A co-worker forwarded this rather convincing PayPal scam to me. Thanks Elena.
A highly sophisticated email scam is targeting PayPal users with the subject line of “Set up your account profile.”
We decided to see what the scammers are after. First thing to do is to look at the headers:
The sender address service@paypal.com (sometimes the emails come from service@paypal.co.uk) looks legitimate because it is, but the scammers have spoofed the address.
Basically, when someone sends an email, their computer tells the email system what address to show as the sender. Scammers take advantage of this by using special software or programs that let them type in any “From” address they want. This technique is called spoofing. The scammer sends their email through the internet, and since most email systems aren’t strict about checking this information, the fake sender address is displayed just like a real one would be.
So it’s hard for the everyday user to tell if the email has been spoofed or not.
There are other signs that the email might be a scam though. There is the unusual recipient address, which is nothing like the one of my co-worker. Rather than targeting one individual, scammers set up a distribution list (often using Microsoft 365/Google test domains) with their own domain or, in this case, a compromised one. This allows them to send bulk phishing emails while masking their intent, but does mean that recipients see an unfamiliar address, e.g. {somebody}@{unknow-domain}.test-google-a.com, instead of their own.
The “.test-google-a.com” part of the address refers to a domain often used in testing or in cloud setups through Google Workspace, but in the context of this scam email, it’s a strong indicator of malicious activity or advanced phishing techniques rather than official Google practice. So, that’s red flag #1.
When looking at the email itself, the subject line has nothing to do with what the email is asking the target to do. That’s red flag #2.
“Set up your PayPal account profile
New Profile Charge: We have detected a new payment profile with a charge of $910.45 USD at Kraken.com. To dispute, contact PayPal at (805) 500-8413. Otherwise, no action is required. PayPal accept automatic pending bill from this account.Your New PayPal Account added you to the Crypto Wallet account.
Your user ID: Receipt43535e
Use this link to finish setting up your profile for this account. The link will expire in 24 hours.”
The layout of the email looks convincing enough, likely copied from an actual PayPal email.
The content however is typical for a phishing email:
- Urgency: The link will expire in 24 hours.
- Amount: Over $900 dollars to grab your attention
- Crypto wallet: most people have only a vague notion of how crypto wallets work, so they don’t see the lie immediately. And Kraken.com is a crypto trading platform, so there is no discrepancy there.
- The phone number listed is known by the Better Business Bureau as related to this type of scam
- The recipient is not addressed by name in the email. Legitimate PayPal emails will always address you by your full name or business name, never generic greetings like “Dear Customer” or “Dear User”, or none at all as in this example. Red flag #3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
The language used in the email is not perfect, but also not bad enough to stand out like a sore thumb. We have discussed in the past how AI-supported spear phishing fools more than 50% of targets, so looking for spelling errors is often not helpful these days.
But now comes the part which showcases the sophistication level of this scam. The link the button in the email points to, actually goes to PayPal.
However, the effect is different from what the target of the phishing email would expect. They are not going to set up a profile nor dispute a payment.
By clicking the link in the email, the target starts the routine to add a secondary user to their PayPal account. The danger here is that a secondary user can issue payments. In other words, the scammer would be able to clean out your PayPal account.
PayPal has over 434 million active users so for phishers that’s a large target audience. To make their attacks more targeted, some groups of phishers will buy or steal large databases of email addresses that are associated with PayPal accounts or which have previously interacted with PayPal services.
How to stay safe
As far as we could determine this campaign has been running for a month or more. Here are some tips to help you avoid being caught out:
- Look out for the red flags above.
- Always search phone numbers and email addresses to look for associations with known scams.
- Go directly to PayPal.com to see if there are any messages for your account.
- Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) to add an extra layer of security to your PayPal account and help prevent scammers getting in.
- Report suspicious emails and phishing emails to phishing@paypal.com. Then delete them.
We don’t just report on scams—we help detect them
Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. If something looks dodgy to you, check if it’s a scam using Malwarebytes Scam Guard, a feature of our mobile protection products. Submit a screenshot, paste suspicious content, or share a text or phone number, and we’ll tell you if it’s a scam or legit. Download Malwarebytes Mobile Security for iOS or Android and try it today!
