I just received this email, and I'm thinking that it isnt' right. Supposedly from paypal. I clicked the link just to see where it would take me, but the page doesn't load. If this is a scam email, what should I do with it?
The email address: PayPal Security Center <noticeserv28@onlines.com>
subject: Message About Your Account *
Dear PayPal Online,
We regret to inform you, that we had to lock your PayPal Online Access
because we have reasons to believe that your account may have been compromised by outside
parties. In order to protect your sensitive information, we temporaly suspended your account.
To reactivate your account, click on the link below and confirm your identity by completing the
secure form what will appear.
https://www.paypal-security.us
We have seen unusual attempts for logging in regarding your personal account, therefore this
confirmation regarding your account its only for security reasons.
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
Have questions? Our online help screens provide answers to many frequently asked questions.
You can also click the Customer Center tab then go to the Contact Us page to find a list of helpful
numbers to call.
Please do not reply to this automatically generated e-mail.
We know you have a choice of banks. Thanks for choosing ours.
Sincerely, PayPal Team,
Scam or no scam?
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snuffaluff
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Harry White
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it looks like a scan. when i tried to access that site, i got a firefox warning saying that site was a suspected web forgery site, reported by others as a scam to get people to reveal personal finance info. ignore it and contact paypal directly!
Users: SS Police PE, Delica 4 PE, Kopa Cocobolo, Blue Dodo SE, Yellow Pacific Salt PE, Micarta SPOT SE, Gray Calypso Jr, Temperance SE, Burgandy Jess Horn w/ZDP, UK Penknife, BB Delica 3 PE, Captain, CF Military w/BG-42, Lava, Caly3 SE, Para-Military SE, Manix CE, BB Para-Military SE, Delica 4 Wave, Ocelot CE, SpyderFly, Navigator II SE, Vagabond, D'Allara Drop Point CE, Black Assist I, Bug Set (and also: Sharpmaker, SS byrd Finch PE, Profile Set, byrd Firebyrd, Large Spyderpac, byrd Wings)
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snuffaluff
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Yup, it is a scam. The writing style is not proper enough, bad spelling, and typically the "automatic email do not reply" is at the start of the message. Id ask paypal via phone.
SS
SS
[CENTER]Jeremiah 4:28[/CENTER]
Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.
[CENTER]Saw[/CENTER]
[CENTER]"How much blood will you shed to stay alive?"[/CENTER]
Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.
[CENTER]Saw[/CENTER]
[CENTER]"How much blood will you shed to stay alive?"[/CENTER]
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The Deacon
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Definite scam. Real emails from PayPal will address you by your real name in the body.
Paul
My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Spydiewiki
Deplorable :p
WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Spydiewiki
Deplorable :p
WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
I have gotten these emails too, and I have never entered my name and password in the link they provide. I did check out the real paypal website, and after logging in, there was no word whatsoever about "losing my account".
Also, my first email like that happenend months ago, and I haven't lost paypal or any of it's functionality.
Also, my first email like that happenend months ago, and I haven't lost paypal or any of it's functionality.
That's a classic "Phishing" scam
here's an article i wrote about it that i hand out/email to my customers whenever they encounter a suspicious e-mail.....
Phishing, what is it, and how do you avoid it?
by Russ White
Phishing is a type of spam that attempts to get the reader to disclose their personal information and/or bank information to a fraudulent website, once the phishers have this information, they can run up unauthorized charges, drain your bank account or use your identity for criminal acts, or sell your identity to identity thieves, most commonly they take the form of a bank/credit card company/web merchant e-mail message asking you to update personal info for "security" reasons, or telling you that your account number has been stolen and you need to re-enter your personal/account info to allow them to "reset" your account
most phishing attempts have links to websites that look like the real thing, but are really the scammers site, where they harvest your account info and can then make fraudulent charges to your account, or sell off your identity to identity thieves
how do you recognize a phishing attempt?
first off, it's obvious if a bank you don't even have an account with is telling you your account is compromised, i.e. if you don't have an account with "ACME Cash-O-Matic Bank", and you get an e-mail that your <nonexistent> account is compromised, it's clearly a phishing attempt
second, banks will *never* ask for personal info in an e-mail, another sign of a phishing attempt
third, if you have the headers display turned on in your e-mail app, you can trace back where the e-mail came from, for example, if you have an account with the MegaCorp GalacticBank, and you get an e-mail from them telling you that your account has been compromised, the headers should show the e-mail as being sent from "megacorp.com", "megacorp.net", etc..., *NOT* "Joe-Bob's Bank And House of Ribs.com" or "Yeehaaa!.com"
unlike most spam attempts, where you should simply delete them and not respond, phishing attempts need to be brought to the attention of the company that's being fraudulently represented, as they tend to frown on fraud, especially if it's attached to their name, using the example above, you should go to the Megacorp GalacticBank webpage, find out the correct e-mail address to send the fraud attempt to (typically fraud@megacorp.com, or phish@megacorp.com) so they can investigate and prosecute the scammers, make sure you forward them the *entire* message, including the headers, that way they can track it down
the headers also contain the ISP ID that they used to send the scam out (Yeehaaa!.com in the above example), i'd also recommend sending the phishing attempt to the ISP's abuse department as well, most ISP's will pull scammers accounts, they don't want *their* company name associated with scammers either....
a couple more hints....
look for misspellings, somehow i don't think a Visa rep would write "attention valued visa custumer"
check the URL to see if it's a secure connection or a non-secure, secure connection URL's begin with https:// (note the s, signifying a secure connection), a https connection isn't a guarantee of a secure connection, as they can be faked, but it makes the chances of the email being valid a little more probable....
for example https://visa is alittle more legit than http://visa, and both are more valid than https://joebobsbankandhouseofribs, even though it has a (forged) security indicator
look for random letters at the top or bottom of the email, many times these random letters are disguised as an "encryption key" when all it is is a text block used to foil spam filter criteria
look for letter/number substitutions...
v1sa.com
visa.c0m
paypa1.com
paypal.c0m
check the destination address, if it has an @ symbol, most browsers ignore everything to the left of the @ symbol, for example;
https://megacorpbank.com@joebobsbankand ... erify.html
the above URL has the https, signifying a secure location, it has the correct main URL, however it's still a phish, as the browser will redirect to Joe-Bobs Bank and House of Ribs (free fries with every checking account!, act now, supplies are limited) phishing site.....
remember, if it sounds too good to be true, or looks suspicious in any way, don't trust it.....
just for fun, click on the Megacorp link to see what happens, it's a fake link, but see where your browser tries to take you, does it try to take you to MegaCorp bank, or Joe-Bob's?
here's an article i wrote about it that i hand out/email to my customers whenever they encounter a suspicious e-mail.....
Phishing, what is it, and how do you avoid it?
by Russ White
Phishing is a type of spam that attempts to get the reader to disclose their personal information and/or bank information to a fraudulent website, once the phishers have this information, they can run up unauthorized charges, drain your bank account or use your identity for criminal acts, or sell your identity to identity thieves, most commonly they take the form of a bank/credit card company/web merchant e-mail message asking you to update personal info for "security" reasons, or telling you that your account number has been stolen and you need to re-enter your personal/account info to allow them to "reset" your account
most phishing attempts have links to websites that look like the real thing, but are really the scammers site, where they harvest your account info and can then make fraudulent charges to your account, or sell off your identity to identity thieves
how do you recognize a phishing attempt?
first off, it's obvious if a bank you don't even have an account with is telling you your account is compromised, i.e. if you don't have an account with "ACME Cash-O-Matic Bank", and you get an e-mail that your <nonexistent> account is compromised, it's clearly a phishing attempt
second, banks will *never* ask for personal info in an e-mail, another sign of a phishing attempt
third, if you have the headers display turned on in your e-mail app, you can trace back where the e-mail came from, for example, if you have an account with the MegaCorp GalacticBank, and you get an e-mail from them telling you that your account has been compromised, the headers should show the e-mail as being sent from "megacorp.com", "megacorp.net", etc..., *NOT* "Joe-Bob's Bank And House of Ribs.com" or "Yeehaaa!.com"
unlike most spam attempts, where you should simply delete them and not respond, phishing attempts need to be brought to the attention of the company that's being fraudulently represented, as they tend to frown on fraud, especially if it's attached to their name, using the example above, you should go to the Megacorp GalacticBank webpage, find out the correct e-mail address to send the fraud attempt to (typically fraud@megacorp.com, or phish@megacorp.com) so they can investigate and prosecute the scammers, make sure you forward them the *entire* message, including the headers, that way they can track it down
the headers also contain the ISP ID that they used to send the scam out (Yeehaaa!.com in the above example), i'd also recommend sending the phishing attempt to the ISP's abuse department as well, most ISP's will pull scammers accounts, they don't want *their* company name associated with scammers either....
a couple more hints....
look for misspellings, somehow i don't think a Visa rep would write "attention valued visa custumer"
check the URL to see if it's a secure connection or a non-secure, secure connection URL's begin with https:// (note the s, signifying a secure connection), a https connection isn't a guarantee of a secure connection, as they can be faked, but it makes the chances of the email being valid a little more probable....
for example https://visa is alittle more legit than http://visa, and both are more valid than https://joebobsbankandhouseofribs, even though it has a (forged) security indicator
look for random letters at the top or bottom of the email, many times these random letters are disguised as an "encryption key" when all it is is a text block used to foil spam filter criteria
look for letter/number substitutions...
v1sa.com
visa.c0m
paypa1.com
paypal.c0m
check the destination address, if it has an @ symbol, most browsers ignore everything to the left of the @ symbol, for example;
https://megacorpbank.com@joebobsbankand ... erify.html
the above URL has the https, signifying a secure location, it has the correct main URL, however it's still a phish, as the browser will redirect to Joe-Bobs Bank and House of Ribs (free fries with every checking account!, act now, supplies are limited) phishing site.....
remember, if it sounds too good to be true, or looks suspicious in any way, don't trust it.....
just for fun, click on the Megacorp link to see what happens, it's a fake link, but see where your browser tries to take you, does it try to take you to MegaCorp bank, or Joe-Bob's?
Save the Dodo (Collect the whole set!)
Proud owner of 3 Blue Dodo's, SE#130, SE, and PE
Join the Cult Of H-1....
Proud owner of 3 Blue Dodo's, SE#130, SE, and PE
Join the Cult Of H-1....
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OuchThatsSharp
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- Location: Aridzona
Ditto the Deacon. I've received about 3 or 4 of these over the past year. DO NOT REPLY TO IT. Copy it and forward it to PayPal.
It's better to have knife and not need it than to need a knife and not have it.
[SIGPIC]http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145 ... opelli.jpg[/SIGPIC]
[SIGPIC]http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145 ... opelli.jpg[/SIGPIC]
I've had several attempts at PayPal and ebay fraud through email.
Apologies if it has already been said specifically, but NEVER click on a link in email that is of a financial nature, ALWAYS follow your OWN link.
As an example, when I get an email saying "You've got money" from PayPal I always go to my bookmarks and follow my own link to PayPal to verify the funds.
Forward suspicious PayPal emails to "Spoof@paypal.com"
You will get verification fairly quick.
Apologies if it has already been said specifically, but NEVER click on a link in email that is of a financial nature, ALWAYS follow your OWN link.
As an example, when I get an email saying "You've got money" from PayPal I always go to my bookmarks and follow my own link to PayPal to verify the funds.
Forward suspicious PayPal emails to "Spoof@paypal.com"
You will get verification fairly quick.
Intentionally Left Blank
Please read
It is scam. It is happened with me couple times. I called paypal and they told me, that they never send e-mails with links. Never click on these links, this is attempt to receive your information.
You need to forward this e-mail to paypal security dept., than they will be able to shut down these guys.
Roman
You need to forward this e-mail to paypal security dept., than they will be able to shut down these guys.
Roman
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf"
My top choices Natives5, Calys, C83 Persian
My top choices Natives5, Calys, C83 Persian
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snuffaluff
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- Location: 1hrNofDallas USA
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I emailed paypal the this is the response:
Thank you for contacting PayPal about a fraudulent (spoof) email or Web
site. We appreciate you bringing this suspicious email to our attention.
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.
Thank you for contacting PayPal about a fraudulent (spoof) email or Web
site. We appreciate you bringing this suspicious email to our attention.
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.
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zenheretic
- Member
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- Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2005 8:47 am
- Location: USA, Earth
Hey Snuff, you might consider running whatever security full scan options you have on your computer just to be safe...since you did click on the link. 
A lot of good advice given above. Another note to consider is disregard phone numbers to call as well in a Phishing email. It sounds obvious, but worth mentioning. Do as others have said and use your own links or contact info and never links or contact info given in a email.
Another precaution I take with ebay/paypal is when I purchase from an ebay store that links directly to paypal (some stores won't let you pay any other way) I either don't purchase from them or if I really "need" the knife, I will take my own link to paypal, change my password to a temp password. Go back and use the store system, then immediately take my own link back and change my password. You just can't be too careful.
A lot of good advice given above. Another note to consider is disregard phone numbers to call as well in a Phishing email. It sounds obvious, but worth mentioning. Do as others have said and use your own links or contact info and never links or contact info given in a email.
Another precaution I take with ebay/paypal is when I purchase from an ebay store that links directly to paypal (some stores won't let you pay any other way) I either don't purchase from them or if I really "need" the knife, I will take my own link to paypal, change my password to a temp password. Go back and use the store system, then immediately take my own link back and change my password. You just can't be too careful.
Follow the mushin, but pay it no heed.
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The Deacon
- Member
- Posts: 25717
- Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2004 10:33 am
- Location: Upstate SC, USA
- Contact:
On a lighter note, out of all the spam and phishing emails I've received over the years, this is the only one I found funny enough to snap a screen shot of before deleting...
[CENTER]
[/CENTER]
After three years I still get a chuckle out of it. :D
[CENTER]
[/CENTER]After three years I still get a chuckle out of it. :D
Paul
My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Spydiewiki
Deplorable :p
WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Spydiewiki
Deplorable :p
WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
-
jaislandboy
- Member
- Posts: 6150
- Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2005 12:00 pm
- Location: tennessee
I get a few of them also. I just forward them to spoof at paypal.com and they reply: Thank you for contacting PayPal about a fraudulent (spoof) email or
Web
site. We appreciate you bringing this suspicious email to our
attention.
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.
etc. Some idiots must have a lot of time on their hands or need attention? I delete most of them but once in awhile I forward one to paypal just to see if they can track down the idiot.
Web
site. We appreciate you bringing this suspicious email to our
attention.
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.
etc. Some idiots must have a lot of time on their hands or need attention? I delete most of them but once in awhile I forward one to paypal just to see if they can track down the idiot.
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Dr. Snubnose
- Member
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- Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2005 9:54 pm
- Location: NewYork
Unfortunately, spamming and phishing is becoming so common that the only way to stop the spammers/phishers would be through the liberal use of high-yield thermonuclear weapons......
about the only good use for nukes, if you ask me.....
anyone else want to see spammers nuked, or am i alone here
about the only good use for nukes, if you ask me.....
anyone else want to see spammers nuked, or am i alone here
Save the Dodo (Collect the whole set!)
Proud owner of 3 Blue Dodo's, SE#130, SE, and PE
Join the Cult Of H-1....
Proud owner of 3 Blue Dodo's, SE#130, SE, and PE
Join the Cult Of H-1....