Nothing new but it always has the potential to trip someone up. An email that looks like it is from PayPal (or Ebay, or your bank) tells you that, in the name of better security from scumbag scammers, they want you to click their link and provide additional security information (credit card or debit card ##, etc.).
It is clever because A) it looks legit and B) because it goes to the heart of the very thing you are trying to watch out for.
Heads up.
If in doubt, go to Paypal (via your own link, not the email link) and look for the announcement that the email is informing you about. If (when) you can't find it, ditch the email and forget about it. Or follow their instructions for forwarding the mail and headers to them at spoof@paypal.com
PayPal phishing fraud
Moderator: Wiz Feinberg
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Jon Light (deceased)
- Posts: 14336
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Saugerties, NY
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Gene Jones
- Posts: 6870
- Joined: 27 Nov 2000 1:01 am
- Location: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)
I have received at least 10 of those e-mails threatening to "cancel" my paypal account if I don't immediately verify the info on my account......
....I do not now, nor have I ever, had a paypal account!
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<img height=100 width=93 src=http://genejones.bizland.com/Scan10345.jpg>
www.genejones.com
....I do not now, nor have I ever, had a paypal account!
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<img height=100 width=93 src=http://genejones.bizland.com/Scan10345.jpg>
www.genejones.com
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Dave Mudgett
- Moderator
- Posts: 10485
- Joined: 16 Jul 2004 12:01 am
- Location: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
Jon, I concur. I get 10-20 of these requests per day, even with heavy spam filtering, both at the server level and by my client. Without the spam filtering, there would be hundreds per day. I just junk them without a further thought. I would never give personal info out in reply to any email like this - the email addresses are not verifiable and every one I've ever seen is a scam. Any reputable firm requesting information like this would have to be crazy, IMO.
Beware of any request for personal information. I've gotten forged requests with return-path name as our internal tech support! The tipoff is that they're asking for personal information. I could tell for sure they were forged because the return-path ip address was different, the tech support folks had an irritated chuckle. Spammers can make this stuff look very plausible, but just say NO! Just my opinion.
Beware of any request for personal information. I've gotten forged requests with return-path name as our internal tech support! The tipoff is that they're asking for personal information. I could tell for sure they were forged because the return-path ip address was different, the tech support folks had an irritated chuckle. Spammers can make this stuff look very plausible, but just say NO! Just my opinion.