Hi, I received a scam email today from someone posing as Paypal. I knew it wasn’t right as soon as I saw it, so I just ignored it. The thing is the only place I ever post my email is in the classifieds on here. Has anyone else on here had a similar email today?

I’m no expert. I believe naughty software can harvest your email addy off someone else’s PC. One addy I used just for emailing friends got scammed quite quickly.

Or from any website you post it on.

If its posted on a public forum, it will eventually attract spam/scam emails.

I occasionally get these, along with notifications about online bank account problems, particularly HSBC and Santander, neither of which I’ve ever banked with, so why they imagine I’ll get suckered into divulging my details is quite beyond me…

Have you actually used this address to send and receive email? If so, it’s likely to be in somebody else’s address book. If they’ve inadvertently picked up some malware, the spammers have your address.

Was it always posted in your profile with (at) (dot) and suchlike or did it have show @ and . ? If so it could certainly be harvested – it’s possible that the spammers also harvest addresses with (at) and (dot) – simple enough to convert back automatically.

send it to spoof@paypal.co.uk

Apparently real ones always mention your name not Hi

I had one a few weeks ago. You can get to really hate these people