Thursday, May 28, 2009

Paypal Spoof E-mail

Today I received and e-mail supposedly from Paypal stating that my Paypal account had limited access because someone had tried to break in to my account.  Would I please click on the e-mail link to take care of the problem.  Being the suspicious person I am, I instead contacted Paypal and found out it was a fake e-mail.   Paypal does not send e-mails to you with links requesting more information.  I also noticed the e-mail did not reference any of my e-mail addresses. 

I'm sure all of you have received the e-mail  someone in Nigeria has a bunch of money they would like to send you.  Maybe not such a clever scam, but thieves sure are thinking up new ways to trick people out of personal information.   There is a website called Snopes.com that debunks rumors and urban legends.  The first time I used it was to check on this e-mail  about the missing Ashley Flores.  I have since received this e-mail 3 more times over the years and fortunately Ashley is still not missing.  Be careful.  If you think it is a scam it is likely a scam.

5 comments:

Millie said...

Chris, thank you so much for all the information. From now on I will think twice before opening an e-mail where I am not sure if it is true. I am glad there was nothing wrong with your account.

Maya Sara Matthew said...

Thanks for alerting us about this scam will be useful as I go about setting up an etsy shop.

Jackie said...

I've had that e mail too. I had just been on Paypal so I knew it was fake. Good of you to let people know.

Jackie's Stitches said...

Thank you for the reminder! Paypal has had several groups sending out fake phishing emails. I delete everything I get from them.

Finn said...

Hi Chris, thanks for doing a post on this. That darn scam has been around and around, but it still startles me when I see it. Just lately in my corner of WI, the thing my email box has been a letter from "----- Bank" saying that my account has been tampered with. And they are using bank names that are actually IN our area. Luckily I'm more suspicious than some(part of being older I suppose, I don't think as fast as younger people) but I knew for sure I DIDN'T have an account with Citizens Bank, so I deleted it. Wish there was some way to let the banks know this is going on right NOW, in our area. I'll check out your link Snopes. Hugs, Finn