PayPal users, watch out for fake invoices being e-mailed to you.

[eeyore]

Three times now I have received e-mails with the subject line "Receipt for your payement" that are supposedly from PayPal. The e-mail is made to look exactly like it came from PayPal, and all three times showed a receipt for the purchase of a cellphone.

The only available link on the e-mail says "Click here to dispute this charge". If you click on the link, you are taken to a site that looks just like PayPal, and you are asked to log-in with your ID and Password.

DO NOT EVER LOG INTO ONE OF THESE LINKS!

The first one I got, I was suspicious, and checked the URL of the site that I had been sent to, and it was just some random server, not PayPal. Being a careful sort, I did nothing, and immediately went to PayPal directly, logged into my account, and found that there was no such charge made to my account - the whole thing was a ruse to get me to input my ID and Password on the bogus PayPal site, thus giving the owners of that site my log-in information.

DO NOT EVER FALL FOR THIS SCAM - YOU WILL BE GIVING AWAY THE ACCESS TO YOUR ACCOUNT TO CRIMINALS.

Just wanted to warn all of you PayPal users out there. Don't fall fall for it, just forward the e-mail you got to [e-mail]

This public service announcement has been brought to you by eeyore.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled Rove indictment catfight.

[acmejack]

1. I got one too.

Coincidentally I had been looking at cell phones recently, so I was curious how they had targeted me. So you have cleared that mystery up, it was likely mere chance.

[NanceGreggs]

2. I get at least three scam 'PayPal' emails per week ...

... Your payment is overdue.

... We suspect someone is unlawfully using your account, and we need to verify your personal information.

... Your account will be cancelled if you do not respond to this message within two business days.

Of course, the tip-off is that I have never used PayPal in my life.

[Rainscents]

3. I use get those too.

I finally changed my email adress. I had reported so many times, new one comes through, so, I finally changed my email address.

[rocktivity]

4. I get those e-mails from PayPal AND Ebay

and I don't have an account with EITHER of them!

:rofl:
rocknation

[uppityperson]

6. I get them from banks I've never heard of.

Log in with your account number for your user name and your soc sec # for your password. How stupid are people?

[longship]

5. Check the hyperlinks.

In any e-mail that purports to be from any site that has anything to do with money, check the hyperlinks.

They say that they go to paypal.com, but if you actually look at where the link points it'll be something like "paypal.sucker.ch" where sucker.ch is some other domain. Anybody with access to a Web server--it's easy, I have one--can add a virtual host like the "paypal" part of "paypal.youlose.ch". It takes seconds to add one.

Generally all my paypal e-mail goes to the junk folder where I determine if it is a phishing attempt. If so, I forward it to [e-mail].

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

20. And the eBay fakes get forwarded to [e-mail]

[William Seger]

7. Also, look out for "question from eBay buyer" phishing scams

Same deal: link to fake eBay login page.

[Booster]

16. Also, if you've bid on an item and were outbid, be very careful if

you get a "second chance" offer to buy the item. If you get a second chance offer, go directly to eBay's website and, if it's for real, it will be on your email at eBay. If it's not there, it's a scam.

[eeyore]

17. Thanks for the warning...

Haven't seen that one yet.

There are way too many ways to rip people off these days. I know my parents wouldn't catch this kind of stuff at all, and they are pretty savvy.

Yikes!

[Booster]

25. I'm pretty savvy when it comes to eBay and they caught me big time.

I reported the seller to eBay, but since they weren't involved in the second chance offer at all, it was my word against the seller - needless to say, they gave the seller the benefit of the doubt even though I sent them the email I received from the seller showing he used their logo, etc. The seller is still selling on eBay so I assume that's the end of it. I used to buy a lot off eBay, but am not doing that much anymore. Getting scammed puts a really bad taste is your mouth.

[hobbit709]

8. Whenever I get a phishing email

I fill in the blanks like this
User ID: liarliar
Password: pantsonfire
If it then takes me to the next page where it asks for account info
Name: George Bush
Address; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, etc.
Phone: [phone](the FBI headquarters.)
I have fun cluttering up their data banks with worthless information that the phishers have to sift through

[yorkiemommie1]

11. i've been tempted but haven't done it so far

n/t

[RebelOne]

23. I do the same thing, but I use obscenities.

[William Seger]

29. Oh, yeah, me too

... the grossest ones I can think of.

[Kahuna]

9. I got one! LOL!

Silly wabbits! :rofl:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

10. I Actually Have No Sympathy For People Who Fall For This Stuff Anymore.

If people don't know the policies for ebay and paypal by now, and are still clueless to the concept of phishing, and are still too thick headed to hover over the link prior to clicking it and verifying the address, well then oh well, my sympathy ain't gonna help em any.

[Bamboose]

30. what you said

These aren't new by any means, and information about them all is available all over the Internet.

Even for AOL users.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. Someday, someone who can actually spell English is gonna

rip me off bigtime. My usual tipoff to phishing is that half the words are spelled wrong. More proof that dyslexia and psychopathy travel together.

Actually, I long ago figured out that I shouldn't be sending my ID info out to people who ask for it.

[Carni]

13. I get those constantly

It annoys the hell out of me

[salin]

14. I *love* all the "check your account" alerts from EBAY...

given that I have no EBAY account and never have. The scam you refer to is even more sophisticated than the ones I have received. The internet brings the con artist a bigger audience at breakneck speed.

[Disturbed]

15. Damn! Me too.

I immdeiately went to the real PayPal site,reported it then changed my email and PW.

[genieroze]

18. I get them from banks that I don't have accounts with.

[tenshi816]

19. Sometimes these things also contain

backdoor Trojans that launch keystroke monitoring programs on your machine when you click the link. This is for the people who realize it's a scam and don't input their information, but it's too late by then anyway because by that time the Trojan is already on your computer.

[LittleClarkie]

21. Da usual. I get those too. And I don't even HAVE a Paypal account

Dead giveaway, that is.

[Raine]

22. I have gotten three or four of them

the first one really scared me because it was for some huge item (now I can't remember exactly what) it looked exactly like Paypal. Then I noticed it didn't have my name on it but said 'undisclosed recipients' which is a dead giveaway as a scam. I sent it off to Spoof immediately.

[madokie]

24. [e-mail] is your friend. I forward all

The first one I got spooked me big time almost to the point of closing the account. my friend/neighbor told me about [e-mail] and they always thank me.
but I will say this paypal and ebay makes it much to easy to spend your money

[Jersey Devil]

26. IE7, now in beta, has a pfishing filter built into it

that tells you if a website is legit or not. I don't know how accurate it is, but it is a good improvement.

[renate]

27. thank you!

Somebody above said they have no sympathy for people who are fooled by these e-mails... that seems pretty harsh to me.

Just like I never give any personal information to anybody who calls me over the phone--if I'm told there's a problem, I always call the bank or credit card company back rather than taking the person's word for it that they're with the company they say they're with--I would never answer an e-mail like this, but lots of smart people, especially if they're older and aren't familiar with the way the Internets work, are more trusting.

I have a spam filter, which helps cut down on this stuff, but several years ago an e-mail from a porn site got through. At the bottom it said "to take yourself off our mailing list, click here." D'oh! Hello, virus.

[tjwash]

28. If in doubt about an email...

...delete them. If it's real, and important they will send you the dead tree version, and call your phone.

If you want to confirm it is a phish though, you can always move your cursor over the "link" WITHOUT CLICKING, and look at the bottom left hand of your browser. It should point to where the link is really taking you to. it's real easy to spoof a web addy in an email, and tell people that the link goes to somewhere else.