Xavier Media®

The lesson learned from this blog post is to never send any information about your identity without first checking the identity of the company/person requesting the information. I got this email in my inbox earlier today and someone with my ID card, a copy of one of my utility bills and a copy of my credit debit card can easily steal my identity to commit fraud of various kinds. The scammers can for example open a bank account in my name and use it to transfer drug money. If the autorities find out I will get the blame since it's my name on the account.

It's also possible to use this information to empty your credit/debit card completely. If you have a card with high limits or maybe even no limits at all you could end up really poor. You may argue that you will get the money back from the bank, but still even if you would you would end up in problems. In worst case the bank could refuse to pay you back since you handed over the information of your own free will

This is what the scam email looked like. I have removed some information to make it more neutral.

Dear [my full name] ,

PayPal Resolution Center: Your account is limited.

Why is my account access limited?

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. During a recent screening, we noticed an issue
regarding your account:

Our system detected unusual number of invalid logging attempts on your account from these blacklist ip address.

(Your case ID for this reason is PP-XXXXXXX)

How can I restore my account access?

For your protection, we have temporary suspended access to your account until additional security measures can be completed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. In order to assist us with this security measure, we ask that you send us a photocopy or scan of one document from each of the three categories listed below and return them via email to security@paypalcompany.com :

- A clear copy of your Passport, Photographic Drivers License or I.D. Card (both sides).

- A clear copy of both sides of the credit/debit card on your paypal profile.

- A clear copy of a recent bank statement or utility bill on which your name and address ( [my correct address]
) are clearly visible and less than 3 months old.

Completing all of the checklist items we will manually restore your account access.

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Security Department

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Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

PayPal Email ID PP-XXXXXXX.

Luckily the domain used in this email has already been blocked in Firefox as a fake web site so you can't access it by accident.
So the lesson learned in this case is that you always have to do some background checks before you send away any documents to anyone!

About the author
Andreas co-founded Xavier Media® in 1996 and has since been involved in all kinds of development, marketing and making money online.