The Latest Phishing Scam to Hit my In Box

The latest email phishing (identity theft) scam to hit my in box is aimed at PayPal. The scammer is using the PayPal name in the from line, but it is PayPal.Inc (which is the first indication that something is wrong with the email). The way the scam works is that the email states that a new email address has been added to my PayPal account. The scammer is hoping that I will react in anger and click on a links provided in their email. And that I will unwittingly provide them with my account information as I try to straighten out the nonexistent problem that they claim I have.

Several things that I want to point out to online sellers and others who have PayPal accounts is do not click on any of the links in the email. Even the fictitious email address is actually a link to a login to the scammers servers. I point this out because I have read of some sellers who want to get back it the scammers by clicking on the links and sending them a piece of their minds. Do not do this, because some of the scammers are smart enough to use this against you.

I have also seen scam emails that are actually a jpeg image and if you click on any part of the image it will send you to site that request account information or it will try to upload malicious software to your computer.

So what do you do?

Forward all scam PayPal emails to spoof@paypal.com. This is very important because PayPal will do the research to figure out who is doing this. PayPal has a vested interest in stopping scammers from stealing from you.

Never enter any information in any email that ask you to act now. If the tone of an email is that you must act now, stop and think. Do some verification.

Always, ALWAYS, log into your accounts from your links or favorites list. NOT from the links in any email. One of the main reasons that scammers are able to steal from people is because they click on links in the scammers emails.

These helpful hints also apply to other accounts that you have and that scammers might send to you.