Summary: Email claims that recipients may be entitled to a payment due to the settlement of a class action against online payment company,
PayPal (Full commentary below).
Status: True
Example:(Submitted, August 2004)
Due to the length of the email, I have only reproduced a small
part of the notice below:
Dear [Name Removed],
IF YOU OPENED A PAYPAL ACCOUNT BETWEEN OCTOBER 1999 AND JANUARY
2004, YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO A PAYMENT FROM A CLASS ACTION
SETTLEMENT.
PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
SAN JOSE DIVISION
In re PayPal litigation
Case No. CV-02-01227-JF (PVT)
NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION AND PROPOSED SETTLEMENT
1. WHY DID I GET THIS NOTICE?
You have been sent this Notice because the records of PayPal,
Inc. indicate you are a current or former PayPal account holder.
This means you may be eligible to receive a payment from the
proposed class action settlement in the lawsuit In re PayPal
Litigation, Case No. 02 1227 JF PVT, pending in the United States
District Court for the Northern District of California in San
Jose. This Notice provides a summary of the terms of the proposed
settlement. It also explains the lawsuit, your legal rights under
the settlement, what benefits are available to you under the
settlement, and how to get them.
2. WHAT IS A CLASS ACTION?
In a class action, one or more people, called Class
Representatives (in this case Roberta Toher and Jeffrey Resnick),
sue on behalf of people who have similar claims. All of these
people are members of the Class. One court resolves the issues
for all Class Members, except for those who exclude themselves
from the Class. United States District Judge Jeremy Fogel is in
charge of this class action.
Commentary:
During 2004, many PayPal account holders received an email notice that
claimed that they may have been entitled to a payment due to the
settlement of a class action against online payment company,
PayPal.
Although the notice could have easily been mistaken for some form of
phishing scam, the information in the email was in fact true.
A class action lawsuit was filed against PayPal in March 2002
because of an alleged violation of a federal statute. The action
reached a settlement in 2004. An official FAQ about the settlement that was available at the time noted:
The parties to the action reached a Settlement and the e-mail
letter you received is the "Notice" required under the law to be
given to each class member that can be identified with reasonable
efforts. Under the terms of the proposed Settlement if you opened
a PayPal account between October 1, 1999 and January 31, 2004,
you may be included in the Settlement Class
It should be noted that, while this particular email was
legitimate, PayPal is almost continually targeted by phishing
scammers. Be cautious of any emails purporting to be from PayPal that request you to update account details or provide personal information.
