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PAYPAL Scammer E-Mail
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Grandstanding Collector
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:58 pm 
 

I received an E-Mail claiming to be from PAYPAL-Telling me my account is being restricted.
I am fairly certain that the E-Mail is a scam, trying to gain access to my account through fraud.

Here is the text of the E-Mail I got.
Inside were TWO blue colored links for "Logging In" to my account.
I think those are spybot links (or whatever they might be called) designed to steal my account passcode and account name.

 
PAYPAL

Notification of Limited Account Access

Dear Member, (sic: Read below where PAYPAL tells us they ALWAYS use your actual FULL NAME...)

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account. We requested information from you for the following reason:

We recently received a report of unauthorized credit card use associated with your account. As a precaution, we have limited access to your PayPal account in order to protect against future unauthorized transactions.

In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement, your account access will remain limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further limitations or eventual account closure. We encourage you to follow our verification procedure as soon as possible to help avoid this.

Click here to login and restore your account access

Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.

This is a final reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible.
We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal Email ID PP851


I logged into PAYPAL from scratch (NOT using the E-Mail Links) and went to a page where I could ask questions about fraud and suspiscious E-Mails.

Paypal suggested the following:

Question : How do I know if an email is really from PayPal?

Answer : If you think you received a fake PayPal email or have come across a fake (spoof) PayPal website, please report it to us immediately.

How to identify fake emails:
Emails from PayPal will always address you by your first and last names or by your business name. We never say things like ""Dear user"" or ""Hello PayPal member."
Our emails don't link directly to pages that ask you to enter sensitive information like your bank account, credit card, and national identification or Social Security numbers.


Be VERY Careful out there folks...


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Last edited by Gnat the Beggar on Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
  

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Post Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:04 pm 
 

Usually, all you need to do is mouse over the link and look at the address it reports to the browser on the bottom left... if it is not the one you want to go to, don't click it. But, most people are stupid and assume "oh, I got an email. It must be good." Those are why "IT businesses" still exist.


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Post Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:17 pm 
 

Foward to Spoof@paypal.com or Spoof@ebay.com

  

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Post Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:48 pm 
 

Yeah, I get 1-2/yr from eBay and 3-4/yr from PayPal.

They have convenient links to forward + report those type of things.

  

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Post Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:28 pm 
 

Yeah, I received the same message this past spring. Reported to PayPal. The big tipoff to me it was a scam is the fact that I do not have a credit card, so there could be no problems with something I do not have.

Strangely, no restrictions happened. I wonder why?  :wink:

  

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Post Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:33 pm 
 

Even in France, we receive this kind of emails too. But, in French of course. I reported several times, but I still receive emails regularly.


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Post Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:24 am 
 

Hehe. Right on time. Received an email from a non-existent member saying that I have not sent him his (fictitious) $500 digital camera and he reported me to the FBI.  :lol:

I'd post the whole thing, but most of it is in garbled code.

Reported it.

  

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Post Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 10:44 am 
 

I received the same emails. This was after I closed my Paypal account, and I didn't have a credit card linked to my account. It was linked to my bank acount.  :lol:



  


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Post Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 5:59 am 
 

I often receive messages from a french eBay seller who harass me, telling me i owe him some money (~110 euro) ; IIRC his user ID is fully functioning, and each time i answer him he will be paid before Christmas 2010  :lol:

But i never received such emails as you : hopefully for me, my spamming & fishing AVG-shield erase all of them before they came in my mailbox and i can learn it happened only by checking AVG system logs  8)

  
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