PayPal Users Beware of Fraud Emails!

[Daisy Buchanan]

Hi Everyone,
I just got this email, supposedly from paypal,

From: service@paypal.com
Subject: Notification from Billing Department
Date: February 17, 2007 12:37:50 PM EST


We recently noticed one or more attempts to log in to your PayPal account from a foreign IP address.

If you recently accessed your account while traveling, the unusual log in attempts may have been initiated by you. However if you are the rightful holder of the account,click on the link below to log into the account and follow the instructions.


http://www.omega-7.com/.www.paypal.com/index.htm

If you choose not to complete the request, you give us no choice but to suspend your account temporary.

It takes at least 72 hours for the investigation in this case and we strongly recommend you to verify your account at that time.

If you received this notice and you are not the authorized account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of PayPal policy to represent oneself as an other PayPal user.Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law. PayPal is committed to assist law enforcement with any inquires related attempts to missapropriate personal information with the intent to commit fraud or theft. Information will be provided at the request or law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Thanks for your patience as we work together to protect your account.

PayPal Account Review Department.


Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response.
For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.


PayPal Email ID PP00145

This is a fraudulent message. I did click on the link, for at first I thought it was real. But, they were asking me to verify my credit card information and wanted the PIN for my credit card, which PayPal will never ask for. Then I noticed that the IP address for this "PayPal" was different then the real PayPal. So, I have notified the fraud department of PayPal.

So, any in the From section of this message, it says "service@paypal.com", I have been told by them that I would never receive and email from such an address. Also, the PayPal Email ID at the bottom of the letter is something they would never do. And, at the end of the e-mail they say that there is no way to respond to this particular e-mail. I have been told that any billing problems with paypal through e-mail can be replied to directly to the email address that your email was sent from.

So, I know a lot of us use PayPal here. I know you are all quite smart and capable, but I wanted to give you a heads up about these email's, for this is the second one I have received. And as always, be careful when buying online, make sure that all of your purchases are secure. I found out the hard way that I used an un-secure site, someone got a hold of my credit card information and tried to purchase a bunch of things online. Luckily I have a great bank (and a great banker, thanks Hemingway Jones) for they called me immediately to verify the purchases, since they weren't typical spending patterns for me. Lucky for me, I was able to cancel the card, and have since been very cautious of where I buy from online.

But, this email really ticked me off. It is amazing the lengths people will go to to steal from someone. It's amazing that the likelihood of me getting my credit card stolen while sitting at home and doing nothing is higher than if I were walking down the street of a bad neighborhood.

Anyone else getting strange fraudulent messages, either from Ebay or PayPal or any other internet store? Share your stories and frustrations.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Not another lame attempt at larceny!? :rage: Thanks for the heads up, Miss Daisy.
Here is one thing I noticed about that letter that tipped me off when reading it,..."If you choose not to complete the request, you give us no choice but to suspend your account temporary."

The fact that they used the word temporary, instead of temporarily, which would have been proper grammar. Any typos like grammatical errors or mis-spellings is a dead give away.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Funny, I noticed that too. But, silly me, I clicked on the link before reading the entire email, because I have had problems with my account in the past. But, as soon as I arrived at the directed page I knew something wasn't right and went back and read the rest of the email. I'm pretty sure the people at paypal know how to spell!! Also, the part about not being able to respond to the email because "This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response." How could PayPal have a mailbox that isn't monitored!!!

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

"This mailbox is not monitored,..."

Some official and legit companies have that statement, or a similar one, in their emails. But the fact that they also have links to reply to makes it fishy.(Phishy)
I wish there was some way to fight back,...to give these morons a lot more than they ever bargained for. I have heard of a program that sends hackers a flood of gibberish code or something that will simply overwhelm their systems! I forget the name of the program though.

 

[phyllis1753]

The real from the phony

The best way I've found to tell the real message from the phishy one is to look at who the message is addressed to. A real message from eBay (or whomever) will address you by your user name. The phisher will say things like, "dear valued eBay member" or some such. Of course, they don't any idea what your user name is...and hope you'll be fool enough to tell 'em. (along with your password/PIN number, too). You're actually lucky, Daisy, to just start getting this. I've been dealing with it for two and a half years.

Cheers;
Phyllis

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

No company, PayPal or anyone, should ever ask you to click a link within an email, to "verify information", "re-instate your account", "dispute (supposed) fraudulent activity", etc.

ALL those are frauds (far as I know), and I delete them as such, and have never had any of my accounts frozen as a result of not responding. If you suspect anything may really be wrong with your account, go DIRECTLY to the company's OFFICIAL website (don't click the link in the email), log in, and check your account.

These kinds of fake look-alike emails are sent out to appear as if from "eBay", "PayPal", "CitiBank", everyone.

The sneakiest one I saw was one which appeared to be from PayPal (with all official-looking graphics, etc. of course). It said something much fancier than this, but basically, "Congratulations! Your payment of $1500.00 has been sent to eBay seller CrazyGoNuts. If you did not approve this, Click Here."

I didn't click the email link; I went directly to the paypal website from within my browser bookmarks, and then checked for recent activity on my account, and found there was none.

- C H

 

[nulty]

We've gotten one of those from Paypal ....most alarming is I recived one from our bank just today..

Too close to home for me. Technology is what it is..a marvel of our age..but it's getting a little tedious...

 

[CanadaDoll]

:rage: Ugh why don't people have anything better to do than try to scam others?:rage:
I work too hard, for too little to put up with this junk, we all do!

Thanks for the heads up Daisy, I've never seen it before, but thanks to you I know what to look for, otherwise I'd have probably fallen for it .

 

[Phil]

This is why I believe that true hackers that steal money and commit fraud should have their hands chopped off. The kids who download music and such aren't so bad. But it's when someone is depleting a hard working person's bank account is when it's bad. This is where I will admit a Mac is better. People don't write viruses for Mac.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I've heard that they are starting to. Macs are becoming more popular, so they are not invisible to hackers anymore. I found the program I was looking for. It's called Backfire, but apparently it is no longer available.

 

[Phil]

I have 3 firewalls, 2 anti-virus, and an anti-spyware. They get the job done. I always suggest buying a 3rd party protection software from a good company suchs as Norton or Trend-Micro's PC-cillin. They do a good job protecting. It would be nice to have an offensive program though.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

The best defense is a good offense. I just sent the fraudulent email I received to the real Paypal, for what it's worth.
I will continue my search for a program something like Backfire. If I find something I will share it.