Members FUBTAG Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 At the risk of being redundant .... Just received an email that looks real but it's from "pay.pal.com" claiming I need to secure my account with 72 hours or my it will be locked. It is NOT from Paypal... but a phishing email. Don't use it to sign in.. if you do, BAD THINGS happen. Just doing my public service for the day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wmcjhi Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 Bump for importance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaveAronow Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 Thanks for the Heads up fubtag!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PR_Tom Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 One of my emails today was "nazi toddlers ruined my birthday party" Beware! I dont think it's real either! hehe j/k I get all the paypal fake ones and since I have no paypal account, it sure makes it easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members samuraiBSD Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 Internet Safety 101: Lesson 1:DON'T CLICK LINKS IN EMAIL! Always, always, ALWAYS go to the site yourself and log in. If there's anything urgent, there will be an alert on the home page after you log in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FUBTAG Posted July 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 When I got this I sent it to paypal right away and they responded buy saying that it is indeed a phishing email (which I already knew) and they are working to disable it. I say good luck to them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members golias Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 A moment of logic should make it obvious. Why would PayPal want to "lock" your account in reaction to non-response from you? They want you to keep your account open forever so they can keep making money off you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FUBTAG Posted July 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 ^^ A moment of logic SHOULD make it obvious ... but not all users on the interwebz may be a savy as you... and this is a heads up to those that MAY get caught up in the email and instead of thinking they go to sign on and risk exposure to a fraud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members golias Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 It's a good warning on your part, don't get me wrong. But it's also far from the only Internet phishing scam going on. It's worthwhile for people to learn to think critically about any e-mail they get along these lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FUBTAG Posted July 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 no -- far from the only one -- but the majority of useres I bet use Paypal to feed their addictions.. and if it means not being able to buy a guitar at that moment.... you never know what will happen next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members golias Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 Word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FatsoForgotso Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 Internet Safety 101:Lesson 1:DON'T CLICK LINKS IN EMAIL!Always, always, ALWAYS go to the site yourself and log in. If there's anything urgent, there will be an alert on the home page after you log in. thats all you need to know. Usually they'll use your first and last name too, if its a phish, it will for example, "Dear Paypal customer," Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gilgators Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 A moment of logic should make it obvious. It should, but some people don't take a moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scolfax Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 To add to the public service: Most internet users don't upgrade to the latest version of their browsers (Internet Explorer [up to version 7], or Firefox [up to version 3]). The latest versions have something called a phishing filter that will try to protect you if you click on one of those bad links. They warn you if you try to go to one of those fraudulent sites: So please, for everyone's sake - update your browsers! Firefox Internet Explorer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members samuraiBSD Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 ^^ good tip The Firefox 3.0 "awesome-bar" also turns green when you're on the real paypal page due to its certificate. The fakes won't trigger the green bar, thus telling you something's wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mymindsok Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 I've recd a MILLION of those fake Pay Pal emails. 1)Don't open them 2)Dont respond to them 3) If you think somethings wrong, go to the official PP web site and log in. Thats all you gotta do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian May Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 Paypal have your name and always address you by name. The scammers dont have it and so address you as "dear Paypal user...." also theres always a string of numbers at the start of the url like in forgery page above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Eddie Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 I've recd a MILLION of those fake Pay Pal emails. 1)Don't open them 2)Dont respond to them 3) If you think somethings wrong, go to the official PP web site and log in. Thats all you gotta do. After receiving a MILLION you should know of another step. Forward the email to spoof@paypal.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FUBTAG Posted July 31, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 night-time public service bump.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blueshawk1 Posted July 31, 2008 Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 I've gotten a ton of those bogus emails over the years, the funny part is, they go to one of my web email addresses that isn't even registered with PayPal........the phishers aren't too bright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members samuraiBSD Posted July 31, 2008 Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 I've gotten a ton of those bogus emails over the years, the funny part is, they go to one of my web email addresses that isn't even registered with PayPal........the phishers aren't too bright. Actually, it's akin to something skeptics call a "cold read" when referring to psychics. What a psychic will do is use clues about your age, appearance and general human-ness to tell you things about yourself that you may otherwise think only you could know. For example, if you're a 50 year old man, a psychic might tell you that your "aura" is telling them that you have lower back problems. He's able to do this because many men in their 50s DO have lower back problems, so there's a high probability that this reading will hit something. Since PayPal has such a big userbase, most of them non-tech-savvy, the scammers have a high probability of hitting a PayPal user who doesn't know any better than not to hit the links. So in this way, the scammers are pretty damn smart. Social engineering can take you places if you do it correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 23miles Posted July 31, 2008 Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 Whenever you get such an email, forward it directly to:spoof@paypal.com The will look at it and get back to you about its authenticity. For suspicious Ebay emails: spoof@ebay.com. This is a very convenient and important service that Paypal and Ebay provide, you should use it - you paid enough for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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