Phishing emails, by which scammers and identity thieves attempt to lure you into either clicking on links contained within the email which will download malware or providing personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft, are nothing new.  They are a staple of identity thieves and scammers and with good reason because they work.  As always, they lure you by making it appear that there is an emergency that requires your immediate attention or else dire consequences will occur.

Here is the email presently circulating.  I have deleted a link to click on to “Review the Document.”:

DocuSign

Your document has been completed
VIEW COMPLETED DOCUMENT
Adriel Lim
fake.i.d8.60.5@gmail.com

All parties have completed Reminder: Urgent: Unusual Transaction Detected on Your PayPal Account.

Dear Customer,

We have identified a potentially unauthorized transaction on your PayPal account. If you did not authorize this payment, please review the details below and take immediate action.Contact number +1 (833) 307-3589.

Transaction Details:
Order ID: 840034345993221

Transaction Date: March 23, 2026

Transaction ID: KAQ567000434912

Amount: $899.00 USD

If this transaction was made by you, no action is needed. However, if you do not recognize this activity, please log in to your PayPal account and report it immediately via the Resolution Center or contact PayPal Support at +1 (833) 307-3589.

For your security, avoid sharing account details and be cautious of suspicious links.

We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
PayPal Security Team

TIPS

Legitimate emails from a company with which you do business would include the last four digits of your account and include your name. The email looks legitimate and has the logos for Docusign and PayPal, but logos are easily counterfeited and AI can be used to make the email appear to be legitimate.

What makes this phishing email particular insidious is that it actually comes from a PayPal account.  Scammers set up accounts posing as legitimate companies so that the email address will appear legitimate.  This also enables them to avoid spam filters used by your email provider.

As with all phishing emails, two things can happen if you click on the links provided or contact the scammer by a phone number provided.  Either you will be sent to a legitimate looking, but phony webpage where you will be prompted to input personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft or, even worse, merely by clicking on the link, you will download malware such as keystroke logging malware that will steal all of your personal information from your computer and use it to make you a victim of identity theft.

If you call a phone number contained in the email, you will be prompted to provide credit card information or other personal information that will lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft.  If you receive an email like this and think it may possibly be legitimate, merely call the company from which the email purports to originate at a telephone number that you know is accurate and you will be able to confirm that it is a scam. The phone number for customer service contained in the email is not a phone number used by PayPal.  The customer service number for PayPal is 888-221-1161.  However, it should be noted that if you call the scammer’s PayPal customer service number you will get to speak to a real person immediately, while if you call the real PayPal customer service number you will need to go through numerous prompts before you get to a real person.

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