Beware! Pay Pal Fraud?

MikeF

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 10, 2002
Messages
508
Location
Denver, CO
I received an e-mail yesterday that appeared to be from PayPal. It was fraudulent, and was searching for information!!! It Said:

"Dear PayPal Customer


This e-mail is the notification of recent innovations taken by PayPal to detect inactive customers and non-functioning mailboxes.

The inactive customers are subject to restriction and removal in the next 3 months.

Please confirm your email address and Credit or Check Card information using the form below:"

It then went on to requested the following information:
1.E-Mail Address. 2. Password. 3. First Name. 4. Last Name. 5. Zip. 6. Credit Card or Check Card# 7. Expiration Date. 8. ATM PIN.

When I contacted Pay Pal Security, their response was:
"However, the email that you have received was not sent by PayPal. You should never send your password through email and you should not reveal your password to PayPal Representatives on the phone. That is information that only you as the account holder should know as that is a security feature for the protection of your account. If you have shared your password with anyone, you may want to change it through your account profile."

I know better than to send information via internet, so I did not send my information.

NEVER NEVER send information to a request for information that you receive. Always make sure that you are using someone you trust for transactions, and always check the security Icon and check for the HTTP"S" in the address line when conducting transactions or before sending any other secure data.
 

PaulW

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 23, 2003
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Location
Laurel, Maryland
Good advice.

Yep, over the past few months I have received three such e-mails trying from PayPal or eBay look-alikes to get personal information. One even asked for my SSN and driver's licence number.
 

MikeF

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 10, 2002
Messages
508
Location
Denver, CO
I was suprised to find out that PayPal was an E-Bay company. They must be getting targeted by hackers.
 

jtice

Flashaholic
Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
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Location
West Virginia
!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif I just signed up for paypal....

for the most part, dont youu guys have good experiences with it?
I figured I should get it, so I can blow all my money in the B/S/T /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

My deposits should be in my account soon, so I can verify it.
 

PaulW

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 23, 2003
Messages
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Location
Laurel, Maryland
I have good experiences with PayPal. It's very easy to use and keep track of, whether you're a buyer or seller. PayPal has a saying about preferring the use of their service. Now I am finding that I actually do prefer it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

GJW

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 25, 2002
Messages
2,030
Location
Bay Area, CA
[ QUOTE ]
MikeF said:
I was suprised to find out that PayPal was an E-Bay company. They must be getting targeted by hackers.

[/ QUOTE ]

eBay only bought them a few months ago.
 

Bill.H

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 25, 2002
Messages
630
Location
Maine USA
That's a common one. There are lots of other paypal scams, and a lot of info about them can be found at paypalsucks.com; also some information about how to handle problems with paypal.

(I am not associated with paypalsucks.com)
 

PocketLights.com

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 18, 2002
Messages
156
Location
Norcross, GA
I suggest paying with a credit card when possible because credit cards have better fraud protection. One of my customers who has a credit card that he only uses to pay PayPal had his credit card number stolen and used to purchase items that he never authorized.
 

brightnorm

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 13, 2001
Messages
7,160
After you spend $2000.00 paypal will insist that you become "verified" by giving them access to your checking and/or savings accounts. You cannot continue to pay via your CC unless you do this.

Here's how to stay safe (advice suggested by a wise Flashaholic whose name I unfortunately forgot).

Open a new checking account with a nominal sum, say $10.00 - $100.00. Make sure that it is not linked to any of your other accounts. This will be your PayPal account and you will send the info to PayPal as requested.

The next time you make a PP purchase opt for "other payment options" (or words to that effect), then click on "credit Card". It will ask you if your're sure you want to pay by CC. to which you naturally check "yes".

That's it. Your maximum CC liability is $50.00 and your maximum Checking account liability is whatever you put in your account.

I've never had any problem with PayPal but after I did this I felt much more comfortable.

Brightnorm
 

FalconFX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 1, 2002
Messages
3,297
Location
Davis, CA
This doesn't just apply to Paypal, but to any other account you have...

Just DO NOT give any information out to anybody via e-mail or via a site you suspect is, well, suspect... Even if the site "looks" legitimate (i.e. it has the same design as the original site), you can check the URL and at worst case, give them a call...

On any TOS you read, you will find that companies who are reputable will tell you they will NEVER EVER ask you for your personal information or for your password or CC or funds information through e-mail or phone.

And unless you, yourself, called them or sent the first e-mail to them asking for information, you know that the e-mial you get is unsolicited and could be a fraud...
 

Silviron

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 24, 2001
Messages
2,477
Location
New Mexico, USA
Just a heads-up on new fraud attempts:

This morning I got three emails asking me to verify my PayPal account. They all LOOKED like they linked to the proper https://paypal.com but with all the gobbledygook following the link, they actually went to other sites when you run them through the SamSpade ( http://www.samspade.org ) "deciphering machine".


Stinking thieves. Hope they fry.
 

James S

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
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Location
on an island surrounded by reality
Just a big agreement with with brightnorm had to say. DO NOT give paypal access to your regular day to day working checking account and if you open a special one for them making sure that it is not linked to your other accounts is equally vital. Otherwise your bank will try to be helpful and move money for you if necessary, thereby making having a separate account completely useless.

The problem is not that paypal is evil or out to get you or anything, just that the ONLY adjudication that is done when there is a problem is internal to them and they make mistakes. There is NO RECOURSE for you at all if they decide to take your money and give it to some moron claiming you own him money. Also, if someone uses a stolen card to pay you for something you are considered as guilty as he and your accounts will be frozen as well. And I repeat, there is no appeal process, nobody that you can contact or telephone. They purposefully and admittedly don't put this info on their site.

So when it works it works great, if you have a problem you're screwed because you can't talk to anyone to fix it.

So take those precautions and you will never be out too much money if the worst happens. It's not that much extra work.
 

Saaby

Flashaholic
Joined
Jun 17, 2002
Messages
7,447
Location
Utah
My theroy if you will is that if they provide a link in the eMail that link is just for my convienence. If it was really PayPal they would probably provide instructions on how to surf to www.paypal.com myself and get to where I needed to myself.

My sister keeps getting these eMails at her Hotmail account, which confused her because none of her accounts are linked to Hotmail. Fortunately she talked to me before she sent out info and found it it was a scam.
 

The_LED_Museum

*Retired*
Joined
Aug 12, 2000
Messages
19,414
Location
Federal Way WA. USA
I got *TWO* of those emails this morning; I did not click on the included links for obvious reasons. I was a bit surprised that they used "https" though. Paypal always says to check for the "s" before you open a page that looks like it's from Paypal; this is a pretty good attempt to screw you because the "s" is there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
 
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