Danger! These women from Parchim fell on PayPal fraud!

Danger! These women from Parchim fell on PayPal fraud!

Parchim, Deutschland - In the past few days, a worrying fraud has occurred in our region that should make many potential online users take notice. Fraudsters have targeted PayPal accounts and captured considerable sums. As the Nordkurier are affected by several women from Dümmer, Sternberg and Parchim.

A 49-year-old woman had made an attempt to sell on Ebay classifieds and received a QR code from a prospect. She thought she was safe and registered with her access data without guessing that the QR code led to a fake PayPal side that looked very similar to the real. The result was dramatic: around a thousand euros were debited in several payments via the "Family and Friends" option, which was not possible to return the money.

more victims and the role of QR codes

also two other women, aged 21 and 28, fell into similar stitches. Fortunately, one of the women who wanted to sell a dress was skeptical and contacted her bank directly before worse. It was able to avert an debit of almost 1300 euros. The other affected person lost about 750 euros via a fake link, which shows how quickly you can become victims of such fraudsters.

experts have been warning of QR codes for some time. According to a study, almost 27 million QR codes were scanned between 2022 and 2023, and the use of these codes is expected to increase by 22 percent by 2025. But where a comfortable handling waves, risks are also lurking. Fraudsters use so-called "quishing" techniques to direct people on harmful websites or download malware. A fake QR code can quickly become a major problem: from compromising financial data to unwanted subscriptions, the dangers are versatile.

What can those affected do?

The police urgently advise you to contact your own house bank immediately if you suspect fraud. To protect yourself, you should consider left or QR codes that you get suspicious. It is advisable to register directly via the official websites such as PayPal and not to carry out rash scans.

In the event of suspicion of fraud, advice centers can also be helpful, such as the Lower Saxony Consumer Center, which, among other things, offers free short consultations on various topics. The advice of checking the URL of a QR code before clicking should be taken to heart so as not to become victims of such nasty stitches.

With a healthy portion of caution and a critical view, we can save us to save us unpleasant surprises. Stay vigilant and remember: a little distrust can often protect against great financial losses.