Online payment processing giant PayPal is used my millions of Americans and the increase of scammers using the company to defraud consumers is increasing.
The tech experts at ChicksX have outlined the most common PayPal scams of 2025 and how to avoid them.
The most common PayPal scams of 2025.
The “problem with your account” scam.
Email is a scammer’s preferred method of stealing your money. You may receive a phishing email claiming an issue with your PayPal account, and the email will also include a link and a request that you click on it to log into your account. These scams are some of the most common social engineering attacks designed to gain access to your PayPal account.
The “promotional offer” or “you have money waiting” scam.
With this scam, you receive an email offering a cash rebate or other financial incentive. The email will tell you that you must log in to your PayPal account to verify a few details to claim that reward.
Like other email scams, the link in the email directs you to a fake PayPal website. If you click on the link and enter your login credentials, the scammers get access to your credentials and can drain your account.
The “advance payment” scam.
This scam plays on emotion, sending you an email notification that you’ve won, inherited, or are entitled in some other way to receive a considerable sum of money from an unexpected source.
The only catch is that you first must send a small sum via PayPal to cover transaction fees (or some other fake expense), but once you send the small sum, you never hear from the scammer again, and you are out the money you sent.
The “shipping address” scam.
Scammers have a ton of shipping tricks up their sleeve to try and steal your money from PayPal. Unlike unsolicited emails that lead you to a fake PayPal site, these scam methods involve actually engaging with you on the real PayPal platform.
If you sell items online, then you’re the target audience for these scams. Several types of common PayPal scams involve shipping addresses including:
The buyer wants to use a preferred shipping method: The buyer will ask you to ship their item using their preferred shipping company, easily reroute the package to a different address, then contact PayPal and file a claim for non-receipt and ask for a full refund. Since you cannot prove the item wasn’t received, you’re out the money, the item, and even the shipping fees.
The buyer provides their own shipping label: The buyer will offer to send you a pre-paid shipping label, reroute the package to a different delivery address and claim they never received the item.
The buyer gives a fake shipping address: When the shipping company cannot deliver the package to the invalid delivery address provided, the scammer will then step in and provide a new, legitimate delivery address, but since the package gets rerouted, the buyer will allege they never received the item.
The “payment pending” scam.
A buyer will engage with you on PayPal to pay for an item you sell. They message you, claiming to have made the payment, but that PayPal won’t release the money to you until you provide a shipment tracking number.
The scammer wants you to ship the product and provide the tracking number before you get paid and if you do, the fraudulent buyer gets the item and disappears without paying.
The “fake charities” scam.
In case of natural disasters, for example, many people search for local charities where they can donate to relief efforts. Scammers often use this to their advantage, set up fake charities or donation sites and ask you for contributions via PayPal to fake charities.
