WARNING: PayPal Fraud Emails

[NamePopper]

WARNING

Someone is sending emails to (apparently) random addresses with the following message......

- - - - - - - -
As part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website, we are undertaking a period review of our member accounts. You are requested to visit our site by following the link given below :

(I have removed the link for obvious reasons)

Please fill in the required information. This is required for us to continue to offer you a safe and risk free environment to send and receive money, and maintain the PayPal Experience.
- - - - - - - -

These emails appear to come from [email protected] - and they contain the entire PayPal website homepage including all the links and graphics. However - the link given in the message body (above) is NOT a real PayPal link.

This started last night when I received several of these emails at addresses that are not associated with my PayPal account - and have never even been used before. That immediately sent up a red flag in my mind. So this morning my brother (who's account I share) contacted PayPal and verified that in fact this is an attempt to get people to log in to a fake site - and enter their name & password.

All the other links and graphics in the email are the real ones from PayPal (I guess to give it credibility) but the link where they ask you to visit and enter your information is NOT.

I went ahead and clicked the link this morning to see what happened - and it brought up a error 404 page - so apparently the crooks have already moved on to a different one - but this is almost certain to happen again.

For the record - when you mouse-over the link in the email - you will see that the link that shows up in your status bar (bottom of your browser) does not exactly match the link printed in the email - and is also an http address - whereas the link printed shows a https address (secure). These guys are tricky.

So please everyone - do NOT go to ANY links that you receive from a PayPal email and enter your account information. There is no telling how many people got an email this time - but even though they appear to have moved on - it's almost certain there will be another attempt.

Again - these emails look perfectly legitimate - and are complete with the entire PayPal homepage and working links. Only the link where they ask you go is false. If not for receiving them at addresses that were not associated with our account - I might have even been fooled myself. Pretty scary stuff.

 

[Kodeking]

Thanks for the warning, my family uses paypal, and my parents wouldnt notice this. I'll tell them.

 

[Lord]

thanks for the warning.

 

[wicked_gal00]

Thanks.

 

[Nina_H]

Thanks for the warning!

 

[GCgirl4ever]

This must be the email.. the paypal account is in my dads name.. and this email isn't on the paypal!

Dear Cassandra Martino,

At PayPal, we value the trust you have placed in us by using our service to conduct your transactions online. Because our relationship with you is financial in nature, the protection of your privacy is particularly important to us.

We are sending this privacy notice to provide you with information about how PayPal safeguards your privacy, as well as to comply with U.S. federal privacy guidelines that apply to financial institutions such as PayPal. The full terms of PayPal's privacy policy are available on the PayPal website, which you are welcome to review at any time.

It is PayPal's policy to maintain confidentiality over your information. We will NOT sell or rent your information.

Contents of this Notice:
How does PayPal safeguard your information?
What personal information do we collect?
To what parties do we disclose personal information?
What are your privacy choices?
In Case of Errors or Questions About Your Electronic Transfers
How does PayPal safeguard your information?
PayPal automatically encrypts your confidential information in transit from your computer to ours using the Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) with an encryption key length of 128-bits. Even before you register or log in to our site, our server checks that you're using an approved browser - one that uses SSL 3.0 or higher.


Once your information reaches us, it resides on a server that is heavily guarded both physically and electronically. Our servers sit behind an electronic firewall and are NOT directly connected to the Internet, so your private information is available only to authorized computers.


Only authorized employees are permitted to access customer information. Authorized employees have been trained on how to handle information properly and are subject to strict limitations and guidelines in the handling of that information.

What personal information do we collect?

Information we receive from you
When you open a PayPal account, we require certain information, such as your name, address, phone number and email address.


When you send, receive or request a payment through PayPal, we collect transaction information needed to perform the service.


When you sign up for optional features or products, we collect information needed to provide the service or to establish that you qualify for such features or products. For example, when you enroll in the PayPal Money Market Fund, we collect your Social Security Number (SSN), which we are required to do for legal purposes.


When we cannot verify the information you provide online, we may ask you to send us additional information by fax, such as your driver's license or a recent utility bill. This is necessary in order to safeguard your account against potential fraud.
Information about you from third parties
When you add a credit card or debit card, we use card authorization and fraud screening services to verify the information you provide.


If you have a Business or Premier account or if you send or receive high overall payment volumes through PayPal, we may do a background check or obtain information about you from a credit bureau or a business information service such as Dun & Bradstreet.

To what parties do we disclose personal information?
Other PayPal members. Information such as your name, email address, date of sign-up and Verification status are available to other members. If you are buying goods or services, you may choose to reveal your shipping address to complete the transaction. As always, we never reveal your financial information to other PayPal members, unless required to do so by law.


Card authorization and fraud screening services. If you add a credit card or a debit card to your PayPal account, we will use these services to verify that your card information and address matches the information that you supplied to us, and that the card has not been reported lost or stolen.


Other eBay Corporate Entities. We may disclose information during the investigation of fraud or illegal activity as well as during your interaction with eBay to process payments and provide integrated customer support related to eBay transactions.


Companies with whom we jointly offer products. If you sign up for a co-branded version of PayPal, we will share only the minimum required information to provide enhanced integration between PayPal's and the partner's services.

We may provide information to companies that perform marketing services on our behalf. For example, we disclose information to Providian National Bank, the issuer of PayPal Visa credit cards, to determine customers' eligibility for the PayPal Visa credit card. Financial information, such as credit card or checking account information is NOT revealed.


Agencies or authorities with whom we are legally required to cooperate. We may disclose information during the investigation of fraud or illegal activity. For example, we may disclose information in response to a subpoena, warrant, court order, or comparable legal process.

What are your privacy choices?
You have the ability to view or update your account information and credit card or checking account information any time by logging in to your PayPal account and clicking on Profile. To view or update your account information now, log in to your PayPal account and go to the Profile subtab of the My Account tab, or click here: https://www.paypal.com/PROFILE.


You have choices in the types of communications you wish to receive from PayPal. When you opened a PayPal account, your notification preferences were set to receive the PayPal Periodical and Product Updates, and invitations to Customer Surveys. To change these notification settings or to opt-in to other notifications, please log in to your PayPal account and go to the Profile subtab of the My Account tab. Click on the Notifications link in the Account Information column, or click here: https://www.paypal.com/PREFS-NOTI.


You have the ability to review PayPal's Privacy Policy anytime by clicking on the Privacy link at the foot of the PayPal website or by going to: https://www.paypal.com/privacy.


If you have any other questions about PayPal's privacy practices, please feel free to contact us at (402) 935-2300, or click here for online help. Customers in the U.K. may contact us through our UK national rate number at 0870 730 7191.
In Case of Errors or Questions

In Case of Errors or Questions About Your Electronic Transfers, you can call our customer service center at 1-888-221-1161 or 1-402-935-7733. For debit card claims you can call 1-402-935-2017 (this number is also included on the back of your debit card). You may also email us by using the webforms at http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_contact-general, or write us at 12312 Port Grace Blvd, La Vista, NE 68128, if you think your statement or receipt is wrong or if you need more information about a transfer listed on the statement or receipt. We must hear from you no later than 60 days after the transaction date. All transactions are available in your account history and we encourage you to review this log regularly. When contacting us to report a possible error:
Tell us your name and account number (if any).


Describe the error or the transfer you are unsure about, and explain as clearly as you can why you believe it is an error or why you need more information.


Tell us the amount of the suspected error.
If you tell us orally, we may require that you send us your complaint or question in writing within 10 business days. We will determine whether an error occurred within 10 business days after we hear from you and will correct any error promptly. If we need more time, however, we may take up to 45 days to investigate your complaint or question. If we decide to do this, we will credit your account within 10 business days for the amount you think is in error, so that you will have the use of the money during the time it takes us to complete our investigation.

If we ask you to put your complaint or question in writing and we do not receive it within 10 business days, we are not required to credit your account during the investigation period. For errors involving new accounts, point-of-sale (e.g. debit cards), or foreign-initiated transactions, we may take up to 90 days to investigate your complaint or question. For new accounts, we may take up to 20 business days to credit your account for the amount you think is in error. We will tell you the results within three business days after completing our investigation. If we decide that there was no error, we will send you a written explanation. You may ask for copies of the documents that we used in our investigation.

Thank you for making PayPal the world's #1 online payment service.


This privacy notice was sent to [email protected]. You are receiving this notification because federal law requires PayPal to issue an annual privacy notice to its members. If you wish to modify your notification preferences in regards to other PayPal email communications, you can log in to your account and go to the Profile subtab of the My Account tab. Click on the Notifications link in the Account Information column, or click here: https://www.paypal.com/PREFS-NOTI. Replies to this email may not be processed. If you need additional help, click here: http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_contact_us&phone=phone.

Copyright© 2003 PayPal, Inc. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.

I didn't click any of the links and I advise you not to either

 

[NameCaster]

I started getting this very same email about 6 months ago.
I get it at least once a week.

I would never fall for it but I can understand how someone would. It looks very legit. Goes to show, you should always keep an eye on your address bar. (https) verse (http)

Cheers!

 

[Lord]

wow, thats a long LONG email. Wonder if anyone even read it all... I dont know if your email convereted the HTML when you posted, but they all lead to www.paypal.com/*whatever

 

[GCgirl4ever]

I noticed that also.. but that email is not on a paypal account

 

[Jeff]

I received a "PayPal Privacy Notice" yesterday and haven't even had time to even open or review it!
Going now.
Thanks for the warning, Popps.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

I got this email today I also got a email go granny go but thats another story.

 

[wicked_gal00]

I got that same email today.

 

[supersquirt]

thanks for the warning.

 

[dude]

I think i got one it said PayPal privacy Notice in the subject

 

[NameCaster]

Originally posted by dude
I think i got one it said PayPal privacy Notice in the subject

Here is the one I've been getting:
//****
Subject: PayPal Security Measures

Dear Paypal Member.
Your account has been randomly flagged in our system as a part of our routine security measures. This is a must to ensure that only you have access and use of your paypal account and to ensure a safe Paypal experience.
We require all flagged accounts to verify their information on file with us.

To verify your information, click here and enter the details requested. After you verify your information, your account shall be returned to good standing and you will continue to have full use of your account.

Thank you for using PayPal!
//****

Clicking the link takes me to a fake PayPal site via proxy.
I wonder how many people actually fill out the form and submit?

 

[dude]

im not gonna open mine because i dont want to and i know its fake anyway

 

[wicked_gal00]

Originally posted by NameCaster
Clicking the link takes me to a fake PayPal site via proxy.
I wonder how many people actually fill out the form and submit?

That had fake and scam written all over it. I'm sure many people would be trusting enough to fill out that information. It's a pity...

 

[webmasterinfo]

thanks for the warning.
Good to know

 

[Zania16]

Goodnes good thing I did not answer to that