Phishing Alert: It’s not really PayPal

While this is not really about direct mail, I don’t think this can be broadcast enough. Phishing scams really make me angry.

I just received (yet another) phishing email in my personal email box. Someone pretending to be PayPal are trying to steal my account information by getting me to go to their site and willfully enter my account details.

While it may seem obvious to some, too many innocent folk don’t know how to identify a scam. Here are the clues:

• The displayed email address is from “security@paypal.com” but the actual email address is the bogus “kqgyvr@yahoo.com.”
• The subject is “***PayPal Notice:                                             CRNIBXLDBH” – not something PayPal would actually use.
• The “To: ” displays as users@paypal.com. Reputable companies just don’t email this using, using a bogus recipient and blind copying everyone.
• The message is poorly written and poorly formatted.
• The link… ah, the link. Clicking on “Click Here To Start” goes to this email (written here not to work): http://www. electronicexplorations . org / toti. P H P. That’s definitely not a link to PayPal, so this one was very easy to spot. Others can be far more tricky.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

This is not an email from PayPal. This is an email from bad people pretending to be PayPal to steal your account information.

The bottom line is that PayPal, or any company you have an account with, does not send out these kinds of emails.

While there are a lot of sites that can show email recipients how to spot phishing scams and spoof web sites, here is PayPal’s “Your Guide to Phishing.” ( I wish that PayPal didn’t have such a scary looking link for this site, so you can certainly search for yourself.)

While there has been an overall reduction of these emails because of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and scanning software, diligence is a never-ending responsibility. We can’t let our guards down. And please let others know about this. Good, innocent people are scammed every day because they are too trusting and simply unaware of the dangers that could be lurking in the next email.

 Update July 13th (hey, it’s Friday the Thirteenth!)

Grrr… Another One

Check out the poor language in this one:

From: security@paypal.com <xkwsnr@yahoo.com>
Subject: ***PayPaypal Notice:                   FUTEEZSKVT

Dear valued PayPal Customer,:

We recently have determined that different computers have logged into your PayPal account,and multiple password failures were present before the logons. We now need you to log into your account and verify your account activity. ccount we have issued this warning message.

It has come to our attention that your PayPal Online Banking account information needs to be reactivated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website in this new Season. Once you have reactivated your account records your PayPal account service will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

To reactivate your PayPal click on the following link:

Sign In to PayPal (linked to entradafranca.org.br /safiebine /a.p h p)

Thank You.

Accounts Management As outlined in our User Agreement, PayPal will periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements.

Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.

I’d love to say that no one would buy this email, but some do. Spread the word: be alert and be skeptical!