You get an email from Paypal with a strange subject line - “You have been invited to a payment of $yyy.xx has been approved”, with a phone number. Not sure what to make of it, you dither on whether to call the number or not.

What happens if you do?

Well, this is a variant of the Unpurchased Purchases refund scam. The number goes to a scam call center, where they require you to download a program that will allow them to “remote in” to your computer. Then they will have you access your bank account, manipulating things so that it seems like you’re getting a refund. Too much of a refund, in fact.

To pay them back, you have to send them real money to “refund” the nonexistent overpayment.

(And oh yes, the scammer also has access to every personal item on your computer, possibly even after you technically disconnect.)

The reason you get this weird email is that the scammer is taking advantage of an invitation system on Paypal. It’s meant to invite a person as a developer; however, the scammer changes the name on their account to that whole long string of text, including the phone number.

How to protect yourself
Do not call random phone numbers in messages, especially in this case where you don’t even know what payment was “approved”.

Remember that if someone refunds money, they can also reverse the transaction. There is no reason for you to send money, they can claw it back.

Never ever ever let someone remote into your computer unless you know the person personally or are completely sure that this is a legit tech support person. (That is, from a call that does go into a company’s tech support center, where you’ve verified the phone number before calling.) And still then, be cautious about allowing someone you don’t know well into your computer.