Watch out for PayPal “Your Activity Report Is Ready” email scam

Email users should be aware of a surge of scam PayPal emails claiming to show your “activity report”.

The convincing looking emails come with the header “activity report available for download” and “your activity report is ready“. Inside the email, they claim the activity report you’ve requested is ready. They also provide a link where the recipient can apparently download the report.

The scammers are relying on recipients clicking the link despite not having requested any such type of report. An example of the email can be seen below.

However after clicking the link, the recipient is instructed to download a ZIP file. Inside that ZIP folder is an application file masquerading as either a Microsoft Word or Excel file. When executed, the application file will install malware onto the recipient’s device.

This is a classic demonstration about the dangers of clicking links or opening attachments in emails. Despite the email above looking to have come from PayPal, it hasn’t. Often scammers will attach malware to emails as file attachments, but in many cases they will ask the recipient to click a link instead, as this example shows.

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We strongly recommend never clicking links in emails that you were not expecting, since they could potentially lead anywhere. On PCs or tablets, most email interfaces will allow you to hover over a link with your mouse cursor to see the destination of the link. In this case, the link led to a website not related to PayPal.

Other tell-tale signs in the email above is that the FROM address does not belong to PayPal, and the email does not address us by our name, which legitimate PayPal correspondence will.

If you’re ever unsure if an email is legitimate, don’t click (and don’t open any attachments.) Go directly to the website in question (PayPal in this case) to download any files or ask support staff if the email is genuine.

Questionable emails that appear to have come from PayPal can also be forwarded to spoof@paypal.com.