Q I have just received an email from someone claiming to be Paypal asking me to submit documents confirming my identity to a particular email address.

It seems very fishy to me to be asked to forward the sort of confidential information requested.

I am familiar with phishing, where users are directed to a fake web page to enter their details, but I’ve never been asked to send them via email. Do you believe this request to be genuine or not and is this a reasonable way for a security request to be activated?
Dave Wilkinson

A You’re right - this is a scam. It’s slightly different to most phishing scams, which ask the recipient of the email to go to a particular, fake, web page and enter their username and password. These are then used by the criminal to gain access to your account.

In this version, the criminals have gone straight for the jugular by asking you - in the email you forwarded to us - to scan a utility bill, credit card statement and ID, such as a passport or driving licence, and email it to them.

The address on the email is a fraudulent one, which you can tell by typing the last part of it into a web browser. When we tried this, Firefox popped up a warning saying that it was a site known to be dodgy.
As usual, always remember that Paypal will never ask you for this kind of information via email - and neither will banks or any other reputable companies.

If you want to check the status of your Paypal account, log in to www.paypal.com and go to your account or profile pages. If there is anything that needs your attention, it will be flagged up on those pages.