WTCC

Hey everyone,

I thought that I would just post a friendly reminder to not let your guard down.

Moments ago, I received an e-mail to my gmail account from PayPal. The e-mail stated that my account may have been comprimised due to suspicious activity. As a result, PayPal had decided to temporarily suspend my account to protect me. All I needed to do was click on the link provided and log in to my account in order to reactivate it.

Of course, this e-mail was not from PayPal. Having already worked for a major bank, I am familiar with the term phishing. There is no way I would believe a similar e-mail claiming to be sent from my bank. But, this e-mail almost fooled me. I was about to click on the link when it hit me. If this e-mail is true, I should not click on the link but I should go to the real website and log in to my account. Of course when I did that everything was working fine. This e-mail was fraudulent.

In the end, I did not divulge any personal information (since I never clicked on the link). But had I been a little bit more tired or preoccupied, I may have fallen for it.

I forwarded the fraudulent e-mail to PayPal and they have confirmed that it did not come from them. They then outlined what steps I should take if I have given out any personal information. You don't want to know the number of steps I would have had to do.

So, protect yourself! Question every single thing you receive.

Hopefully this will help someone avoid getting scammed.

mkss55442

Thanks for the reminder. I get the same thing every once in a while. What's funny is the email has some typos. A sure give-away.

__________________
Nothing is never "no problem".

AKAJohnDoe

With most browsers you can float or hover your mouse cursor over the link and see the real URL, which, invariably, is not the true URL.

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AnnamariaNJ

thanks 4 the heads up, it's the care of members like you, taking time to help, that make this community and the world a better place..
:approve:

Frenchy

I have received tha same type of message too a while back. The thing that Paypal told me is that hey would never address me with Dear Paypal subscriber or member. They will use my real name Dear Andr...... If it isn't your named don't respond if they ask or any other place ask for you ID and passwrod do not give it just ask them if the email is valid.

__________________
.

Frenchy

WTCC

No problem. This thread has already given us so great tips on how to tell the difference from a good e-mail and a fraudulent one. Thanks guys for the great tips.

:approve: :approve: :approve:

WTCC

Just to help out a bit more. Here is the original e-mail message 1) followed by part of PayPal's response 2).

1) this is the fraudulent one

From: PayPal Security Center <noticeserv##@dear.org>
Date: Jan ##, #### #:## PM
Subject: Message About Your Account *
To:

" Message:

Dear PayPal Online,

We regret to inform you, that we had to lock your PayPal Online Access
because we have reasons to believe that your account may have been
compromised by outside
parties. In order to protect your sensitive information, we temporaly
suspended your account.

To reactivate your account, click on the link below and confirm your
identity by completing the
secure form what will appear.


https://www.paypal-security.us<http://###.###.###.###/icons/%##/clmv/ind
ex.php>

We have seen unusual attempts for logging in regarding your personal
account, therefore this
confirmation regarding your account its only for security reasons.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Have questions? Our online help screens provide answers to many
frequently
asked questions.
You can also click the Customer Center tab then go to the Contact Us
page to
find a list of helpful
numbers to call.

Please do not reply to this automatically generated e-mail.

We know you have a choice of banks. Thanks for choosing ours.

Sincerely, PayPal Team,"

and

2) this is the reminder from the real PayPal:approve:

Important: PayPal and its representatives will NEVER ask you to reveal
your password. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this policy. If anyone
claiming to work for PayPal asks for your password under any
circumstances, by email or by phone, please refuse and immediately
contact us via our secure webform online.

Martin

This email has been doing the rounds for some time now.

Didn't fool me...I don't have a Paypal account!

__________________

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Frenchy

This was my thread a while back

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showt...ghlight=Paypal

__________________
.

Frenchy

cchiang12

Pay pal fake site is not the only ones.... I see Bank of America, Citi Bank...
I usually just click on them and enter f*** you on all the fields.
I do this about a dozen times for each link (until I get tired...)
I wish there's a program that I could do this repeatedly for 100+ times.

WTCC

I guess what struck me the most is how easy it would be for someone to slip up on these scams. Everyone here on this website is pretty smart and can see these things from a mile away but we all probably have a relative or friend that isn't quite so good with computers and the internet and they may not be able to tell the difference.

data2000

Originally Posted by WTCC

Hey everyone, I thought that I would just post a friendly reminder to not let your guard down. Moments ago, I received an e-mail to my gmail account from PayPal. The e-mail stated that my account may have been comprimised due to suspicious activity. As a result, PayPal had decided to temporarily suspend my account to protect me. All I needed to do was click on the link provided and log in to my account in order to reactivate it. Of course, this e-mail was not from PayPal. Having already worked for a major bank, I am familiar with the term phishing. There is no way I would believe a similar e-mail claiming to be sent from my bank. But, this e-mail almost fooled me. I was about to click on the link when it hit me. If this e-mail is true, I should not click on the link but I should go to the real website and log in to my account. Of course when I did that everything was working fine. This e-mail was fraudulent. In the end, I did not divulge any personal information (since I never clicked on the link). But had I been a little bit more tired or preoccupied, I may have fallen for it. I forwarded the fraudulent e-mail to PayPal and they have confirmed that it did not come from them. They then outlined what steps I should take if I have given out any personal information. You don't want to know the number of steps I would have had to do. So, protect yourself! Question every single thing you receive. Hopefully this will help someone avoid getting scammed.

One simple this to do when recieving a email you don't trust is to look the Full version of the headers

I got one from Amazon.com not long ago and the giveaway was it came from a email address in Texas

I don't risk even opening it in a browser

__________________

bill_n_opus

Originally Posted by Martin

This email has been doing the rounds for some time now. Didn't fool me...I don't have a Paypal account!

Same here! I laughed ...

But you know what? I don't have a paypal account and I still got frauded with two paypal charges totally more than 900 bucks on my VISA. (separate incident)

Of course, I called the VISA fraud line and it worked out after a week. But the hassle and pain of getting my card shut down and new one reissued and changing my contacts with various accounts ... damn scammers!

ljkelman

Found this article regarding PayPal security. Not related directly to emails but interesting nevertheless.


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/12012007/15...d-key-fob.html

e_tellurian

Prototype helps with the answers. Identity theft issues are a $400 billion per annum loss and climbing. We have a choice that will enhance the tax base by placing a positive value on growth.

Peace,

E-T

Originally Posted by WTCC

Hey everyone, I thought that I would just post a friendly reminder to not let your guard down. Moments ago, I received an e-mail to my gmail account from PayPal. The e-mail stated that my account may have been comprimised due to suspicious activity. As a result, PayPal had decided to temporarily suspend my account to protect me. All I needed to do was click on the link provided and log in to my account in order to reactivate it. Of course, this e-mail was not from PayPal. Having already worked for a major bank, I am familiar with the term phishing. There is no way I would believe a similar e-mail claiming to be sent from my bank. But, this e-mail almost fooled me. I was about to click on the link when it hit me. If this e-mail is true, I should not click on the link but I should go to the real website and log in to my account. Of course when I did that everything was working fine. This e-mail was fraudulent. In the end, I did not divulge any personal information (since I never clicked on the link). But had I been a little bit more tired or preoccupied, I may have fallen for it. I forwarded the fraudulent e-mail to PayPal and they have confirmed that it did not come from them. They then outlined what steps I should take if I have given out any personal information. You don't want to know the number of steps I would have had to do. So, protect yourself! Question every single thing you receive. Hopefully this will help someone avoid getting scammed.