PayPal Scam Warning

Hi all,

I just wanted to let you all know the phishers are working the PayPal accounts real hard. I received the following email:

"Hello [email protected],

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system.
We recently noticed the following issue on your account:

Your bank has contacted us regarding some attempts of charges from your credit card via the Paypal system. We have reasons to believe that you changed your registration information or that someone else has unauthorized access to your Paypal account Due to recent activity, including possible unauthorized payments placed on your account, we will require a second confirmation of your identity with us in order to allow us to investigate this matter further. Your account is not suspended, but if in 48 hours after you receive this message your account is not confirmed we reserve the right to suspend your Paypal registration. If you received this notice and you are not the authorized account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of Paypal policy to represent oneself as another Paypal user. Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law. Paypal is committed to assist law enforcement with any inquires related to attempts to misappropriate personal information with the intent to commit fraud or theft. Information will be provided at the request of law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.



To confirm your identity with us click here:
(URL DELETED)

Case ID Number: PP-741-921-730

After responding to the message, we ask that you allow at least 72 hours for the case to be investigated. Emailing us before that time will result in delays. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you and we would like to thank you for your cooperation as we review this matter.

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department

PayPal Email ID PP522

This message and any files or documents attached may contain classified information. It is intended only for the individual or entity named and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the intended recipient or authorized to receive it, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately then delete it from your system. Please also note that transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free."
Yea, right. The supplied PayPal https URL acually resolves to:

http://www. paypal. com. paypalwebscr. cn

I have notified PayPal and they have notified authorities and are having the URL removed from the DNS servers, but that will take a few days.

So again, no matter how official or threating an email may be, never reply!

Lambda

I got one of those also. Since I don't use credit cards I knew it was fake, and immediately sent it to Paypal. They did in fact inform me that it was a phishing scam, and they were working to shut them down.

the saddest part about all this is that it still happens that real banks and real companies will send you email with a login link, that sometimes doesn't even go to their own root domain.

I remind my parents periodically that any email, and every email, from any bank or online business or anyone is always fake. never ever click a link on an email that goes to your bank.

So it really doesn't matter what the gist of the email is, anything that says click here to login in an email is fake. Anything that is real and says that is from a company that is too stupid to give your business to anyway!

it seems as though i get this crap daily in my inbox, I always forward it to [email protected] and I get that same phishing message. I think the reply you get is just a form message. Although, I do think that sending them the email helps them work against this junk.

I get a lot of these, both "from" paypal and "from" various banks. I delete them all without replying to them or checking the links, but some of them I look at just to see how obvious it is that they are fake. I figure if there is anything I need to do with paypal or a credit card company, I go to them directly and do it.

Any genuine correspondence from Paypal has always included my login username. None of the fake ones have.

I get those all the time too.

They just keep landing in my junk folder instead of my inbox before I even read them.

Rarely do I ever have one of these turds go to my regular Inbox 1st anymore.

This is a good reason to have a good email account with a "junk" feature to warn others with. :toilet:

Yeah, some of them look so realistic and authentic, I can see how people get taken. I'm sad to report that my mother in law did very recently (last Thursday) fel victim to a similar scam... She used to be a pretty big ebay seller but hasn't been doing much lately since she's a nurse and has done three or four trips down to the Katrina vistim area... Well, she received one that said something along the lines of since she hadn't used her eBay or paypal in six months or so, they wanted to verify all her information was correct.

BAM!

As of Monday, three purchases had been made on her card in New York, but had originated in Italy. I sort of commented than since there were so many scams, that not much would likely be able to be done about it but from what the bank is saying, government agencies are looking at many of these scams as being potentially related to terrorism and being dealt with a bit more severely than in the past.

Still, it comes down to this... Don't every tell ANYONE ANYTHING about your acct numbers or passwords...