Perhaps this is not news, but it was to me. I received and email notification that there had been unauthorized use of my paypal account, and to log in and check. I logged in, and then noticed that the web address didn’t have paypal in it. I immediately closed the window, and went to Paypal. I found no alert on my Paypal account, and I quickly changed my password to something completely different, and then tried to log in with my old password, just to be certain. If you get this email, DO NOT log in! Once logged in, they ask you to verify yourself, and one of the things that they ask for is your credit card #. Thankfully I noticed before I filled anything out.
You’re right, it’s not news and it’s nothing new. Warnings of this scam have appeared several times over the years.
Scam messages of this type are known as “phishing” – trying to get you to enter your account password so they can charge thousands of dollars of purchases to it. Never give your account data or password to any of these scammers – they sometimes pose as banks, credit card companies, and bill collectors as well as PayPal.
These scams come in all guises too. I got one last year ostensibly from the IRS and even had the official IRS seal on it. What set the warning bells off was when I saw it said I owed several thousand in back taxes from the previous year. That was impossible because I’m on SSI which is non-taxable and the amount of income from my job was under $1200. Still I checked with the IRS on their REAL site and just as I figured I didn’t owe a cent. I emailed the letter to them and they said they would investigate it.
I haven’t had a e-bay account since 2005 and I still get a notice from time to time to update my account or it will be CLOSED! [:O] My Pay Pal account needs to be upgraded(or some such).[:O]
The funny part? I never had a Pay Pal account!!! [(-D]
Scammers know there are a lot of clueless out there. Never, ever respond to any unsolicited emails. Delete them immediately. I even got an email sometime ago with the subject, From your daughter. My daughters never send me email like that.
I get them for ebay also. My email takes care of this stuff very well but sometimes look at the Spam folder subjects to see what the latest attempt is like.
When friends or family send me email with FWD or Check it out, I immediately delete them.
Unfortunately, you cannot fix stupid and some people click and respond with all their personal information. It is so sad. Stuff like this sometimes have viruses which turns peoples PCs into Bots controlled by the scammers PC for sending out more Spam. Well over fifty percent of email is Spam and Phishing emails sent my a few million Bots.
Want more information, search Google for Bots.
Also, read the Tech news in Yahoo or Google News at least once a week. This stuff is talked about a lot
Its not just e-mail, over the holidays I received a generic letter stating I was “entitled” to a certain amount of money from a “trust fund” it was a xeroxed letter, our badly combined names hand written in, no mention of whose trust fund, where its located or anything important like that, all I had to do was send X dollars to the enclosed address. yeah right…
Still have the letter, looking for the “appropriate” image to download and include when I mail it back with my Monopoly money.[(-D]
I have seen a few of these emails. I delete them right away. Once in a blue moon I will get one saying, “I havent received payment for the (item) yet”. Its been a camcorder, a 4 wheeler, jewelry, etc. Its just all junk.
I buy alot off of eBay and use pay-pal, never any problems. I also have never had a problem with people payong. Just becareful. The internet can be good, and it can be VERY bad.
You guys are making me very uneasy. Just last month, a very nice widow emailed me with an offer to pay me a considerable sum if I would just make my account available to her so that she wouldn’t have to pay estate taxes in her home country. She stated she had researched for weeks to get just the right person, and I was it!! I was so flattered that I, of all people, had won her esteemed trust. Needless to say, I quickly agreed, being stroked hard of ego, and provided all the required information. Yet, I have grown uneasy in that she has not replied. It has been nearly three weeks.
I’ve been getting these for years. I forward them to spoof@paypal.com or spoof@ebay.com so they can hopefully work at eliminating them. It’s a never ending battle though.
FYI mouse over the “PayPal” or “eBay” link they want you to click on - you’ll see the actual URL in the panel at the bottom of your screen (with Windows XP anyway).
Randy, this is nothing new. You should report these message to PayPal by forwarding them to spoof@paypal.com.
They are aware if these messages and it seems they have software that cruises the net to coapture the email of anyone who uses PayPal for any purpose. The only reason those trying to defraud people still send these bogus emails is that so many unknowledgeable folks keep falling for them.
paypal is probably the biggest scam on the internet. when it works, it is great but when it doesn’t it can drive you to drink. ebay would like for you to believe that paypal killed the kaiser and put a stop to the crucifixion. in fact, it can be a hassle by itself without any outside help from scammers. i won’t go into detail here since it has already been posted all over the web but i stopped selling on ebay when they started requiring sellers to offer paypal for that very reason and i had 100% positive feedback over several years. a close friend had her bank account zapped by paypal without notice, she also had her money help up for over 3 months on one occasion. in that instance paypal was uncooperative and just stonewalled her repeatedly. when she received a defective item paypal did nothing to help her regardless of their claims of protecting the customers. in all the years i was on ebay, i never had a problem with money orders or checks and when i do buy something over the internet, i often pay for it using my bank’s electronic system or a credit card. if that is not good enough for the seller, then i get my stuff somewhere else. by the way, have any of you dealt with Madoff Hobbies in NYC?
As Bob pointed out, this can help you with any “Click Here for a Lifetime of Grief” link. The PayPal, eBay and bank phishing schemes often have sites which the URL shows are in places like Belarus or Estonia. Not much the real companies can do about that kind of thing.
You could e-mail your Congressman about the toothless regulations on this sort of thing, but then you would start getting Spam from people selling bogus dentures. Made with genuine Nigerian ivory.
Another place to report phising is the the Federal Trade Commission spam@uce.gov; particularly those Nigerian “deals”
As someone mentioned, these phishing e-mails are not new and are getting worse. IN the past year, 2 of our local banks in coastal Maine have been victims of these frauds. Their client lists were hacked and e-mails wer sent out requesting verification of logon IDs and passwords. The fradulent “bank link” was to a bogus site that mirrored the looks of the bank’s true websites. The best thing to do is call your bank customer service dept if you get an e-mail like this DO NOT REPLY TO THE E-MAIL!!!
I got the same thing a while back. What first tipped me off was the fact that I don’t have a Payscam account![(-D] It had my E-Bay ID correct and looked really official.