Scams posing as official PayPal notices targeting locals

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If you're getting texts or emails pressuring you to call an unfamiliar number or click on a link, you best hang up and call your financial institution directly.
Thom Holmes

Scam emails pretending to be from PayPal have bilked several Eugeneans in recent weeks.

Eugene Police say one victim responded to the fake email, and was pressured into transferring his credit union’s balance into a supposedly protected and encrypted account. But the account was actually a Bitcoin machine wallet located at a West 11th liquor store, and the victim’s $15,000 is unrecoverable.

Another Eugenean was scammed out of $30,000 by a text claiming to be from Paypal security. Like the previous target, she was put on a call regarding a transaction she had not made, and was alerted to other problems which ended up with her depositing the money into a Bitcoin ATM.

Police say it’s important to know that a bank would never ask you to do transactions with texts and emails, and you should not respond. Complaints can be made directly with a bank or credit card company through phone numbers found on your official statements.

The EPD has alist of scams on its website. People can report scams to the FBI at a special site as well.

Copyright @2022, KLCC.

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Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.