PayPal alert

[CT Dick]

Last night I got an email from PayPal saying they detected some fraudulent activity on my account and asking me to link to their site to verify info for my protection.

 

I gave them TONS of personal info (soc. sec. number, mother's maiden name, bank account numbers, driver's license number, etc. etc.)

 

I was hoodwinked and now someone has all that info. I have spent the morning closing accounts and filing fraud forms. I hope I have caught it. Who knows when this might come back to haunt me in the future.

 

BE CAREFUL. PayPal only sends email addressed to you personally, NOT "Dear valued PayPal ® member." x( :-( x(

 

Dick

[Boston Guy]

Dick,

 

My sister was caught by the same thing a while back. The credit card people found her address had been changed on her credit files to an address in Ohio (Cleveland, I think). She had to change it back and then set her credit records so they could only be changed by someone calling and reaching her at her home phone number.

 

She also called her local police, who then contacted the police in Cleveland, who were following up on it. The state police in my sister's area also got involved: it turns out they have a whole division dedicated to identity fraud.

 

Good luck to you.

BG

[JT Brooklyn]

Hey CT.. So sorry to hear! This has been going on for awhile now. Hope you changed whatever so that it will not effect you in the Paypal pocket! Online "Anything" is becoming more and more risky! :+ :+ :+

[+ deej]

This is called a "Phishing" scam. There are several floating around.

 

The golden rule is that if you get legitimate-looking/sounding email from ANY financial institution or other company you do business with, DON'T click on any link in the email. Open your browser, navigate to their site and log in normally. The smarter vendors aren't even putting links in emails these days.

[guyinsf]

I agree. You can also call most businesses by phone at the number you already had and knew to be correct. I even go so far as to refuse to give out information unless I initiated a call.

 

I once received a telemarketing call asking me to extend my subscription to a magazine. When the guy asked for my credit card information, I just told him that I never provide that information unless I'm initiating the transaction. He said they could bill me but my subscription wasn't renewed nor did I ever receive a bill. Maybe the guy just didn't want to be bothered with extra paperwork or maybe it was a scam by someone trying to get my credit card info.

 

A couple of years ago, I had one of my credit card numbers (including the security code on the back) stolen and used for about $5K in fraudulent purchases over a period of 48 hours. I became even more careful with my information after that.

 

>

>The golden rule is that if you get legitimate-looking/sounding

>email from ANY financial institution or other company you do

>business with, DON'T click on any link in the email. Open your

>browser, navigate to their site and log in normally. The

>smarter vendors aren't even putting links in emails these

>days.

>

>

[Luv2play]

Sorry to hear you got taken in by this. This is a ruse that has been around for some time. I have a Paypal account and am constantly getting one of several type messages (not from them, of course, but by someone impersonating them), telling me either that a new address has been added to my account or that a payment (for some reason it's always around $270.00) has been made to some e-mail address (usually called "phoneseller" or "phonebuyer" or somesuch). Then it includes a link saying go to it if the info in the e-mail is not correct (which it isn't, of course).

 

The first time I got one of these messages, I clicked on the link and came to a page that just looked like a real Paypal login page. Then I remembered, NEVER RESPOND TO AN E-MAIL CONCERNING ANY PERSONAL BANK ACCOUNT. We are all told this by our banking institutions. The ONLY way to do business with them is to go directly to their website via the internet and logon using the secret codes and passwords you have been given. That way you are safe. If you do it by responding directly to an e-mail, you are screwed!

 

Paypal has a mechanism for checking if messages sent to you are bona-fide. You just forward the email to "[email protected]" without answering it. You will get a message back from Paypal telling you it is a suspicious email.

 

Today I got a similar scam email but from a different source. This one said my AOL account had a problem. The email was entitled AOL Official Account Alert. It went on to say they were having trouble billing my monthly account and to click on the link below, sign on with my screen name and update my account to avoid service interuption. Well, what a SCAM!!! It was from "[email protected]".

I tried to reply directly to the email without clicking on the link and a sign came up saying no known address.

 

For anyone doing transactions on the internet, these scams have become a fact of life. You can't let your guard down, EVER. When you get one, just read it if you wish, remember what not to do, and then continue on your way.

[OneFinger]

Thanks for posting this warning. Never hurts to be reminded about the scams out there.

 

Almost a year ago I received a note from "eBay" saying my account would be deactivated if I didn't click on the link and verify my account. I did click on the link and then realized that I probably made a mistake. I reported it to eBay and they confirmed it was a scam. But nothing seemed to happen with my account and I thought everything was OK.

 

Six months later, when I tried to log-on to my Hotmail Account that I used only on eBay, I couldn't get in. I then tried eBay and found my membership was suspended. It took almost a week to get things straightened out. But, apparently the e-mail I responded to 6 months earlier had finally been used. My e-mail was taken over by a scum bag in Spain and eBay suspended my account when "questionable" activity was noted. (I.e., I "suspect", but can't prove, that eBay tracks your ISP with each log-on. When they noticed a different ISP, they yanked the account.)

 

I now religiously change passwords every 3 months. I check my PayPal, eBay, and other financial-related accounts at least once a week. I also never click on e-mail links.

[fosterchow]

>Last night I got an email from PayPal saying they detected

>some fraudulent activity on my account and asking me to link

>to their site to verify info for my protection.

>

>I gave them TONS of personal info (soc. sec. number, mother's

>maiden name, bank account numbers, driver's license number,

>etc. etc.)

>

>I was hoodwinked and now someone has all that info. I have

>spent the morning closing accounts and filing fraud forms. I

>hope I have caught it. Who knows when this might come back to

>haunt me in the future.

>

>BE CAREFUL. PayPal only sends email addressed to you

>personally, NOT "Dear valued PayPal ® member." x( :-( x(

>

>

>Dick

 

Hey, Dick, sorry you got nailed by the phony PayPal scam. PayPal, of course, is not the only way these scammers try to get personal info. You will get email from banks, from websites like BestBuy.com, from Western Union. The emails have all the logos cleverly recreated, but, of course, are phony. A very smart one from my bank nearly fooled me, until they asked for pin numbers on my ATM. As you say, watch out - there are a lot of scammers out there.

dan

[Luv2play]

I just got another scam paypal e-mail today, this one from "[email protected]", a phoney site. It stated someone had bought merchandise from me on Jan 14 for $620.00 and had not received it or the item was substantially different than as advertised. Well, of course, I sold nothing to anyone on that date. As usual it offered a link and said to click on it to respond. It also said to make sure I had enough funds in my Paypal account to cover the transaction costs.

 

As usual I forwarded the email to [email protected], which is a real site, and they later confirmed it was a phoney. Just another scam. Boy, they never quit! x(