The first thing to watch for is, do they address you by your own name? If they don't, but say "Dear Paypal Customer" or something like that, it's not from Paypal.

The next thing to do, even if they have addressed you by your name, is to open a separate page on the Net and go to your Paypal account and check out the situation there before you believe anything sent to you in an email purportedly from Paypal.

Another thing to do with any suspicious email is, right-click on it, go to "properties", go to "details", and take a look at who it's really coming from. This can often reveal quickly that it is not coming from the source it appears to be coming from.

There are a vast number of these email scams going on with people pretending to be Paypal, your bank, or some other outfit that handles your money. Most of them are pretty easy to spot once you get used to the general routine.