Unauthorized access to my PayPal Account

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 12 Sep 2005 7:05 am

Got this formal looking e-mail today advising me of unauthorized access to my PayPal account, and that I could rectify the problem by signing on with my user ID and password. The web page looked quite authentic.
I have never had a PayPal Account.

Moderator, this was supposed to be under Computers but I screwed up and it ended up under "Extended Family". Sorry about that.[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 12 September 2005 at 08:07 AM.]

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 12 Sep 2005 8:20 am

PayPal and eBay users get these all the time, they're called "phishing" emails and totally phony. Shotgun approaches to see if they can score some ID's and passwords. I just forward them to the security depts. of either PP or eB. DON'T USE THE LINK, though.

------------------
Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 12 Sep 2005 12:21 pm

I moved it.

I usually get a few of these every day. I forward them to spoof@paypal.com if I have the time. I don't think they do anything about it, though. I've heard that the lifespan of a phishing web site is something like 3 days. They disappear before the authorities can get to them.

------------------
<img align=left src="http://b0b.com/b0bxicon.gif" border="0"> Bobby Lee
-b0b- quasar@b0b.com 
System Administrator 
My Blog

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 12 Sep 2005 4:22 pm

Legit sites, like PAYPAL, will adress you by your name in any EMAIL.

They all make this VERY clear.

IF your name is not present it is a fraud EMAIL, and thee are thousands of them popping around the planet.

One can only wonder how many people are actualy replying to them with all there passwords and sign on informaion.

My wife gets these notices all the time to her EMAIL Business account..she doesn't even have a PAYPAL account ....[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 12 September 2005 at 05:23 PM.]

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 12 Sep 2005 9:26 pm

Ray, don't you worry a thing about this. Just send me your account number and password, and I'll take care of this for you.

Bill Llewellyn · Post by **Bill Llewellyn** » 13 Sep 2005 9:24 am

Not seeing your own name in the email is a dead giveaway. It seems the senders "know" your email ID and that you have an account at eBay or PayPal (which you actually may not), but they can't address you by name? That says they likely hit on your mail ID by a random shotgun process or by crawling the web for places you've posted stuff.

Somewhat disturbingly, I got a phishing note recently that did correctly address me by name. First and last. Not sure how they got it. It was clearly bogus otherwise. Some bad grammar and spelling. Often these phishing notes have such errors in them, helping to reveal their falseness (bogosity?).

------------------
Bill, steelin' since '99 | Steel page | MSA U12 | My music | Steelers' birthdays | Over 50?

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 13 Sep 2005 4:29 pm

Dear Forumites, and John Q. Public who may Google and find this thread...

Go to http://www.spoofstick.com/ and download/install the current version of SpoofStick, for either Internet Explorer or Firefox, then close and restart the browser. Configure SpoofStick for the size of it's text and icon you like and drag it where you want it to stay on the browser toolbars.

SpoofStick identifies the actual website you are visiting by either resolved friendly name or IP address. If you clicked on a link that says it goes to eBay, but SpoofStick says you are on a server with just numbers, or ending in .tk, or .ru, run to the the nearest exit! I use SpoofStick on both browsers.

Ebay and PayPal both accept forwarded phishing scam emails at spoof@ebay.com and spoof@paypal.com. Whether they have enough manpower to track the hundreds of phishing scams is doubtful, but I send them anyway. I also am a reporting member of SpamCop.net and I report phishing scams to them, for more reporting action.

Hint: When you want to visit eBay or PayPal type the URL into the addressbar yourself.

Wiz
Moderator[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 13 September 2005 at 05:31 PM.]

Donna Dodd · Post by **Donna Dodd** » 14 Sep 2005 1:57 pm

Here's the very obviously fake url my paypal alert sent me to: http://mu.kunsan.ac.kr/p/update.html
Surely, folks aren't STILL falling for this stuff??

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 17 Sep 2005 11:11 am

I've heard that the lifespan of a phishing web site is something like 3 days. They disappear before the authorities can get to them.

Why can't some enterprising soul send them a virus back that wipes out their computer?

Dirty pool? Perhaps, but it would accomplish what it seems the authorities cannot.