'paypal phishing'

Edward (152.163.36.124) -

I get so many bogus messages from "paypal" that when I actually get a real one it's hard to tell.

What can be done to help stop the bogus messages?

Comment #1 Moe from Vancouver, Canada -

What kind of bogus messages do you get from paypal? I have been using paypal for a long while now and never got any strange messages so that makes me curious that you get some. Could you give me some more details and I will look into it.

Comment #2 Elroy from New York -

All kinds of messages that look like they are from paypal, they use paypals graphics and everything.

The only difference is if you click the link you will not go to paypal.com. You go to a different website that again looks exactly like paypal.

The catch is when you login, you are not logging into paypal, you are sending the criminals your login and password.

It is extremely important that for paypal, your banks, etc, you bookmark their sites and NEVER click any link from any email, no matter how legit it looks.

ALWAYS you use your bookmarks. Always check the address line to make sure it has the exact web address, ie: www.paypal.com of the site you are using.

The funny thing about the bogus paypal messages is I get most of them at email addresses I don't use for paypal. Or messages from banks that I am not a customer of.

The emails always make it sound like there is a dire emergency and if you don't follow their instructions you'll lose all your money. Of course if you do go for these emails you WILL lose all your money!

Comment #3 Kyndra from Somewhere Out There -

I have heard that this is happening to some people signing up for new accounts. I have had my account for at least five years and have personally never had a problem. I heard from one girl that within 5 to 10 minutes of creating her paypal setup she started getting these emails.

Comment #4 Moe from Vancouver, Canada -

Wow that is terrifying! I recently started up my paypal account only like... a month ago? No trouble so far, but now i'll make sure to never click on any links and just go to paypal itself to log in, instead of clicking a paypal link via email. Thanks guys!

Comment #5 Lana from The Dental Office -

I haven't ever had a problem with my paypal account either. It is a scary thought though if they are getting into our paypal information because I have 2 checking accounts tied to my paypal account. I hope this stops happening.

Comment #6 Jenna from A highly secure location -

I don't think there is anything that you can do. My advice is to never ever log in to an account by clicking on a link in the e-mail. Take note of which organization it's from and log in using your standard technique, i.e. tyhpe in the full URL in the browser and log in via the front page. I never trust a link in an e-mail.

Comment #7 Plums from the thrush tree -

It has got to the point where I suspect even legitimate emails from Paypal and ebay and prefer to open a browser and type the URL in rather than click on the link in the email. Takes a bit longer, but at least I know where I am going! Be careful when typing in URL's though. There is a massive business in domain names with URL mis-spellings and you can easily end up on a phishing site like that too!

Comment #8 Olivia from Online -

I've had my paypal acct for over 5 years now and have never (knock on wood) had a problem. I have seen a couple emails here and there where obvioulsy I knew it was a scam email but none that I had to do a double take to.

Comment #9 Keter from the garage door -

Problem is that the real 'professional' phishers are getting cleverer and are dishing up stuff that is hard to tell from the original. Used to be that when one got an email saying 'We are including your username to show that this email is from us' one could trust it. No longer the case. I agree one should always open a fresh browser window and type in the URL if one wants to go to one's account.

Comment #10 Kings from parallel street -

What about looking at the headers in the email - a detailed analysis will almost always reveal if there is any hanky-panky going on. Admittedly a bit time consuming, but not impossible in cases where there is really the need.

Comment #11 Plums from the thrush tree -

Talking about analyzing email headers, this is something I'd like to learn more about. Are there any decent online tutorials or articles that are authoritative and up to date on the subject? I recall reading one last year in PC Magazine, but I can't locate it anymore.

Comment #12 Delino from California -

The best way to learn is to view the options on an e-mail in Outlook and then you will see the headers. You can scan what IP it came from, etc. Extremely useful for detective work.

Comment #13 Conyngham from the windy city -

Right, the options is where I look. I have heard though that certain of the information in the headers can be forged. I actually read the article on this in PC Magazine too, and they mentioned that it is possible to determine the validity of the sender from certain portions of the header information. Unfortunately I can't remember exactly which it was though :)

Comment #14 Gerri Behan (66.191.16.171) - Sun Jul 20 13:16:22 2008

I recently signed onto my PAYPAL account using Explorer 6 which I always use and got a PAYPAL form asking me for my name, address, social security and credit card information. The address line is www.paypal.com. It didn't come from an email but popped up when I logged onto my account saying that my account will be locked until I submit the info. I went to another browser and I was able to log into my account like usual. This is very scary. Anyone who has similar situations?

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