Email Fraud Disguised as PayPal

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

I received this email today, disguised as a PayPal purchase.

In the letter body, you can "dispute" the charges by clicking the appropriate link, which, in turn, requires all of your PayPal account information.

Ebay has confirmed this as a fraudulent email. Don't get fooled. . .

If you receive this, or any other Ebay or PayPal correspondence that you feel may be an attempt at fraud, you can forward it to Ebay spoof@paypal.com.

They will get back to you within minutes in most cases.

This was their response. . .

Thank you for contacting us about email solicitations that are falsely
made to appear to have come from PayPal. The email you reported did not
originate from PayPal or eBay.

[wforsyth]

I honestly don't know how people fall for these things. People are so devious.

[Dale Duffy]

That is a good one Jeff....they will be getting lots of account numbers from saps.

[gbeaumont]

Jeff,

Are you sure that spoof@paypal.com is a legitimate address

Regards

Gerry

[jsmith14]

OH CRAP! Just kidding

If you spin a chinese man around in circles......does he become disoriented ?

[hspinnler]

Wendy,

I can tell you how people fall for these things. For starters, these phishers and their spoof e-mails mirror everything you might find on a legitimate page, down to the logos and company information. When you click on the seemingly correct web address it takes you to the spoofer's website. A trusting first-timer, I let my guard down. Once they get on you, they bombard you via different angles. I receive many from banks and the like that I don't even have accounts with. I think Ebay and Paypal have huge issues on their hands when they cannot secure their own copywrited information from predators. They assume little or no responsibility and have not instilled any confidence to get me to come back. I fell victim one late evening last year when I was tired and vulnerable. I gave them alot of important personal information and then realizing what happened, I went into immediate damage control mode which consumed untold hours of my time and energy. Once bitten, I am reluctant to use Paypal or Ebay. The spoof@paypal e-mail is legit. You will get a canned response from them though confirming the e-mail as a spoof not sent by them.

[Michael Larson]

I also received one similar with a different product and shipping info. The subject line said my paypal account was involved in an unauthorized transaction.

Go to your paypal account by other means and check your transaction history. DO NOT use the link in the fraudulent e-mail.

There needs to be a much better effort by law enforcement and security personell with fraud of this type. IMHO

[Carl Pennick]

I get loads of pay pal e mails, like renew details of the account or it will be suspended, I have also had the e mail that Jeff got. The easy answer is if you get an e mail from them with a link call them before you click

[Blaine Wiley]

PayPal and Ebay are the most common ones I get. I turn all of them over to the appropriate company's report spam address.

[Jason A. Sieg, CMI]

#1 thing I look for in all formal looking Emails is: My full name in the address box for who it is being sent to with my Email address.

If it doesn't have that, I don't even look any further. I send it to spoof@????.

[Mark H. Roe]

Jeff,
When you clicked on the link, did it take you to the ebay or paypal sign in page? If it did, you just gave them your login in information. My brother got hit with on just like the one that you are pointing out. He clicked on the link in the email, and it took him to his ebay login page, then to the page the ebay home page. I use to sell GPS's on ebay and I was use to answering messages right from my email. Not no more. One of the messages was a hack message asking for information on my GPS's. Went striaght to my login page. A week later I got a message that I had bought a sony laptop for 2000.00. I then went to my ebay page through ebay.com itself. Sure enough, I was listed as the winner. I contacted ebay about it. I was able to get the sale canceled with out any bad feed back. Ebay had me change my email password, ebay password, and my paypal account password. Ebay say to never click on a link that you get in a email, or any email that sat a buyer has a question. Go to ebay or paypal message area. If they used the message board from either one of them then it is legit. But only answer them from their message center and not from your email. Doing so will prevent them from agetting your login and password. "You have been told". Doing other then instructed is your own fault.

[ebadofsky]

I haven't got time for PayPal or eBay, anyway. I'm waiting for the Nigerian Princess I met on the internet to transfer over $13,000,000 into my bank account like she promised.

Funny thing is, I gave her all my bank account info on Monday, and haven't heard back from her yet. Hm.

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by ebadofsky

I haven't got time for PayPal or eBay, anyway. I'm waiting for the Nigerian Princess I met on the internet to transfer over $13,000,000 into my bank account like she promised.

Funny thing is, I gave her all my bank account info on Monday, and haven't heard back from her yet. Hm.

Keep checking you bank account balances. I'm sure you will notice soon the money transfers.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by mroe

Jeff,
When you clicked on the link, did it take you to the ebay or paypal sign in page? If it did, you just gave them your login in information.

I don't go to links posted in emails, even though (for a split second) I thought this was legitimate.

Even if I had, my software won't allow me to go directly to a phishing site without warning me and asking for "permission." I've got my security set pretty high on my computers.