Naturally, this amount is significant enough to warrant my attention, and I immediately checked on this transaction – just in case someone had indeed charged my PayPal account without authorization or in case PayPal had made a mistake.

But the point is this ... I LOGGED INTO MY PAYPAL ACCOUNT DIRECTLY rather than following the link in the email above. By following the link, you will be taken to a page where (big surprise!) you will be asked to fill in all the pertinent information that will allow a bunch of thieves to empty your PayPal account.

The moral to the story, again, is never, never, never give information on any account by following an email! Always go directly to the account via your browser.

By the way, the item that I supposedly paid $278.99 for is the game Myst III – which is selling for $2.85 on Amazon!