It has been a while since I have received a fake PayPal email. Here is the one I received today:
Dear PayPal Member,
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. During a recent screening, we noticed an issue regarding your account.
For your protection, we have limited access to your account until additional security measures can be completed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
This might be due to either of the following reasons:
1. A recent change in your personal information (i.e. change of
address,e-mail address).2. An inability to accurately verify your selected option of payment due to an internal error within our processors.
Please update and verify your information by checking the link below: (if you can’t open it just copy the link in your internet browser)
http://paypal.confirmation-billing.com/index.htm(bad link)
(DISCLAIMER - DON”T GO TO THIS WEB ADDRESS AND ENTER YOUR INFORMATION)We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department——————————————-
Copyright © 1999-2009 PayPal. All rights reserved.
At first glance it looks like a legitimate email from PayPal; nevertheless, there are several very obvious clues that it is a phishing email scam to steal your PayPal login.
1) The email addresses me as “Dear PayPal Member,” and not by first and last name, “Dear Mr. Michael Rockson.” PayPal’s website states “All PayPal emails will greet you by your first and last name.
2) Fake URL - the URL in the email directs me to a fake PayPal website. If I enter my PayPal login, the person who set up the website will have my PayPal login . PayPal accounts have money, bank account numbers, credit card numbers and personal information in their system. Basically, the person who set up the phishing scam has enough information to steal my identity.
FAKE URL - http://paypal.confirmation-billing.com/index.htm(bad link) (DISCLAIMER - DON”T GO TO THIS WEB ADDRESS AND ENTER YOUR INFORMATION)
*Please note in the url “paypal.confirmation-billing.com” is NOT the correct url for PayPal. PayPal urls will always have “https://www.paypal.com/us/” in the url.
Real Login for PayPal is: https://www.paypal.com/us
More information on fake PayPal emails and phishing scams can be found here: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/securitycenter/general/RecognizePhishing-outside
