Family WebWatch

Protecting families in an online world.

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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