Contributors to Andy's cause, watch out for fraudulent Paypal e-mails.

[Ladyhawk]

I just received one of those suspicious PayPal e-mails that wasn't from PayPal. It cited "suspicious activities" on my PayPal account. The only thing I've done lately that's different is giving $70 to help Andy. Only $20 was mine. The rest I gave on behalf of someone else. Could trolls be targeting me because of this?

Probably, this was just a random try to net some funds, but I thought it might be prudent to post here, anyway. Be careful out there on the 'net.

Here is the e-mail:


Dear valued PayPal member:

PayPal is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of
buyers and sellers. To protect the security of your account, PayPal employs
some of the most advanced security systems in the world and our anti-fraud
teams regularly screen the PayPal system for unusual activity.

Recently, our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your
account. In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement and to ensure that your
account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your
account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved. This
is a fraud prevention measure meant to ensure that your account is not
compromised.

In order to secure your account and quickly restore full access, we may
require some specific information from you for the following reason:

We would like to ensure that your account was not accessed by an
unauthorized third party. Because protecting the security of your account
is our primary concern, we have limited access to sensitive PayPal account
features. We understand that this may be an inconvenience but please
understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection.

Case ID Number: PP-040-187-541

We encourage you to log in and restore full access as soon as possible.
Should access to your account remain limited for an extended period of
time, it may result in further limitations on the use of your account.

However, failure to restore your records will result in account suspension.
Please update your records on or before May 25, 2005.

Once you have updated your account records, your PayPal session will not be
interrupted and will continue as normal.

To update your Paypal records click on the following link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run



Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that
this is a security measure meant to help protect you and your account. We
apologize for any inconvenience.


Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department



PayPal Email ID PP522


Accounts Management As outlined in our User Agreement, PayPal will
periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements.

Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_privacy-outside

_______________

I cautiously clicked on https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run and discovered it had an IP address instead of "http://paypal.com." I got out of there in a hurry without entering any information. Paypal's IP is 216.113.188.65. The above URL sends you to http://222.82.252.206/paypal/ . Notice the site isn't even secure.

I've discovered that perpetuators of fraud like to use a fraud scare to get your money. Be safe.

LH

[jojo54]

1. Damn ,isn't it great to know that someone is REALLY

watching out for your personal identity? The Bushco administration can put that "moral value" in their pipe and smoke it!

[Tux]

2. I get those once in a great while

And I don't even have PayPal. LOL Phishers will do anything for a dishonorable dollar.

[lonestarnot]

3. Next time send a money order.

[expatriate]

4. I've had a variation of this of late

stating that my "credit card details are expired" and directing me to send my up to date credit card details.

These go around from time to time - I don't know if there's any actual link to someone trolling about Andy, but if you've had recent activity on your PayPal account, it might trigger this.

I just delete them. Almost every time I use PayPal, I get at least one of these.

[EFerrari]

5. Thanks for the warning, Ladyhawk. I rarely use paypal or

so this has been a real education for me.

Beth

[Historic NY]

6. Its just one of those regular SPAM's that comes out from time to time..

phishing for your info.

http://www.fraudwatchinternational.com/internet/phishing/phishing_index.shtml

[ebayfool]

7. Nothing to do w/Andy - a phishing scam. I get them all the time from lots

of different 'sources' - eBay, PayPal, Visa & M/C (don't even have a M/C) along w/a variety of banks & lenders. Don't click (even cautiously) on them. Even if you close the page right away it discloses that your addy is a live one, or pick up a trojan on your comp. Most of these aren't even knowingly addressed to the receivers, just computer generated email addys. When you go to the site it discloses yours as a live 'hit' & you will get more of them. If you're curious you can usually check the headers & see where it came from, I just notify the email service that it's phishing spam & let them deal w/it (yeah, I'm not holding my breath LOL).

This one's better than the usual, they usually spell like freepers (a good giveaway)!

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. I doubt it has to do with Andy - phishing scams are so common now

I grew to detest and distrust PayPal some time back. Their mistakes seem to be ALWAYS in the direction of giving PayPal more money or more free time borrowing your money before it is duly transferred. I'm betting others here with PayPal experience have similar things to say. And indeed, in Andy's case they locked up the account - more free time for them to borrow the money before it was released. I don't trust them, period. Since merh had not yet fixed whatever was wrong with Andy's Amazon account at the time I donated, I sent a check.

[rumpel]

9. Is it also possible that they are marketing their lists?

I reported one several months ago to paypal and they were really happy and appreciative.
But, I have stayed away if possible from the firm.

[Ladyhawk]

10. Thanks everyone...I figured it was just a random scam,

but even so, it's good to let people know about things like this. In fact, there was information at PayPal on how to spot a fraudulent e-mail. My e-mail fit the description.

I'm just glad my bullshit detector has improved over the years. :scared:

[REP]

11. I've Never Used PayPal or eBay - Still Get 'Phishing' Lures from Both

Anytime anyone asks you for your account information and/or social security number and/or password, it's a scam. Legitimate institutions you do business with do not conduct business this way.

[WillowTree]

12. "Dear valued PayPal member:"

Dead giveaway for all these phishing scams from PayPal, ebay, banks etc. If it was legit, it would address you by name. Always. If you have an account and there's a problem with it, they know your name, right?

Whenever I get one of these, even from a bank or credit card company that I don't do business with, I forward it to the fraud department at the institution involved and then delete it.

[Ladyhawk]

13. Something didn't feel right. My bullshit detector was off the scale.

Yeah, they address you by name if it's the real deal. Besides, PayPal doesn't have my hotmail address. :D

[Arwennick]

14. The latest scam

from the fake pay pal sites is

"You have added this E-mail______________ address your account.Please click on to this link to verify.

Once you go there it will want your username & password.

Of coarse it is not a Pay Pal site you were directed to,its a scam site that records the hits and is shut off and deleted after 30 minutes to keep the trail cold.

[theboss]

15. This is a general scam, I think

I get emails all the time from "my bank" telling me they need my credit card number to verify my account. Of course, it's from banks I've never used.

[FinallyStartingToWin]

16. It Has ABSOLUTELY Nothing To Do With Andy

Welcome to the internet. It is called phishing. You will see them for Ebay as well.

[Eloriel]

18. Absolutely. I get them all the time and don't even USE PayPal

and haven't for several years now.

[benburch]

17. You get these randomly even if you have no paypal account.

They harvest email addresses from the net and send these things out by the literally millions every day.

[kittykitty]

19. Fwd. message with complete header to: spoof @paypal.com and

I get these sometimes from Pay Pal phishers, also eBay, my credit card company and banks I have never heard of1 All bogus, scammers.

[KaliTracy]

20. They will always address you by full name (at least in my experience).

anything other than that is a Phishing Scheme.