PayPal phishing scam

[Lynda Baran]

I recieved the following e-mail today:

Dear valued PayPal Customer,
 
 Due to a policy update we need to verify your PayPal account.
 Please download the attached file , open it using your browser,
fill in the required information and click update .
 Should you decide you do not wish to accept the verification 
process you can notify us before 07/10/2011 to close your account
 immediately without incurring any additional charges.
 
 We do hope, however, that you continue to use PayPal and enjoy
the following benefits:
It's safer
 When you pay with PayPal your financial details are never shared
with sellers or retailers, so you?e more protected against fraud.
It's faster
 You don? have to type in your card details each time you pay, so
you can check out faster online. You can also get eBay items delivered
more quickly, as you can pay the seller instantly.
It?'s easier
 PayPal is the preferred web payment method in the world because it?
a smarter, savvier way to pay online in just a few clicks. All you need
is your email address and a password.
 
Copyright © 1999-2011 PayPal. All rights reserved.

The thing is, I don't have nor have I ever had a Pay Pal account.   I know lots of folks in SL use Pay Pal, so I just thought I's pass it along FYI.

[Voddir]

Interesting....I will certainly keep an eye out for this. If someone gets one, maybe call Paypal and ask?

[Kylie Jaxxon]

@Voddir...Paypal would never ask those things in an email message

 

[Ceka Cianci]

the only thing i ever look at from paypal is when i make a purchase..i check my bank constantly daily online..so if something were going on i would see it right away..

[Claireschen Hesten]

a genuine message from paypal would never never never start off as 'dear valued Paypal customer' Paypal always address their mail outs e.g. Dear Claireschen Hesten and they always put your first and last name in the subject if it's not a receipt you'll also notice the sender of the message is never from @paypal.com or @paypal.co.uk unless it's a genuine paypal message

i've been a paypal user for nearing 10 years and received hundreds if not thousands of these phishing scams

[wiked Anton]

like banks ( in australia anyway) paypal doesnt do this kind of thing for real. a bank will never send you a link asking you to log in, similarly, paypal will not close you account because you have not updated information. i came accross this particular scam over a year ago, and i am quite surprised that it is still being used. there are simple rules to follow with emails from unknown sources. 1) NEVER use a link sent to you, if a bank asks you to log in, use your onw link (bookmark) or manually type in the address. 2) if an email is not from a friend, right click on the email BEFORE opening it, copy and paste the full headers into this FREE email tracer. if an email from say Microsoft head office comes from africa, or spain then delete the mail without opening it.http://www.ip-address.org/lookup/ip-locator.php  this is a FREE email tracer, i have tested it and it is quite accurate to within 100 KLMs  (60 miles)

[Void Singer]

probably just a renewed interest in trying to phish paypal since there is supposedly a new new java hack that can decypt the connection in the page. (I say supposedly because "The Register" seems to be the only credited source for the story)

[Mayalily]

---

Ceka Cianci wrote:

the only thing i ever look at from paypal is when i make a purchase..i check my bank constantly daily online..so if something were going on i would see it right away..

---

Hi Ceka, You mentioned bank with Paypal. 

I read the other day that some banks or all banks (it's not known yet) some time next year will start charging for debit card use.  In the article it said it's better to get an American Express card that you pay off at the end of each month as you get 1% rewards (of what I don't exactly know, cash of 1% back perhaps?).  The article also stated that with an American Express card you will be safer if someone hacks into your account.  If your bank is hacked, the article said there isn't much that can be done and you could lose all your money and the bank won't care.  However, if you get an American Express card that you pay off the balance of each month, if that is stolen or hacked, you have recourse to get your stolen money back as it's protected on a credit card, but not bank.  This is just an FYI.

To the OP, I've also been with Paypal like Claire for nearly 10 years since almost the beginning of Paypal and Paypal does not send out anything like that whatsoever; however, those phishing scams have been around almost the whole 10 years or so.  Just ignore them and delete them.  They are a nuisance, but they eventually go away from your email.