PayPal mistakenly informs users they've won 500 euros in a comedy of errors

Stefan Mileschin · 10th June 2013, 08:03

Most of us who receive an email stating we're lucky winners of 500 units of cash money from PayPal might brush it off as a phishing scam. But what happens if the email looks legit? And what if PayPal was genuinely running a promotional campaign offering that amount to 10 random people each day, as long as they used the service that week? You'd be forgiven for believing it. That's exactly what happened to some PayPal users in Germany yesterday when they received an official email stating they've won 500 euros. So they rushed to their PayPal accounts only to find... nothing. You see, PayPal did actually send those emails, but it did so accidentally. PayPal Germany offered a mea culpa on its Facebook page, stating that it was "due to a technical error" and winners have not yet been chosen. Oops. Maybe PayPal should consider giving that money away anyway; it could stand to improve its image after all.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/07/p... ign=Engadget

10th June 2013, 08:03	#1
Stefan Mileschin [M] Reviewer Join Date: May 2010 Location: Romania Posts: 148,597	PayPal mistakenly informs users they've won 500 euros in a comedy of errors Most of us who receive an email stating we're lucky winners of 500 units of cash money from PayPal might brush it off as a phishing scam. But what happens if the email looks legit? And what if PayPal was genuinely running a promotional campaign offering that amount to 10 random people each day, as long as they used the service that week? You'd be forgiven for believing it. That's exactly what happened to some PayPal users in Germany yesterday when they received an official email stating they've won 500 euros. So they rushed to their PayPal accounts only to find... nothing. You see, PayPal did actually send those emails, but it did so accidentally. PayPal Germany offered a mea culpa on its Facebook page, stating that it was "due to a technical error" and winners have not yet been chosen. Oops. Maybe PayPal should consider giving that money away anyway; it could stand to improve its image after all. http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/07/p... ign=Engadget

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