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Is this PayPal email real? Check the sender

A real PayPal email comes from paypal.com and greets you by your full name or business name. Paste the sender’s address to see where it really comes from.

  • Is it really paypal.com?
  • Free sender check
  • The sender is never notified

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No card needed. We never email the address you check.

How to check a PayPal email

The display name says PayPal on every fake. The domain after the @ is the part a scammer has to work around.

  1. Copy the real address

    Tap the sender name to reveal the full address and paste that, not the name shown.

  2. Check the domain

    See whether it is paypal.com, when the domain was registered, and which provider runs the mailbox. Free.

  3. Check inside the app

    Open the PayPal app or type paypal.com yourself. A real alert is waiting there too; a fake one is not.

What gives away a fake PayPal email

PayPal phishing comes in two kinds: lookalike senders, and real PayPal invoices or money requests sent by scammers with a phone number in the note.

The real PayPal domain

  • Mail from paypal.com or one of its subdomains
  • The domain’s registration date and registrar
  • Free mailboxes such as Gmail posing as PayPal

Lookalike giveaways

  • Extra words around the name, like “paypal-resolution”
  • A digit in place of a letter, like “paypa1”
  • paypal.com placed in front of another domain

Sender authentication

  • SPF published or missing
  • DMARC published or missing
  • Mail provider behind the domain

Who is behind it

  • Accounts tied to the address
  • Names shown publicly
  • In the full report

PayPal emails worth checking first

  • “Your account has been limited”
  • A payment “on hold” until you confirm
  • An invoice for something you never bought
  • A money request with a number to call
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PayPal scam email questions

What address does PayPal send email from?

Account emails come from paypal.com or a subdomain of it, and PayPal addresses you by your first and last name or your business name rather than “Dear customer”. Anything from a Gmail, Outlook or unrelated domain claiming to be PayPal is not.

The invoice really came from paypal.com. Can it still be a scam?

Yes. Anyone with a PayPal account can send an invoice or money request, so the email genuinely comes from PayPal’s servers. The scam is in the note: a phone number to “cancel” or “dispute” a charge. Do not call it and do not pay. Check your activity in the app instead.

Where do I report a fake PayPal email?

Forward it to phishing@paypal.com, then delete it. Do not click links or open attachments first.

I already entered my PayPal password. What now?

Change your PayPal password from the app or a site you typed yourself, turn on two-step verification, and review recent activity. If the same password is used anywhere else, change it there too.

Does the sender find out I checked?

No. Nothing is sent to the address and nobody is notified. The check reads DNS records, the domain registration and public sources only.

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The free check takes ten seconds, and nothing is sent to the address.

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