BEWARE!!!!! PAYPAL SCAM!!!!!!!!!!

pflash4001 · Post by **pflash4001** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 8:39 pm

I just got an email from "Paypal" that looked legit. It said something about them having reason to believe that someone accessed (or attempted to) my account info from an overseas IP address. It asks you to login and verify your information. Once you log in, it immediately asks you to add credit card #s. That is when I looked up. Paypal, as I understand it should always go to an https:// type of site. This one went to something like http://www.goaza...something or other. Guys, be careful, someone is hitting up Paypal users! Take care all, just wanted to give you all a heads up, and if I am wrong, well, I'd rather err on the side of caution.

pflash4001 · Post by **pflash4001** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 8:50 pm

Guys, just got this from Paypal:

Dear Javier Valenciano,

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
______________________________

Important: PayPal and its representatives will NEVER ask you to reveal
your password. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this policy. If anyone
claiming to work for PayPal asks for your password under any
circumstances, by email or by phone, please refuse and immediately
contact us via our secure webform online.

mikeylc · Post by **mikeylc** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:35 pm

The funny thing is when you click on those links and start entering info you can use anything for a user id and pw. If you are ever unsure do that. If it gives you the next page and doesn't give you a login error for the wrong info you know it's a scam. There are the same type messages that come out from banks and ebay as well. It's sad the world is full of crooks and even worse.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:47 pm

Just hover over the link. If it goes to an IP or anything other than paypal.com, it's bogus!

marc61 · Post by **marc61** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:49 pm

It's always bogus. I used to pass them to paypal and ebay, now I just spam them.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:32 am

I get fraudulent e-mails almost every day about paypal accounts ... I just delete them ... NEVER follow any links in those e-mails ...

if you want to check the status of your paypal account then go to the paypal web site and login with your user name and password ...

eddied · Post by **eddied** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:34 am

Here is a very simple RED FLAG to look out for about the Paypal scams. I called a rep. on the phone and she stated that unless the email is addressed to the exact person (by name). Ex: Attention John Smith, IT IS A FRAUD. It's that simple.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:07 am

My spam blocker, Cloudmark, gets most of 'em and sends 'em straight to trash.

thx1955 · Post by **thx1955** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:28 am

They're sent out from Paypal's Nigerian office. !!!

4003360man · Post by **4003360man** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 7:18 am

The other thing I noticed on both PayPal scam e-mails and EBay scams, all of the links on the "fake site" lead to a user ID and Password.

On the real sites, you can go to "employment opportunities" and general "Contact" links and get to an actual page where that information appears.

But basically anything e-bay has to say to you will be under "My E-Bay".

Go there. If there's no message, its a fake.

On average, I receive 3-4 fakes per day.

kevin · Post by **kevin** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:35 pm

Javier,

I hope you immediately logged in to the real PayPal and changed your password. Because if you used your real login info and they actually save what you entered, they now have access to your real PayPal account...

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:17 pm

Recently someone in England tried to scam me. He wanted to have his USA contact that owed him money to send me a check for $3,000 and that I should send him the balance with the item I sold him...yeah, right buddy, PayPal only!!
The next day, I see that the guy was booted from eBay. He went from 0 feedback to -4 overnight. LOL

pflash4001 · Post by **pflash4001** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:29 pm

Kevin, yeah, I actually logged in and changed the information before I even posted this thread here. I just wanted to give you guys a heads-up. I also got another warning from another friend of mine about something like this from another site at about the same time.