Venmo Charge
This email below has been confirmed as malicious or fraudulent by the Information Security department. If you have received this phishing email, do not open any attachments or follow the link(s) in the message; simply delete the email.This email falsely claims that $899 has been charged for an iPad to trick the recipient into authorizing this charge. It exploits PayPal’s trusted branding to create urgency and deceive the recipient into confirming a transaction that hasn’t actually occurred. Below are the red flags:
- Misleading Charge Information: The email falsely claims that $899 has already been deducted from the recipient’s account for an iPad purchase. This is intended to alarm the recipient and provoke them into authorizing a transaction that has not actually occurred.
- Action Button to “Complete Charge”: The presence of a “Complete Charge” button suggests that the transaction requires user authorization to proceed. This is a manipulative tactic to get the recipient to unwittingly confirm a purchase they did not initiate.
- Sense of Urgency: The email creates a false urgency by suggesting that the charge has already been applied to the user’s account, prompting quick action to rectify what the recipient might perceive as an error.
