Phishing With PayPal
Another phishing email arrived in my inbox today. This time it was from PayPal.
The clues:
- They didn’t use my name. If it were really PayPal, they’d use it.
- They used an email address of mine — true enough — but I don’t use it with my PayPal account.
- My email address wasn’t shown in the “To:” field. I had to click “Show original” to find out.
- The reply address they used was “…@google.com”. Seriously, PayPal has their own domain.
Here’s the message:
Dear valued PayPal member,
It has come to our attention that your PayPal account information needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website. If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into any future problems with the online service.
However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension. Please update your records on or before July 02, 2007.
Once you have updated your account records, your PayPal session will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.
To update your PayPal records click on the following link:
(URL snipped)Thank You.
PayPal Update Team
Notice the sense of urgency? Why would PayPal rush you into things and threaten suspending your account if you don’t act? The answer is that it’s not PayPal, but the jerks that are trying to get you to act before they get caught and before you get wise.
You’re in control. Next time you get something like this, try looking for the clues I’ve mentioned before you take action. 
[tags]phishing,scams,web safety[/tags]
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Comments
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There are also several instances of clumsy grammar in this message, which is always another clue that it is fraudulent.
Thanks so much for the warning!
Jeanne Dininni
http://www.WritersNotes.Net/
Hi Jeanne, yeah, with all their programming knowledge, they just can’t form proper sentences. Thanks for stopping by.
Ken,
I recently received one of these “PayPal” phishing e-mails, and these guys are becoming much more sophisticated! It sounded very businesslike and contained no grammatical errors. Of course, it did contain clues to its fraudulent nature; but many people don’t know what to look for and need to be informed about how to recognize these attempts to steal their identitiy.
I’ve written a post about my experience, in which I reproduce the entire fraudulent e-mail, point out all the clues to its inauthenticity, and provide info on where to send fraudulent PayPal e-mails, as well as a link to a site that gives info on how to recognize spoof websites, how to tell whether a website is secure, and what to look for in phishing e-mails. Here’s the link: http://www.writersnotes.net/warning-watch-out-for-phishing-emails/.
Hope this comment won’t get buried in your archives where it won’t do anyone any good, since this post isn’t a recent one. (I wanted to leave the comment on the post that was most relevant to the topic, as opposed to the most recent one.) This info is critical for people to be aware of so they can learn how to protect their personal information.
Keep up the great work you’re doing informing people about fraudulent attempts to obtain their private financial information!
Regards,
Jeanne
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