Ship of Fools: Possible PayPal scam

Thread: Possible PayPal scam Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

I don’t know if this is the right place for this.

This morning I got an email purportedly from PayPal saying “You may have noticed that some limitations have been placed on your PayPal account. We know this can be frustrating but you can remove these limitations in a few steps.” It asked me to click on a link and “Submit your Account Information. Provide the information needed. “

When I clicked on the link I got a page without any login.

I opened up PayPal separately and opened my account. Nothing the matter. I changed my password.

I got an email from Paypal to confirm this. This genuine email was from service@paypal.co.uk. This first one was from a different address servicepaypal@intl.

This looks like a monstrous scam. Should I just ignore it or can I report it?

Anyone else on Paypal with dodgy experiences?

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

You shouldn't have clicked on it. Do a thorough virus scan (preferably a boot scan) on your computer now.

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

Any legitimate email like that will (well, should) tell you something like "log onto your account" without providing a link. Any unexpected email from your bank, or other financial institution you have an account with, should be treated with caution. Never click a link there or reply to the email. If in doubt go to the home page of the bank/other institution and either login as normal there or find the customer service number and phone someone.

As you've followed the link the best you can do now is update your anti-virus and do a full system scan, as LeRoc says.

Posted by Amika (# 15785) on :

I've received lots of these PayPal phishing emails but my ISP usually filters them into the spam folder and I've never clicked any links. As far as I know the usual thing they're after is for you to fill in your details so if you didn't and you've run your anti-virus you should be OK.

Posted by bib (# 13074) on :

I get these all the time and just delete them. However, I received a very different weird sort of scam message last week telling the date for my court appearance in some place I'd never heard of. Don't know what that was all about so I deleted it.

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

I would expect official correspondence from a court to be in a very official looking envelope delivered by good old snail mail.

I think the scammers are getting wise. People distrust emails from their bank or PayPal because so many are scams and a lot of people know how to check that they're genuine. An email apparently from a court might just scare someone into checking the link because they're not going to want to be in trouble with the law.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

Possibly a variant on 'your airline tickets are booked/ your package is awaiting collection'. Something to get you clicking through out of either curiosity or alarm.

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

Congratulations, balaam, you are a winner.

Deleted, as I do not wish to win a trojan. But to find it I had to look in the spam filter folder, which is doing a good job of all the nasties in one place.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

I have six messages in my spam folder right now, of which one is allegedly from PayPal (the rest are for viagra, one Nigerian scam and two from a lonely woman with 36C 29 39 curves).

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

Absence of your RL name is often a clue to a scam. It's not a 100% test as some genuine emails don't and it's not impossible to obtain RL names, but it is a help.

And don't ever click on links. Close your browsers, maybe kill history, start up, and log in separately to Paypal or whatever it is.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

I got a text message this morning saying I am owed £4865 for the accident I had. Must have been one of those accidents that results in amnesia because I have no memory of this at all.

Can they tell if you've read a text message? I'm also not sure how they got my mobile number.

Posted by Augustine the Aleut (# 1472) on :

When my financial institution asked for my email address, I told them that I automatically delete any message purporting to come to me from a bank or credit union, and that they can always just mail me the communication. When the officer, surprised at my suggestion, said that they rarely used the postal system, I replied that they needed to update their operations.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:

Can they tell if you've read a text message? I'm also not sure how they got my mobile number.

Are you on that Book with a Face? If not there, they could simply be sending to every mobile number in the known universe.

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Augustine the Aleut:
When my financial institution asked for my email address, I told them that I automatically delete any message purporting to come to me from a bank or credit union, and that they can always just mail me the communication. When the officer, surprised at my suggestion, said that they rarely used the postal system, I replied that they needed to update their operations.

My financial institutional phoned and left a toll free number. I told the person goodbye and then called the number on the plastic money card. It wasn't a scam, but the caller's number and the one I called did not match.

Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :

For a while there I was repeatedly getting emails purporting to be from PayPal saying, "Your account set-up is nearly complete." They seem to have stopped.

My Pay-Pal account set-up has been complete for 10 years at least.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

This is telephone not email, but when pestered by nuisances callers claiming to sell investments, do surveys, claiming to have detected something wrong with your computer or whatever, I always wish I was quick witted to try this. I assume all shipmates have heard it before.

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

hosting/

As an advice thread, this belongs in All Saints, so I'm moving it there.

/hosting

Posted by que sais-je (# 17185) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
... callers claiming to have detected something wrong with your computer or whatever ...

One of the small pleasures of retirement is to string them along. I sit at my computer, can't misunderstand what they want me to do and after a bit innocently ask: "As you know so much about my computer, which distribution of Linux am I running?"

It's not just that Linux viruses are extremely rare, more that the weird geeks who use it aren't worth scamming.

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

Always look at the URL of the sender. If it's not from wellsfargo.com then it is surely not from Wells Fargo. Even if it is from wellsfargo.com, be wary.
As to telephone solicitations -- especially pollsters -- if you want to ensure they never call back then say, in as flat and matter-of-fact tone as possible, "Do you want to have sex?" They will go away, and not call back, promise.

Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :

I regularly get emails not only purporting to be from paypal, but also from every high street bank, most of which I don't even have an acoount with.

I had one yesterday frpom barclays claining my account might be compromised, which seeing as I don't have an account with them is very interesting.

Actually the only one I don't seem to get any from is my own bank.....

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

quote:
Brenda Clough: Even if it is from wellsfargo.com, be wary.

It might be from weIIsfargo.com (you often won't see the difference in your browser).

Posted by Belle Ringer (# 13379) on :

I've inherited only one multi-million fund recently, wonder why so few of my unknown benefactors have stopped dying.

I've gotten a lot of court summons recently, which in real life are either mailed or hand delivered. Does make the heart stop a moment the first time or two.

But what surprised me most was a few years ago an email from American Express security saying someone had charged $9000 of T-shirts to my account, was it me, call this number to discuss. I called the number, the guy asked for my account number. I said "um, I have no idea if I am responding to a real email from Amex or a phish, I will call the number on the back of the card."

Which I did. Yes it was legit. Yes they believed me that I didn't order all those t-shirts.

But wouldn't you think the financial companies would help train people to avoid phish by NOT sending an email worded just like a typical phish?

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

Just got this: "Dear Beneficiary,
Kindly contact us back for your grant fund.
Contact email (service.companydhl2014@yandex.com)
Thanks and remain Bless,
Mr.Elias Ahoueke".

But these people are trying to commit fraud. If you know of criminal activity, the responsible thing is to report it to avoid others being further victims.

Who can we report this sort of stuff to?

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Just got this: "Dear Beneficiary,
Kindly contact us back for your grant fund.
Contact email (service.companydhl2014@yandex.com)
Thanks and remain Bless,
Mr.Elias Ahoueke".

But these people are trying to commit fraud. If you know of criminal activity, the responsible thing is to report it to avoid others being further victims.

Who can we report this sort of stuff to?

When I receive emails like that I'm tempted to refer them to the education authorities.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

quote:
venbede: Who can we report this sort of stuff to?

In some e-mail clients you can mark an e-mail as a phishing attempt.

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Belle Ringer:
But wouldn't you think the financial companies would help train people to avoid phish by NOT sending an email worded just like a typical phish?

But then the phishers will just change theirs to look like the new and improved legitimate emails.

If I receive one from a financial institution where I actually have an account I immediately call the number on my monthly bill or on the bank's website -- never the one in the email.

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

Because I use the ebanking facility at my bank the emails I get tell me to:

quote:
To see your new statements or other communication, simply:
1. Log on to XXXXX Online Banking
2. Select ‘e-Documents’ from the left-hand menu

Without any indication of what the login process is, much less a link to click on to login.

They also have a standard security notice

quote:
We will never ask you to supply personal information such as passwords or other security information via email. As an added security measure, we’ll always include the last three digits for your postcode at the top of any email we send you or quote the last four digits of your account number in order to identify ourselves to you.

Links within our emails will only take you to information pages. Please forward any suspicious emails to phising@xxxx.co.uk

As an additional security measure every customer email sent to you by XXXX will be addressed to you personally. Please report to phising@xxxx.co.uk any email which appears to come from XXXX but is NOT addressed to you personally.

I assume other banks will have similar procedures (replace XXXX with the name of your bank)

Posted by Dal Segno (# 14673) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
When I receive emails like that I'm tempted to refer them to the education authorities.

Microsoft Research has published a technical paper on why scam e-mails are so often in poor English. Section 4.1 is the most relevant bit.

The basic argument is this:

Phising e-mails cost nothing to send, but each response costs the scammer something to process to see whether they can extract money from the gullible responder. Therefore the scammer wants to ensure that only the most gullible people response.

quote:
An email with tales of fabulous amounts of money and West African corruption will strike all but the most gullible as bizarre. It will be recognised and ignored by anyone who has been using the Internet long enough to have seen it several times. It will be figured out by anyone savvy enough to use a search engine [...]. It won’t be pursued by anyone who consults sensible family or fiends, or who reads any of the advice banks and money transfer agencies make available. Those who remain are the scammers ideal targets.

The PayPal scam is similar but presumably is designed to put a virus on your computer rather than try to extract money, therefore it can afford to look much more plausible.

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

I had one supposedly from paypal querying the amount of activity on my account. Thankfully, I didn't have my credit card details to hand and Darllenwr warned me it was probably a scam - I checked my account via ebay and found everything was OK. I reported it to paypal.

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :

Here's one going the rounds down here. Often associated with large purchases like cars or caravans on ebay etc.

The vendor receives and email stating that they are satisfied with condition as advertised and that an inspection cannot be made as prospective purchaser is somewhere offshore on oil rig or similar. Phone contact is not possible. A reputable company is state as employer. Money is transferred through paypal and a pickup is organised. Money does go through and goods are collected and disappear. As soon as goods are collected, a dispute is opened and paypal refunds money. Vendor has no money and no goods.

My sister had this attempted on her last week but the original email sounded a bit off. She checked company, all legitimate. However, she also followed another link and found identical email had been sent to many other vendors and then found the scam.

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

This one came today "My dearest friend in Christ thank you for accepting my friend request and forgive me if I am intruding into your privacy even if we are of different race or religion but that should not be a barrier. I am Mrs.<Liar Liar> a 76 years old widow suffering from a long time cancer of the breast which claiming my life due to it's stage Level 4 "

I presume her puppeteer got my email from some church list attack, where someone gets into someone's email. I wanted to send her a reply that I hope it's painful and that I could forward info on how to claim bzillions from a friendly Nigerian. But I just deleted it instead.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

quote:
no prophet's flag is set so...: I wanted to send her a reply that I hope it's painful and that I could forward info on how to claim bzillions from a friendly Nigerian. But I just deleted it instead.

Good thing. If you send a reply, even in a joking way, it's very possible that your e-mail address gets on a different list. These lists are sold to other parties.

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

There are bots that will scour the internet looking for email addresses - it's why many people will not put their address online, or if they do disguise it by replacing the '@' with the word 'at'. Of course, many of the addresses they get will be out of date. But, the scammers will try them anyway without knowing if there'll be someone receiving the email. A reply to such an email is a very very good way of confirming to the spammer that the email is valid and in use, which makes your email address something they can sell to other spammers as a known good address - what's more, one that on at least one occasion had someone read a scam email rather than automatically delete it.

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
This one came today "My dearest friend in Christ [etc.] ...

I do voluntary work in the Cathedral office which involves using their general e-mail and there's always at least one of those from an ailing widow on the Ivory Coast who needs help to spend her late (usually murdered) husband's squillions.

It's what the "delete" button is for. [Big Grin]

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

I am in the happy position that PayPal will not talk to me as my bank account is in one country but I live in another and that confuses their little minds hence any e-mail I get from PayPal is automatically spam and I don't even have to think if I should delete or not, as the Nike advert says I Just Do It.

Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :

I got an new variant on the usual scam phone call. I picked up and a women told me that they were going to sue me and gave an international phone number to call, probably a toll account.

The funny thing was the voice of the caller. It was trying to find a tone between "Hi, I want to vacuum your air ducts" and "I'm going to sue your ass off". The tone was not persuasive.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

We were plagued with a particularly unconvincing telephone scam for a time - for some reason, I think it was repeated attempts by the same bunch ('I got a hot ear from that one! You didn't do it right! Let me try'). I say this because the pitch was that it was a call from a Department and you were owed money - I would cut them off with 'What department? Never heard of it. Goodbye'. So then it became that I would lift the phone and the first words would be 'We've got money for you!' Really? You have not even established who you're speaking to?

It's all got better though since we set up caller id and call blocking. Any numbers that still get through, I check online - there are a lot of sites which list nuisance numbers.

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

I let all calls go to my answering machine unless I am expecting a call from someone. More than half the time the caller does not leave a message. If I get a message from a friend, I can always call back.

Moo

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

I hadn't received one of those emails in a long time -- then yesterday there was one supposedly from Chase Bank and today one from Bank of America. I don't have an account at either, and the spelling and grammar were a joke. They also looked like low-resolution GIFs rather than HTML.

Posted by The Rogue (# 2275) on :

I have been getting emails from Amazon saying that my order has been dispatched and it includes a link to the order. It is very well done except that it comes to my work email address and that one is not linked to my Amazon account. I can see this one being clicked on and I fear that someone at work will do so resulting in me having to clear up the mess. I emailed round to everyone but that won't stop them.

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

This morning's was very simple, entitled "urgent",

quote:
I have something important to discuss with you, please write back for details

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

I particularly admire the emails with the header "Do Not Delete This Email!" What better clue do you need?

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :

In my inbox this morning I can see, "i have enclosed my business card and have also attached a scan of it."

What?

As Brenda said, what more is needed as a clue?

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

I've got another email from Paypal about updating their policies. If I'm unahappy, click on a link.

It says: "How do I know this is not a Spoof email?
Spoof or ‘phishing’ emails tend to have generic greetings such as "Dear PayPal member". Emails from PayPal will always contain your full name."

Is this real or a trick?

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :

I think that one is actually real. I've talked to a friend who works for PayPal, they've checked it and agreed that in some countries PayPal are adapting their T&C - like 180 instead of 45 days to complain about transactions, which probably is a good thing. Comes into force on 15/1/2015, if I remember right.

I haven't accessed my account since, but I'm sure there may be some more information on the legit site then.

Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :

If you think a message from paypal is real then just access your account online and look there for a message rather than clicking on the link.

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

Thanks. I'm getting paranoid and deleted it. I looked at the real site without clicking and didn't notice anything.

The Nigerian widows are really flocking me at the moment.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

quote:
venbede: I'm getting paranoid and deleted it.

No paranoia, just good sense. Don't click on links in e-mails that apparently come from PayPal.

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :

Toldcha. https-PayPal linkie for the UK.

Other ways to access:

quote:
go to [Your PayPal homepage], click ‘Legal Agreements’ at the bottom of the page and then ‘Policy Updates’. It contains important information about when and how our legal agreements will change. All current legal agreements will apply until these changes take place.

If you agree to the changes, you don’t need to do anything; any updates will automatically apply to you. If you don't want to accept the changes, you can follow the steps we've provided on the Policy Update page.

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