RE: Fake Paypal E-mail

[Dundee Slaytern]

When it comes to e-mail, I am a very wary, cynical and untrusting bastard. Anyway, I just received an e-mail which I am 99.9999% certain is a scam. The remaining 0.0001% being what is left of my trust in Humanity in general.

I'll spare you the image and just copy over the text,

Text in bold are mine.

Account System Cleanup IMPORTANT Dear PayPal Member, Alarm! Alarm! I have a name, doofus... Due to overwhelming reports of fraudulent transactions and account abuse, PayPal now requires all active members who have an account to verify that they rightfully own it. You must click the link below and enter your email, password and reference code on the following page to verify your account. This is NOT a SCAM or HOAX(I feel so reassured). Please check your address bar to make sure you are on the authentic PayPal website. https://www.paypal.com/accountcleanup/ Â What the heck is this? Your reference code is : PPA-2546-5437 You will be guided through a series of steps which will require you to enter personal information, such as credit card number and/or bank details. ALL accounts not re-verified within 5 days of receiving this email will be automatically frozen. PayPal is doing this to protect it's valued members from fraud and scams(the irony). Paypal will not share your personal information with other companies and corporations. Privacy Policy Thank you for your co-operation, PayPal Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. Due to security reasons your name and personal information cannot be mentioned in this email. To receive email notifications in plain text instead of HTML, update your preferences here. Protect Your Account Info A genuine PayPal link will always begins with "http://www.paypal.com"(and I know ways on how to fake it. The URL is never a guarantee. Even the IP can be suspect, but rarely) Remember to check your browser's Address/URL Bar to be sure you are on an authentic PayPal site.(cue alarm) Please make sure the link you click on starts with "https://www.paypal.com"(repetition tends to make me suspicious) Paypal will never ask for sensitive information. PayPal sites that ask for Passport information, Driver's licence details are definitely scams.(and credit card numbers, bank accounts, etc... *Gasp!* didn't you just ask for them in a previous paragraph?) For more information on protecting yourself from fraud, please visit the Security Center. Protect Your Password You should never give your PayPal password to anyone, including PayPal employees.

So that's that.

Anyhoo, here's a link to the real Paypal website, and what they have to say on protecting yourself from e-mail scams. It's worth a read.

Click Here

[Harkoliar]

they have been doing that on credit cards as well. asking you to enter your pin and some other stuff on a "website".

[Bokken]

Yeah bunch of crap! If anyone here uses Pay Pal be sure not to be fooled by anything of the like.
Instead send your details to me and I will update them for you. I will also reply within a day with a P.O. Box address for you to send all valuables to for safe keeping!

[LordKathen]

Wow! Crazy scary. You know how many are going to fall for that? I would guess alot.

[dplax]

Two mistakes jump out for me. The first is that the link they want to send you to starts with https and not http the second is that they say that all paypal members have to do this. Well I am a member, but I did not get the message.

[Bokken]

Originally posted by dplax: Two mistakes jump out for me. The first is that the link they want to send you to starts with https and not http the second is that they say that all paypal members have to do this. Well I am a member, but I did not get the message.

Actually using the https in there is a way to fool the smarter people. In case you weren't aware of it the s at the end of http stands for "secure" and you will see if a lot if you use Net Banking.

As for you not getting the email and being a member, just keep in mind that I got the email and I'm not a member!

[dplax]

Yes, but paypal usually uses only the simple http. And you getting the email while not being a member just shows that it wasn't paypal who sent it.

[ 03-20-2004, 10:35 AM: Message edited by: dplax ]

[Bungleau]

Anything where I'm entering sensitive material (like user ID and password), it's better to see https.

But this is a scam, pure and simple. It's called "Let me take over your account, please...".

[Firestormalpha]

Most all internet services, AOL, Paypal, etc., will give a disclaimer stating that they will never request information from the user after registration is completed. Once they have your info they don't need it ever again unless you change it. In which case it's your responsibility to go to their site and update it yourself.

[wellard]

Got this myself two days ago. (yes i use paypal) They also have the same scam down here pretending to be from a bank. Sad aint it!