Beware clever phishing email...

[Turanil]

Well, I am sure many of you would not fall prey to this, but others could be warned, especially those who sell things on the Internet and are paid with paypal.

So, I got this email from Paypal (or so it seemed) telling me that "Matthew Elridge" (probably a false name, and spam-sounding by the way) gave me 93.50 US$ on my paypal account. My first thought was that "Matthew Elridge" had mistakenly send me money for something he bought to someone else. Because the email sent, the URL to access the transaction, etc. were all extremely convincing (they really look like they were sent by Paypal). But in truth this is nigh impossible as I don't sell anything on the Internet, and never used payal after having been inscribed several years ago. So it's much more like another thief's attempt at getting my password and what not. But this one looked very clever. If you are indeed selling things on the Internet (like rpg PDF products, or things on ebay, for example) you may very well fall prey to it. So beware...

 

[Umbran]

It is, of course, terribly important that you double check that a URL is taking you where you think itis before using it. While the text may say "http://www.paypal.com..." the link underneath can be completely different.

And, of course, PayPal never sends out e-mails with links to their login pages, specifically so you know that it isn't them.

If you get an e-mail from PayPal, your bank, or any financial institution, telling you to come and log in and do something, the number one defense is to not follow any links found in the e-mail. Browse to the site independantly, and look aty it from there. Lazyness will be your doom. Doom, I tell you!

 

[Turanil]

PayPal never sends out e-mails with links to their login pages, specifically so you know that it isn't them.

Oh! I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

 

[Umbran]

Oh! I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

Any bank worth dealing with has the same policy, for the same reason.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I send them to the spoof@paypal.com email addy.

And if you hover your mouse pointer over the link, it'll be to some random link, nothing to do with paypal at all. That should tell you that it's a phishing scam.