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I receive several fake emails frequently requesting personal information to get access to my accounts. Below is a copy of a fake PayPal email message requesting information with a link to click on that will lead to a fake company which will extract the information and then raid my account.
Below that is a confirmation from the real PayPal company and what you can do to protect yourself from fraud. PayPal and eBay have been hit the hardest with these. I also get messages asking about "my accounts" from my bank and some from banks I don't have an account with. They are "phishing".
As always, do NOT click on the links inside a message requesting personal information. Always go directly to the company websites and do your business from there.
No reputable company will ever ask you for your personal information, like passwords, full credit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security number, etc. through an email or phone call first initiated by them to you.
If you ever receive a phone call requesting information from a company. Hang up and call the company direct. Then if it is a legitimate request you know you are talking to the company.
The same with an email message. Go directly to the company website and go through their customer service.
Internet service is still the safest form of transacting in business so not to worry, just be aware and follow these guidelines.
Please refer to the messages below first from a fake PayPal and then from the real PayPal/eBay company.......
Blessings, :-) Suzanne
Subj:Security Alert on Microsoft Internet Explorer. Account compromised !
Date:11/15/2005 11:08:18 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:paypal@service.com
To:suzanne@investworks.net
Sent from the Internet (Details)
Your account will be suspended !
We are contacting you to remind you that on 08 May 2005 our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement and to ensure that your account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved.To secure your account and quickly restore full access, we may require some additional information from you for the following reason:We have been notified that a card associated with your account has been reported as lost or stolen, or that there were additional problems with your card. To securely confirm your PayPal information please go to your PayPal's Update Profile or click on the link bellow:
Click here to activate your account
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the "Help" link in the footer of any page.
To receive email notifications in plain text instead of HTML, update your preferences here
PayPal Email ID PP468
Protect Your Account Info
Make sure you never provide your password to fraudulent websites.
To safely and securely access the PayPal website or your account, open a new web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Netscape) and type in the PayPal URL (https://www.paypal.com/us/) to be sure you are on the real PayPal site.
PayPal will never ask you to enter your password in an email.
For more information on protecting yourself from fraud, please review our Security Tips at https://www.paypal.com/us/securitytips
Protect Your Password
You should never give your PayPal password to anyone, including PayPal employees.
This process is mandatory, and if not completed within the nearest time your account or credit card may be subject for temporary suspension.
We encourage you to log in and perform the steps necessary to restore your account access as soon as possible. Allowing your account access to remain limited for an extended period of time may result in further limitations on the use of your account and possible account closure.
Subj: RE: Q510 - Thank you for your email to PayPal (KMM28623188V70954L0KM) :kf1
Date: 11/16/2005 11:54:16 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: spoof@paypal.com
To: Skk444@aol.com
Sent from the Internet
Thank you for writing to PayPal regarding the email message you received
that appeared to be from eBay.
As you may have already suspected, this email was not sent by eBay.
These emails, commonly referred to as spoofs, are sent by fraudulent
sources posing as eBay in an attempt to collect sensitive financial
information or passwords.
Please know that PayPal and eBay is committed to the security of our
sites and our members. We review every report we receive and forward all
vital information on to the appropriate authorities for further action
and tracking. We work actively and aggressively in partnership with many
agencies, ISP's and law enforcement groups to support their
investigation of these fraudulent entities. As a public company, we rely
on the same agencies you do to pursue these fraudulent activities. You
may also wish to contact your ISP or email service provider for further
information or instructions.
Now that you have received a spoofed email, your email address has been
collected by a fraudulent source. As a result, you may continue to
receive spoofed emails for some time as these groups move from ISP to
web hosting sites setting up fraudulent email addresses, fake sites and
sending spoofed emails. PayPal and eBay has enacted several preventative
measures and increased information available on both sites help pages to
help educate our members in spotting fake emails.
In the future, we advise you to be very cautious of any email appearing
to be from eBay or PayPal that asks you to submit financial information
such as your credit card number or any type of password. As for eBay,
they will NEVER ask you for certain financial information such as
passwords, bank account or credit card numbers, Personal Identification
Numbers (PINs), or Social Security numbers in an email. All sensitive
information should be submitted on a secure page located on the eBay or
PayPal site.
If you have any doubt about whether an email message is from PayPal,
please forward it immediately to spoof@paypal.com. For eBay spoofed
emails, please forward those to spoof@ebay.com. Please do not respond to
it or click on any of the links in the email message. Please do not
change the subject line or edit the email in any way.
If you have already entered sensitive information as mentioned above,
you should take immediate action to protect your identity and online
accounts. If you only clicked on a link inside of a spoofed email, you
may also want to run a security scan on your computer. eBay has a help
page with valuable information regarding the steps you should take to
protect yourself. Below is a link to this page:
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/index.html
Once again, thank you for alerting us to the spoofed email you received.
Your vigilance helps us ensure that PayPal and eBay remain a safe and
vibrant online marketplace.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal, an eBay Company
*******************************************
Important: eBay will not ask you for sensitive personal information
(such as your password, credit card and bank account numbers, Social
Security numbers, etc.) in an email. Learn more account protection tips
at:
http://www.pages.ebay.com/help/account_protection.html
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