once then gregory but thats weird dunno if there is meant to b or not but a surname?

but also i noticed that all the contact is american but the bottom bit related to "europe" eh?

 

[wilsonian]

I always call paypal UK customer care and ask if there is a marker against my account - if not then inform them of the email and they'll give you an address to send it to - i think it's [email protected] but best call them and check.

It's strange as they've addressed it to you and not "paypal member" which they normally do.

 

[Alienfish360]

There's no ' in drivers, grammatical mistakes in an official document ? I think not.

There is if it's a driver's license as it's a possesive apostrophe the driver has a license therefore it's a driver's license. How it should read Driving license anyway.

 

[mean micra]

well they got back to me today confirming the legitamacy of the email was genuine...

they want proof of DOB and place of birth a utility bill and drivers license no photcopys or scans accepted...otherwise my account will remain locked...

i really dont want to send these off so im gonna have to leave it locked... they have my £20 odd quid and will not release it to me...

i think this stinks as they allow me to open and use the account for a year then decide to do security checks... arse's thats all i can say...

 

[rallybunny]

well they got back to me today confirming the legitamacy of the email was genuine...

they want proof of DOB and place of birth a utility bill and drivers license no photcopys or scans accepted...otherwise my account will remain locked...

That stinks. Did they give you a reason for it?

 

[mean micra]

the reason they give sounds like a fob off...

by law they are required to do security checks to match the identity to the person listed ie. me... but why don they just ring me or write to me to confirm rather than lock the so called fraudulent account and ask the so called fraudster to provide proof...

i know that when my bank suspect fraud they ring me straight away and ask me if i've misplaced my cards etc...

just a load of tosh really, im gald its only £20 odd rather than £100's or even more...

 

[Arnold]

Sounds a bit crap if you've completed all the verification & validation stuff already, otherwise whats the point in doing all that in the first place

 

[Ed]

Paypal is getting tougher. (thankfully) as it was once very weak and easy to get an account. You can trust their data security, and there is no harm in sending them deatils to prove who you are. Banks are just the same.

 

[mean micra]

OMFG!!! well i finally got the call back they promised me last week...

as i said i have given up cos its like £20... but check this...

In compliance with agreements made between the US government, Ebay and Paypal(one entity) will pass on personal information of all its account holders for further scrutiny...

and they (the US government) have flaged me among others as a potential threat to US security...

this really takes the biscuit, i cant believe the US think that my £21.80p is detremental to the US, and how the hell have they come up with assumtion that i am a threat to their country, hell my uncles an american...

i hate all this info sharing bull... i really dont mind showing anyone in the British goverment any docs, D/L, Birth Certificate,Utility bill Etc...

But no way hosay am i justifying my existance to the US goverment...

Rant over.... BTW has anyone else here had Paypal trouble? todays phonecall was from someone who new what was going on, while everyone else i spoke to fobbed me off...

 

[ollie240585]

Only trouble I had with Paypal was last christmas, I had my account hacked and someone went on a spending spree of about £400.

I had PayPal in the states phone me up asking if It was me that spent it.

Took about 2 weeks for me to get all my money back.

Was a real annoyance though!!!

 

[CAT 20T]

All sounds very suspect to me

Are you sure you're speaking to PayPal and not the scammers ??

 

[gam1984]

Unfortunatly this is the way the U.S. government is going at the moment. Totally paranoid isn't it?

The scary thing is that I was 99% sure at the start of this thread it was a scam as I couldn't beleive thast Paypal would actually do something like this for real. What I am assuming has happened is that the U.S. has got a so called "watch list" of names of suspected terrorists.

They have obviously picked up that funds are being moved between terrorist cells via online services such as Paypal and unfortunatly, you probably happen to share a name with a suspected terrorist somewhere, particularly if you are a man of Asian origin.

You will probably find that your also on the U.S. "no fly list" which would prevent you from flying to the U.S. as a suspected terrorist and various other things. This goes a lot wider than Paypal - its more about American foreign policy and security measures in general and my advice would actually be to write to your MP and complain.

Personally I've had no problems whatsoever with Paypal, but I think that what your being put through by them is a disgrace.

OMFG!!! well i finally got the call back they promised me last week...

as i said i have given up cos its like £20... but check this...

In compliance with agreements made between the US government, Ebay and Paypal(one entity) will pass on personal information of all its account holders for further scrutiny...

and they (the US government) have flaged me among others as a potential threat to US security...

this really takes the biscuit, i cant believe the US think that my £21.80p is detremental to the US, and how the hell have they come up with assumtion that i am a threat to their country, hell my uncles an american...

i hate all this info sharing bull... i really dont mind showing anyone in the British goverment any docs, D/L, Birth Certificate,Utility bill Etc...

But no way hosay am i justifying my existance to the US goverment...

Rant over.... BTW has anyone else here had Paypal trouble? todays phonecall was from someone who new what was going on, while everyone else i spoke to fobbed me off...

 

[lewic]

they (the US government) have flaged me among others as a potential threat to US security

This sounds well dodgy. Your PC may have been hacked and routed to a fake Paypal site. What number did you phone?

This is the legit UK Paypal contact number: 08707 307 191

PayPal Customer Service Agents are available to help you at the following times:

Monday to Friday: 6:00 a.m. GMT until 10:00 p.m. GMT
Saturday: 8:00 a.m. GMT until 10:00 p.m. GMT
Sunday: 9:00 a.m. GMT until 10:00 p.m. GMT

Call us on: 08707 307 191

We can only discuss an account with the account holder. Please have the following information available when you call:
Your telephone number
Your email address
The last four digits of your credit card or bank account registered with PayPal
For security reasons, we must verify the above details before discussing any account-specific information.

 

[Alienfish360]

I agree with Lewic

I'd also take all information and report it to your local Police Station and let them investigate this further.

When my brother got a US Visa recently he had to physically take his passport to the US Embassay and hand it over so they could check it in person.

By you sending your details what does it prove? They have nothing to check it against.

 

[gam1984]

I agree with Lewic

I'd also take all information and report it to your local Police Station and let them investigate this further.

When my brother got a US Visa recently he had to physically take his passport to the US Embassay and hand it over so they could check it in person.

By you sending your details what does it prove? They have nothing to check it against.

I agree that it does all sound very dodgy indeed, but what makes me think this could be for real is that they are don't to be asking for any information about the users bank account, Paypal username, password, etc.

If they are looking for a copy of a driving licence and/or bank statement it seems unlikely that it is someone trying to get into the account using a typical phishing method.

However, thats not to say that it is impossible that someone could be trying to steal your identity for some reason.....

In hindsight I agree with Phil (Alienfish). Check it out with your local police first and then contact your MP if it does turn out to be for real - that is if your bothered enough by it to do anything.

 

[lewic]

Did a search on 'paypal compliance department' and it turned up a few instances of same email, with slight variations. e.g. http://blog.mikelopez.info/2006/10/21/paypal-getting-serious-in-the-philippines/#more-1132
and http://www.paypalwarning.com/contact/?topic=1711&msgbrd=3
The scammers probably start by trying to hack the Paypal account, so Paypal legitimately freezes it. Then they send an email asking for ID - which is what they really want.
Your bank will probably be very interested in this! Good luck.