WARNING! New PayPal Phishing Scam On The Loose! DO NOT BELIEVE IT!
![scam_alert[4]](http://i0.wp.com/hottipscentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/scam_alert4.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024)
There is a new email phishing scam on the loose that has been making it’s way to inboxes all over the place. Once again, like so many others before it, it attempts to get your PayPal account information by appearing to be an legitimate offer from PayPal.com. Please heed my warning and DO NOT BELIEVE THIS EMAIL!!
The simple rule of thumb on email scams, like this one, is to look closely at the email address from where it came from. Legitimate email notifications will always come from the same sources. If you have never seen the source of the email before, then there is a very high chance that it is a phishing scam.
If you do not know what “Phishing is, please learn more with the drop-down below:
[learn_more caption="What does Phishing mean?"] Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users, and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.
(Information copied from WikiPedia)[/learn_more]
HERE IS A PHOTO OF WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN YOUR EMAIL INBOX:
This time, the PayPal scam is a bit careless. it tries to get you to “log into your account” and upgrade your account officially. Unfortunately for them, some people are smarter than that. First off… there are BIG irregularities with the message info:
- FAKE EMAIL FLAWS
Compared to what it always is:
- REAL PAYPAL EMAIL – Notice the email service@paypal.com
Notice how the second photo contains a real PayPal email, “service@paypal.com” – That is the email PayPal always uses. It should be assumed that if you receive an email from anybody else other than that, it’s a phishing scam or worse.
If you get this message, please DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY. Some pretty bad things have happened to phishing victims, and you do not want to join them. There are simply too big and too many headaches that go along with trying to get your information secure, and get your financial condition (after getting phished) that you don’t want to deal with. The best thing to do when something doesn’t seem quite right, or perhaps looks right, but makes you a bit unsure, is to check it out online.
In the case of PayPal… you can go to their community help forums to check the validity of an email before going through with any activity it want’s you to do. When visiting those forums (with a simple Google Search of “PayPal Enhanced Account Email”), the results can tell you everything:
A forum user reports his reply
Have you received this email yet? I hope you didn’t open it, but if you did you should immediately change your password, and also contact PayPal and ensure you have gone through steps to secure your account. If you know others that use PayPal, you really should consider spreading the word by sharing this link with them. It’s really important that these scams are not successful.
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