I ws poking around in my junk mail folder looking for something I thought I might have placed there accidentally. I found a very official looking letter from PayPal informing me that my information needed to be updated before Oct. 16 or my account would be suspended.

I immediately called PayPal and was told by the person to whom I talked that the letter was a fraudulent attempt to get information. She e-mailed me a list of things to check to determine whether an e-mail is really from PayPal. First thing is that it will always addres you by your full name. They will never ask you for the kind of information this phishing letter asked for.

Be very cautious about answering anything unsolicited from PayPal. You can always get the toll free number from the legitimate site. froggyintexas

thanks i will be careful. blessings ogama

Good to know...thanks!

We got that email too -- our first clue that it was not a real one is that it used an email address that isn't listed with pay pal.

Went sent it on to pay pal.

I got that email, too, but just deleted it. I'm always in and out of PayPal so I figured I'd just update it the next time I was there. Now I may not have to at all. Thanks!

ThANKS for the heads up!!

ThANKS for the heads up!!

I also received this email weeks ago it said my info was about to expire, that was my flag it was fraud.

I received that same thing...I forwarded it to PayPal and it was a scam to PHISH for your information...beware...Naomi

Got it also...

I also received a letter like that. However, they happen so often I am always one step ahead of the crooks. Good thing you keep everyone aware of this!!!

When I get anything that's supposed to be PayPal or eBay, I send it to [email protected] or [email protected], they will usually send you an email telling if it's legitimate or not. I NEVER click on the url in an email cause it can be saying Paypal or whatever but really be directing you to someplace totally different. I go to my bookmarks/favorites and use the url there.

I get them all the time.

The tip off that it is phishing or spoofing ... they do not use your real name! And if it is in junk mail too. All my official Paypal and ebay messages come thru to my main inbox, using my REAL full name.

Good to know

I used to get those phishing attempts after every transaction I had with Paypal. Someone was hacking... You can copy the email (with the full headers) and send it to Paypal to investigate. They want to know.

Thanks for alerting us!!

I just got one of those in my junk mail too. I was required to re-activate my PayPal account. Considering I don't have a Paypal account I knew it was a scam. Also had another one advising me I had won a considerable amount in the Irish Lottery! That was also a scam.

Paypal will never send you an offsite link to update information on their website. They will tell you to go to paypal.com and update the information there. I have had emails from them saying that my paypal debit card will expire, and to log onto their site, click on....(whatever profile or something?)

I also sell items on ebay, and once sold some beads and jewelry making tools and accessories. final bid was like $300 or something. After 5 days when I still hadn't received payment, I sent an ebay message to the buyer. Come to find out that someone had sent her an email stating that "my paypal account has accidently been deactivated" and that she should send a western union money order to an address in Romania. She got suspicious and contacted ebay who said that it was fraudulent and there was nothing with my account. She forwarded all the emails to paypal, but as far as I know nothing ever happened to them. They didn't get the payment, thankfully.

Now you may notice that when someone other than you bids on something and wins or doesn't win all you see is a character followed by asterisks. They way the the fraud happend in my case was the crook looked at the winner and guessed that her email address was the same as her ebay username and then added @mail.com, @yahoo.com and just happend to get lucky.

I got one too. Since I don't use pay pal , I just spamed it.

Thanks for the information. Where can I find the list that you were talking about that are for PayPal spam sites.

Thanks for the information. Where can I find the list that you were talking about that are for PayPal spam sites.

I have gotten emails like that too. But never click on the link.

It has infiltrated to emails over here as well...was suspicious, so deleted it.

I got a few during a long period when I wasn't using PayPal. Almost believed the trick, but no, did not take the bait. And alerted PayPal.

Yes, I got it also. Had gotten it before so knew it was a scam. It does look very official though. They do not ask for any personal information.

thanks.

Get these often from Pay Pal, one of several reasons I don't trust or use them anymore.

As an extra security measure, I still don't use links in emails. I'll go to that site in a separate window. I'm sure some spammers can find names and email addresses.

Thanks for the info!

I got one that actually used my name! So don't fall for it. I always just go to paypal.com or ebay.com and look under messages and IF they mailed you then it will be there.

I get these quite often. Don't ever click on a link to paypal. Always go type in the URL and log in. If there is a problem with your account, they will tell you there.

They're sending out these things for banks, retail stores, western union, paypal, etc. I've gotten emails saying I need to update my info at banks I've never heard of.

I always put these emails in my spam folder and, if there's any question in my mind, I either call or go online to the bank website directly and check with them.

Those letters have been going around for so long but I guess they only need one uninformed person who takes the bait for it to be worthwhile. Whenever I get them I just forward them to Paypal.

I got a ticket from New York and they wanted me to pay it. Never been there so told them to get stuffed! It came back as undeliverable.

yep, paypal has had hackers and such for 10 years or more. one reason i got out.

I've gotten those before, too. I learned that you NEVER give out that information. Instead, place a call to the company and ask whether they sent you such a letter. Do not use a number the "phisher" gave you in the e-mail.

I don't even keep those kinds of things that arrive in the mail. In addition, if something like that comes up in my E-mail, I don't even open it. I received an E-mail from a friend telling me about the wages of opening an E-mail asking to forward about several subject. Will see If I can find it and will send to you.

Good that you posted this to pass info to others. DH fell for this scam a few years ago and it was lucky he told me about it because we contacted Pay Pal right away. We cancelled credit cards, etc. so nothing bad happened except Pay Pal closed his account and it was flagged that he did something wrong.

Beware of phone calls saying there is nothing wrong but they are checking or updating your credit card info. Another scam going on.

These are the instructions for all those spoof letters we get. To get the whole affect, just read 'til the end.

E-Mail Tracker Programs -- very interesting and a must read!


The man that sent this information is a computer tech. He spends a lot of time clearing the junk off computers for people and listens to complaints about speed. All forwards are not bad, just some. Be sure you read the very last paragraph.

_________________________________________

He wrote:

By now, I suspect everyone is familiar with snopes.com and/or truthorfiction.com for determining whether information received via email is just that: true/false or fact/fiction. Both are excellent sites.




Advice from snopes.com VERY IMPORTANT!!



1) Any time you see an email that says "forward this on to '10' (or however many) of your friends", "sign this petition", or "you'll get bad luck" or "you'll get good luck" or "you'll see something funny on your screen after you send it" or whatever --- it almost always has an email tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of those folks you forward to. The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of 'active' email addresses to use in SPAM emails or sell to other spammers. Even when you get emails that demand you send the email on if you're not ashamed of God/Jesus --- that is email tracking, and they are playing on our conscience. These people don't care how they get your email addresses - just as long as they get them. Also, emails that talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease "how would you feel if that was your child" --- email tracking. Ignore them and don't participate!



2) Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of email is, is a way to get names and 'cookie' tracking information for telemarketers and spammers -- to validate active email accounts for their own profitable purposes.




You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them. You will be providing a service to your friends. And you will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam emails in the future!


Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of listing regardless how inviting they might sound! Or make you feel guilty if you don't! It's all about getting email addresses and nothing more.



You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!



Instead, you will be getting tons of junk mail later and very possibly a virus attached! Plus, we are helping the spammers get rich! Let's not make it easy for them!



ALSO: Email petitions are NOT acceptable to Congress of any other organization - i.e. social security, etc. To be acceptable, petitions must have a "signed signature" and full address of the person signing the petition, so this is a waste of time and you are just helping the email trackers.










Tips for Handling Telemarketers

Three Little Words That Work!!
(1)The three little words are: 'Hold On, Please...'

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep' tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting..

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call, and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer!!!


(3) Junk Mail Help:

When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 44 cents postage, 'IF' and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney 's (60 minutes) ideas:

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 44 cents.

The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!

If enough people follow these tips, it will work I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.

THIS JUST MIGHT BE ONE E-MAIL THAT YOU WILL WANT TO FORWARD TO YOUR FRIENDS

I recently got an email from paypal talking about my recent purchase and my account. I don't even have a paypal account and haven't made a purchase. I am sure that was a phishing attempt.