Scams on PayPal Personal Payments

Email Scam
The most commonly reported form of PayPal personal payment scam is a fraudulent email sent from a third party asking for log-in or sensitive banking information. The email will be doctored with the PayPal letterhead, and appear official. It will usually be addressed generically and claim that its computer systems have been down, and that your personal data has been lost. The email will then prompt you to a link where your personal information is prompted and collected by a hacker or third party.
How to Know It's a Scam
Some of these fraudulent emails appear official, in the normal PayPal template, including security warnings. PayPal will never ask you for personal or banking information over email. If you ever receive an email prompting for this information, it is a scam. PayPal will also address you by your first and last name in any communications. PayPal will never ask you for banking PINs or Social Security ID numbers, which many of these scams attempt to collect.
Attachments
Some scams will include an attachment or request you to download files from them via email. PayPal will never request you to download software, especially via email. This is a telltale sign of a third party attempting to implant malicious software on your machine that could then pass along log-in or other personal information.
Precautions
Always log in to PayPal using a secure Internet connection, and by opening a new browser window and going directly to the PayPal site. If you believe you are the victim of a scam or an attempted scam, forward the communications to Spoof@paypal.com, and immediately delete it from your inbox.