PayPal Phishing E-Mails, Warning and Question

[andyP]

Although I have absolutely nothing to do with PayPal, I started receiving Phishing mails today with the following content;
(embedded link not copied to forum).

Dear PayPal ® customer,
We recently reviewed your account, and we suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account.
Protecting your account is our primary concern. As a preventive measure we have temporary limited your access to sensitive information.
Paypal features.To ensure that your account is not compromised, simply hit "Resolution Center" to confirm your identity as member of Paypal.
• Login to your Paypal with your Paypal username and password.
• Confirm your identity as a card memeber of Paypal.
Please confirm account information by clicking here Resolution Center and complete the "Steps to Remove Limitations."
*Please do not reply to this message. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.
Copyright © 1999-2007 PayPal. All rights reserved.

Maybe it's unnecessary but I would like to warn members to ignore such mails, but at the same time ask if anyone is receiving similar mails from, allegedly, Paypal.

I must add that I don't believe for one moment that these mails were generated by PayPal themselves, but clearly a scammer.

Ta in advance.

[BeeJayEmm]

Andy,
I haven't gotten one recently, but I have gotten a couple in the past. My wife got one a few months ago at work and that email address is not known to PayPal, so it was definitely a trolling scam. I love the typo: "card memember". You may want to forward it to PayPal as they usually like to hear about fraud committed in their name (as opposed to the fraud they themselves commit ).

Brian

[andyP]

I forwarded the first one I received which they confirmed as a Pfishing e-mail, I just deleted the following three. I was basically surprised to receive four inside about two hours.
I sincerely hope nobody falls for the scam.

[Phazer]

ANYTIME and I repeat, ANYTIME I communicate with PayPal, it is ONLY If I sign in myself and I also check the web address bar to verify that it is the "https" versus an "http" website.

All e-mail's that have anything to mention about PayPal are deleted without being read.

[andyP]

Phazer

definitely good advice for all. As I wrote "Although I have absolutely nothing to do with PayPal", these scammers will get no reply from me.

[jdhurst]

Those used to get trapped by SpamAssassin (and for a while, I had to blacklist paypal {I am a PayPal customers}). Now, my ISP uses greylisting, where the email has to come from where it says it comes from. Phishers do not (and cannot) come from PayPal proper, so the phishing emails get turfed by greylisting. I don't even see anymore in SpamAssassin logs, and I have returned to whitelisting PayPal. ... JDH

[bill bolton]

All e-mail's that have anything to mention about PayPal are deleted without being read.

Ignoring legitimate transaction advice emails from PayPal is not smart!

[jdhurst]

All e-mail's that have anything to mention about PayPal are deleted without being read.

Ignoring legitimate transaction advice emails from PayPal is not smart!

True ... JDH

[RealBlackStuff]

Also, any emails from the real PayPal, will always start with 'Dear John Doe' (substitute your own first name/last name), and never with 'Dear PayPal Member' or 'Dear PayPal Customer' or 'Dear PayPal Client' or any other variety.

Any links that appear in such an email can be tested as follows:
hover your mouse cursor over the link (do NOT click it),
at the bottom left corner in your email program, you will see where the link goes to.
If it does NOT start with: https://www.paypal.com/xxxxx you can take poison on it being a fake.

If you have ANY doubts at all, forward that email to: spoof@paypal.com and they will let you know shortly if the email is real or a fake.

[rkawakami]

Ignoring legitimate transaction advice emails from PayPal is not smart!

True ... JDH

But not opening any PayPal, eBay, banking, or whatever possible phishing email is smart since web bugs can identify your email account as one that is active. If you delete the email but go directly to your PayPal, eBay, banking or whatever site directly using a previously stored bookmark or address book and checking into your account, you should find out if that notification was important or not. That would be a safe course of action.... unless your system is infected with a keyboard logger .

[Techgurl]

I have been forwarding all those to spoof@paypal.com and spoof@ebay.com and they send an autoresponse.

I also forward the bank ones to the appropriate bank if I can find an email to their security.
Hopefully they do investigate.

[T22 4me]

I get those Phishing emails once in awhile.

I hav'nt been suckered in yet;but,have noticed that the times that I receive them are times when I actually have a PayPal balance.

This leads me to believe that They are originated by someone who has access to that info.Like maybe an inside Job.

What do Youall think?

[jdhurst]

It is possible that there are bad eggs at PayPal (as there are at any bank). But even with inside information, the bad eggs have to use an outside system to send the stuff out. That can be spotted instantly. So I expect it is as much coincidence as anything else.
... JDH

[phool@round]

The simplest test is if your name is included in the email. If it's not, it's bogus.

I still check message sources, old habit.

Nice thing about using Apple's Mail.app is that if I can move objects inside the mail, it's a cut and paste job.......can't do that with OE (unfortunately). It's very funny how they don't use tags or place holders.....knot vewy sofistiquated thay is....

[T22 4me]

It just seems odd that it can set there for months with $0 in iit........nothing.And then all of a sudden it has a little in it for whatsoever reason ( ie. sell an item or a refund) and BAM.............next day a Phishing expedition.

I have noticed this not once or twice .........;but,Three times.

Maybe I need to put some Bait in it.....u know.....My own Fishing expedition

[tfflivemb2]

It just seems odd that it can set there for months with $0 in iit........nothing.And then all of a sudden it has a little in it for whatsoever reason ( ie. sell an item or a refund) and BAM.............next day a Phishing expedition.

Are you sure that you don't have spam on your system? I have seen this happen that there has been spam on a system, and it recognizes that the owner went to XYZ site, and then they would get emails shortly thereafter that are bogus.

[T22 4me]

I use my paypal account all the time.Usually I am using my bank accounts or credit cards though.How does it know the difference and only send Phishing scams when I have a paypal account balance?......SmartSpam...........

I put some bait out this morning.Will see if I get some bites.

[ajkula66]

jdhurst wrote:

It is possible that there are bad eggs at PayPal (as there are at any bank).

Since PayPal is not regulated by the laws that govern banking industry and require thorough background checks and bonding of employees, I'd beg to politely and respectfully differ with the statement above.

Banks are regulated, whether one agrees with the ways it's being done in the particular country or not is a whole another matter. PayPal is not scrutinized in such a manner anywhere, literally exists as a legal loophole worldwide, and "protection" it offers its users is, in reality, minimal.

[bill bolton]

But not opening any PayPal, eBay, banking, or whatever possible phishing email is smart since web bugs can identify your email account as one that is active..

Not if you use a RFC 2822 compliant mail reader!

Cheers,

Bill B.

[dsigma6]

I just got my Dad to sign up for eBay and PayPal, since he had been using me as his bidding agent/purchaser for way too long.

One of the first things I did was inform him about these types of scams. He's very cautious even when it comes to completing a secure transaction with a major online retailer, so hopefully he will keep his smarts if this arises.