Important!

August 15, 2005

Hi all..

I just received this E-mail from <service@paypalcardservices.com>....(DO NOT E-MAIL THIS ADDRESS!)..

Dear PayPal Member,
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the
PayPal system.
We recently noticed the following issue on your account:
We would like to ensure that your account was not accessed by an
unauthorized third party. Because protecting the security of your account
is our primary concern, we have limited access to sensitive PayPal account
features. We understand that this may be an inconvenience but please
understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection.
Case ID Number: PP-018-877-338
For your protection, we have limited access to your account until
additional security measures can be completed. We apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.
To update your Paypal records click on the following link:
http://****://***.paypal.com/*****/*******=_login-*** (i edited this out to stop the numpty's doing it)
To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used
to make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the
Resolution Center. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek
further clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal
by visiting the Help Center and clicking "Contact Us".
We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand
that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your
account. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal Email ID PP522

This E-mail contained all the Paypal Logo's etc and looked quite genuine. I knew something was wrong as i have never used my Hotmail account on Paypal. Out of curiosity, i did something i would not normally do.. i clicked the link, before it sent me to the "login page" i watched the address bar quickly change to mlf seeker.com something or other, before taking me to the login page., so, agian i instantly knew it WASN'T from Paypal.

My next step was to go to Paypal's real website to contact them on this matter.. i got the phone number and explained to the girl on the phone that i had just received what i knew was a dodgy E-mail.. i read out the contents of the E-mail to her and was asked to forward it to spoof@paypal.com (which i did) and she told me NOT to put any of my details on the fake website.

I have received the following E-mail back from spoof@hotmail.com.....

Dear my name here,
Thank you for contacting PayPal. We appreciate you bringing this
suspicious email to our attention.
Commonly referred to as phishing, these emails are sent by fraudsters in
an attempt to collect sensitive personal or financial information from
the recipients. PayPal takes phishing threats seriously. Our fraud
prevention specialists are working 24/7 to help protect you and enable
the community to stay safe.
After review, we can confirm that the email you received was not sent by
PayPal. Any website which may be linked to this email is not authorized
or used by PayPal.
Our fraud prevention team is working to disable any website linked to
this email. In the meantime, please do not enter any information into
this website. If you have already done so, you should immediately log
into your PayPal account and change your password, as well as your
security questions and answers. We also recommend that you contact your
bank and credit card company immediately.
If you notice any unauthorized activity on your PayPal account, please
report it to us by following the instructions below:
1. Log in to your account only from the PayPal website. Do not use
links provided in any email.
2. Click on the Security Center link at the bottom of the page.
3. Click on the 'Unauthorized Transaction' link under the Report a
Problem column.
4. Follow the instructions on this page in order to access the
appropriate form.
Lastly, we recommend taking a few steps to protect yourself from
identity theft:
> Download the SafetyBar, a toolbar for Outlook and Outlook Express,
which identifies known spoof emails.
> Get eBay Toolbar with Account Guard which warns you when you're on a
potentially fraudulent (spoof) Web site.
> Frequently monitor your account for suspicious activity.
For additional tips please visit the PayPal Security Center at
http://www.paypal.com/security.
Once again, thank you for reporting this suspicious email. Your
vigilance helps us in our efforts to protect the PayPal community. If
you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.
Sincerely,
PayPal
______________________________
,

So, if ANY of you receive an E-mail from Paypal that you think is dodgy.. forward it to spoof@paypal.com DON'T follow any of the links and DON'T enter ANY of your details (passwords, bank details, anything)

Davy

I know most of your aren't stupid.. but, there will be someone out there who just might fall for this... so watch ypur backs people.

August 15, 2005

Its hard when some of them are so darn genuine looking!

I have my own way of dealing with them.... I get an email.... usually from eBay or Paypal and I shout

"RIIIIICCH, got any email"

and he comes over and says

"Delete it woman"

And it works! :thumbsup:

August 15, 2005

hover over the link and see what it says.

if its not https://www.paypal.com then its a fake.

afaik there is no way to get round this method as an address can only take you to the designated place on the net

August 15, 2005

Its hard when some of them are so darn genuine looking!
←

The site it took me to looked like the real Paypal login site... could easily fool a lot of people, it had all the links (contact us.. pay someone money etc) and the bit to put in your passwords.

On a lighter note..

I thought it was funny how the address bar flashed up mlfseeker.com(or something very similar) before displaying a fake paypal address :lol:

August 15, 2005

always forward these to

spoof@paypal.com

August 16, 2005

get the eBay tool bar thing its like a spywhere doodah and when you open a duff email it tells you its pants and asks you to just 'click here' and it gets forward to them

top banana :)

August 16, 2005

Thanks for the warning Davy, I don't use paypal all that much but it's always good to know about these things.

August 17, 2005

The usual advice is NEVER give any security information if requested via email/text/phone etc. These days all the banks now state that they will never ask for securty info (unless you call them yourself), I imagine the same goes for any other reputable website.

Even if I got a genuine email asking for security info, I'd get the phone number from my own records (not the one off the email or the website the email points to) and call them and ask why they would need to know info that they already have on file as well as on secure backup.

August 17, 2005

lol I just got an email from Barclays and The Bank of the West asking me to urgently update my account details by clicking on the link....

I've never had an account with either bank! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Edit: The best part is..... at the top - it says in huge letters "IMPORTANT NOTICE".... except they've spelt it "IMPORANT NOTICE" :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: