A real PayPal rep won't ask for your password or a code, and a recorded call asking you to ring back is a warning sign. If something sent you looking for this number, that message was the scam.
Last checked against paypal.com on 1 November 2026.
Check your activity there, not through a link.
Type it yourself. Never follow a link in a message.
Contact PayPal from the Contact page there.
Yes. It's PayPal's customer service number in the US, listed on PayPal's own security page. But a caller showing this number may still be a scammer, because caller ID can be faked. Hang up and call it yourself.
Don't call it. Log in to PayPal yourself, in the app or at paypal.com typed by hand, and check your activity. PayPal's advice for a message you aren't sure of: don't click links or call listed numbers, and forward the email to phishing@paypal.com.
Don't. PayPal says: "If an automated call provides a number and asks you to call back, don't." Contact PayPal through the Help Center instead.
Hang up. In PayPal's words: "Account info, passwords, or validation codes are for your eyes and ears only. Even a customer service rep shouldn't ask for them."
If they had remote access, disconnect from the internet. From another device, change your PayPal password and call your bank. Report it to PayPal through the Help Center. Then go to What to do now.
Already called, paid, or let them onto your computer?
What to do nowNot sure about a message you've been sent?
Check it freeScam intelligence for people and the institutions that protect them.
For banks, credit unions, building societies and fintechs: see what Flggd does for your customers and your fraud team.