One of the things we do is try and keep the readers of the Barnet Eye safe. When we learn of Internet Scammers, we tell you how to stop yourself getting scammed. Yesterday, one of my engineers at the Studios, who makes a living selling beats he has created, was contacted via Instagram by a supposed potential customer. The customer claimed to want to buy a track which was being sold for £249. The buyer asked for my engineer to send him a Paypal Invoice, a perfectly normal way of paying. Once the invoice was sent, he recieved a message saying that my engineer would have received a confirmation code from Paypal and this was required to complete payment. My engineer checked his phone and sure enough there was a confirmation code. As he is a savvy guy, he also noted that the confirmation said "Do not share this code". It became apparent that the supposed buyer had tried to access my engineers account, presumably to do a password reset.
The only time you will ever receive a paypal confirmation code, is when you have tried to access Paypal. If you have not and you receive a code, someone else is trying to hack you. Never reveal a confirmation code to anyone. It is for you and only you. My engineer did some research and found articles on Reditt that this particular scammer has been active for a year, several people have been scammed and both Instagram and Paypal have done nothing.
I found another example of this scam documented on the unbanster.com site.
Thus far, my engineer has had no response from Instagram or Paypal about this fraud. When will these social media platforms start taking these issues seriously. Users who commit fraud are clearly no asset to the brand. So finally, a reminder. Do not share confirmation codes.
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