A 'rider' to the PayPal thread.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I've only used Paypal on about 3 ocassions to pay for I'net purchases. I usually use my Mastercard for these purchases as it offers a degree of protection. If you use PayPal,as with most kinds of I'net transaction,it requires the card 'valid fom' date & the card 'expiry' date.
A few weeks ago my Mastercard was close to it's 'expiry' date. I received an e-mail message from PayPal asking me to register my bank account number with them. The reason they gave was that although credit/debit cards expire,bank accounts don't & there's always cash there to be used in any transaction.
Have any of you guys /gals had a similar request ?. The mere thought of giving anybody my bank account # makes me cringe at the thought of what could happen. I don't know whather this was a scam or a genuine request (if mis-guided one)from Paypal,
Ivan

[Mike Bunting]

Did they ask or just suggest it as an option. I suspect the latter. When you get a new card, just update the new number in your profile.

[journeybear]

What Mike said. I would not respond to any requests to give information. But you should log in to your account and add the new card.

I realize things may be different for different people or different countries or as regarding other factors. But for my example: my PayPal account is linked to a bank account and a dedicated debit card, so if a purchase is greater than the amount in my PayPal account, it takes the rest from the linked bank account. So I actually have a zero balance with PayPal currently, although I just made a whopping great purchase - which as I mentioned at the other thread, required making a deposit first. That's my current approach. FWIW & YMMV. Oh, and when my bank merged with (got bought up by) another, come time for new cards, I got cards with completely different numbers - which I dutifully entered manually into my PayPal account.

BTW, I hope we really can trust secured servers, with the https:// - I know we're supposed to, but I always keep my fingers crossed. It makes typing a bit slower ...

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Mike - It was a direct request to register my bank account,not as an option. In fact they told me to register only one account if i had more than one. It seemed a strange request & i've no experience of anybody else being asked the same question,hence my thread.
JB - I don't actually have a Paypal account.I always use the 'pay as a guest' function when i need to use it,
Ivan

[journeybear]

I see. If you don't have a PayPal account, I would suspect that any such request for bank information is not coming from them but from a scammer on a phishing expedition.

Similarly, I get junk from fake facebook types and such at email accounts not linked to my facebook account, so I know at a glance they are not legit. I assume that operations like these must work for some small percentage of requests sent, and it's the volume of requests that drives it. So if they have a .001% response rate, for every million sent, that's 10 responses, and maybe that's enough.

[Bernie Daniel]

Not sure about the nature of the request Ivan got but it can be convenient to have a special account (I do at my Credit Union) to link your PayPal payments to.

I can electronically transfer funds to my "PayPal" account from my main Savings account at the Credit Union in a matter of minutes to just cover any PP purchase that I make. I routinely keep only a small amount of money in the account at most times. It seems like this limits my liability to only what is in that account as I disabled overdraft protection on it.

[Adam Sweet]

I hate PayPal with a vengence. They always always always side with the buyer, even when the buyer is wrong. I will never in a million years use PayPal again.

I use Google Checkout, however, with no problems. I also use an app for Iphone called "square" for scanning credit cards.

But cash is always best

[houseworker]

I don't actually have a Paypal account.

It's almost certainly phishing. You can forward the email to spoof@paypal.com (don't alter the heading or any other element of the email) and they will get back to you.

[MikeEdgerton]

I don't recall what Paypal calls it but without a bank account registered you are limited somewhat to what features you can use. I went around and around with them years ago about this because I wanted my credit card to be the primary method of paying a bill. If you register your account it becomes the primary method via bank transfer. If I recall there was some sort of limitation on the protection you received if you did not register your account. Again, that was years ago when I went through that, it could be different now.

With that said I never follow links in e-mail messages to anything that is asking for bank or credit card info. I always go to the site and address the issue directly.

[Pete Summers]

It's almost certainly phishing. You can forward the email to spoof@paypal.com (don't alter the heading or any other element of the email) and they will get back to you.

Absolutely a phony request, IMO. Report it. If you don't have a PayPal account then they are merely acting as a merchant processor when you use a credit card to make a purchase online. Naturally, your credit card needs to be current, but no way will PayPal ask for your bank account under those circumstances.

As a merchant, however, or if you have a PayPal account, you can register your bank account as a source of funding if you wish.

[AnneFlies]

I have my credit union savings account listed with PayPal. When a friend of mine sold some guitars for me, he got paid from the buyer, but then transferred the money to me, and it went directly into my account. I don't use the account to pay for things (I use a credit card directly or through PayPal for that), but it's nice to have for receipt of funds.

Anne.

[Ed Goist]

As a rider to this rider I'll just say that the very real dangers associated with using PayPal (and with selling to/buying from distant strangers) display how great a resource the Mandolin Cafe Classifieds are.

When it comes to major internet purchases, I like to have a "dossier" on my buyers and sellers, and working within the Mandolin Cafe community allows me to easily accomplish this.

When it comes to any other form of internet classifieds, I generally work on a "cash and carry" basis.

[Ted Eschliman]

One of the best clues to a phish is the salutation at the top of the email. If it generates your full name ("Dear John R. Doe"), that's a pretty good lead, but if it's vague like "Dear Customer," not being specific, run away. Also, don't click on any links they provide. Go directly to the PayPal website and log in there.

[jman72]

I also got an email from Paypal saying that my initial spending limit of $2000 was almost maxed out, and to become a "verified" user, I had to link up a bank account as my primary source of payment. I don't like this at all- I feel like using my credit card as my primary method of payment gives me better fraud protection, and giving someone access to my bank account makes me feel very vulnerable. I still haven't done this yet and might not use Paypal if they make me link up to a bank account. Too many crooks out there!

[Philphool]

Several years ago, when I bought more stuff than I do now, I decided to open a new bank account with only the minimum balance needed to keep the account "FREE" and this is the account that I linked with Paypal to be "verified".

Even so, I usually have a zero Paypal balance and use the "Credit card" option even when I use Paypal to buy something.

And I NEVER, NEVER click on any link to Paypal, even when I think it's legit (unless I'm on the Blue Chip Website ). I always go DIRECTLY to Paypal by typing in the HTTP address.

[issuenumber1]

This could well be a legit PayPal email, as they do do business this way. And it's therefore a method that is copied by less than legal folks, so it could be fake. Does that help? ;-)

I've been involved in 1,100 eBay/PayPal transactions. Early on I was faced with the choice whether to share bank account info with PayPal, or to not do business with them/it. As others have, I set up a limited-funds bank account exclusively for this purpose...keep about $80 in it.

Again, as others have suggested, your best option likely is to work directly with PayPal via the Web.

-d

P.S. Regarding Adam Sweet's comment: I know of no buyer or seller—including me—who much loves PayPal, and ugly stories abound. It mostly works, though.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Many thanks for your info.folks. Using Paypal either as an account holder or as a 'guest',you still need to give the 'valid from' & 'expiry' dates for whichever card you use. I suppose that Paypal must keep a record of those & vet any purchase using the card against those dates,simply to validate the card's use.To address Ted Eschliman's point,i'm pretty sure that they did use my full name ie.Dear Ivan Kelsall,so it could have been a genuine e-mail from PayPal. Some of you seem to have a registered account with PayPal,so that info.in itself satisfies me that the e-mail was genuine & not a scam. I never thought that any method of payment by whichever financial commerce would require personal bank account information to be requested. Giving my bank account details to anyone is just something that i will never do,
Thanks again - Ivan

[Bluman]

I'm not sure why people think giving the number for a credit card account is any different than giving the number to a bank account. They really are the same thing. You are protected against the fraudulent use of either account as long as you have protected your password information. The task is to only give any banking information to trusted entities. Banks have been transmitting this information electronically for more than 30 years and seem to be doing a good job. This type of information is password protected and that is really your security point so keep that information private and change passwords regularly.

Identity theft can be accomplished by using any piece of personal information and is not limited to your bank account number.

[Folkmusician.com]

PayPal does request that you add a bank account. Nothing strange there. Of course an email asking for info should prompt you to login to PayPal, not click the links in the email.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Bluman - I have a set limit on my credit card. If i try to spend more than the limit on it,the transaction won't take place.I did that for reasons of safety in case i ever lose my credit card.The only limit on my bank account is the amount of cash that i have in it,which is always more than my credit card limit.
Thanks Robert - That's something that you know & i didn't (at the time),
Ivan