Content MarketingMarketing Tools

Beware of the PayPal Domain Registration Invoice Scam

As a business, I’m often surprised at how many charges come through that surprise me. In a world of cheap apps, micro-subscriptions, and a plethora of payment methods, it’s got to be quite lucrative to be an internet scammer these days.

My good friend, Adam, forwarded me an invoice scam this morning that he received for his Real Estate CRM. Unlike a spoofed phishing email, where the sender fakes their sending email address, this one actually sends through PayPal invoicing – a legitimate sender.

paypal invoice scam

Unless you have privacy set on your domains, anyone can do a Whois lookup and identify your email address and the expiration date of your domain registration. Using PayPal, they create an actual invoice and send it through their system over to you. In this case, they even branded the invoice with GoDaddy – the registrar.

If you’re a larger corporation, this may very well pass through and get paid despite it not being the actual domain registration service. When Adam clicked through, it was a Russian email address set for the recipient. He reported it to PayPal and hopefully they’re shut down, but this is still quite troubling since it’s an actual invoice being sent by an actual service.

It seems there could be a great opportunity here for services like PayPal to create an agreement between buyer and seller that they actually know one another and have a trusted relationship… instead of PayPal simply allowing anyone to send anyone else an invoice.

Appreciate this content?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, which delivers our latest posts every Monday morning.

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is a fractional Chief Marketing Officer specializing in SaaS and AI companies, where he helps scale marketing operations, drive demand generation, and implement AI-powered strategies. He is the founder and publisher of Martech Zone, a leading publication in marketing technology, and a trusted advisor to startups and enterprises alike. With a track record spanning more than $5 billion in MarTech acquisitions and investments, Douglas has led go-to-market strategy, brand positioning, and digital transformation initiatives for companies ranging from early-stage startups to global tech leaders like Dell, GoDaddy, Salesforce, Oracle, and Adobe. A published author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies and contributor to The Better Business Book, Douglas is also a recognized speaker, curriculum developer, and Forbes contributor. A U.S. Navy veteran, he combines strategic leadership with hands-on execution to help organizations achieve measurable growth.

Related Articles

Back to top button
Close

Adblock Detected

We rely on ads and sponsorships to keep Martech Zone free. Please consider disabling your ad blocker—or support us with an affordable, ad-free annual membership ($10 US):

Sign Up For An Annual Membership