PayPal and other spoof/spam emails

[snowdragon]

Hi this is Sandy (BC's o/h)

 

Not sure where to post this but just got this in my email

 

Dear PayPal member:

 

Warning! Your PayPal account has been limited! As part of our security measures, we proceed regularly screen activity to learn PayPal recently contacted you after having identified a problem on your Account. demand information from you for following reason: -Our system detected unusual charges to a card credit linked to your PayPal account..

 

Verify

Cordialement,

 

 

Far as I know we do not have a paypal account

 

Sorry if posted in wrong bit

[rebel11]

Hi Sandy Bobcat2 Other Half,

 

It sounds like a 'Phishing' email, normally they have link, if you use the link, type in your details, they then have access to your account details, from there they can action various illegal activities etc.

[renegadeimp]

It's so obvious its a phishing attempt, it's hilarious. It's not even in coherent english. The best way to deal with this is to ignore the email, and log in to your paypal account manually. If theres a problem with the account, youll have a big notice on your paypal page.

 

Not to mention you said yourself, you dont actually have a paypal account.

[colin11]

Hi this is Sandy (BC's o/h)

 

Not sure where to post this but just got this in my email

 

Dear PayPal member:

 

Warning! Your PayPal account has been limited! As part of our security measures, we proceed regularly screen activity to learn PayPal recently contacted you after having identified a problem on your Account. demand information from you for following reason: -Our system detected unusual charges to a card credit linked to your PayPal account..

 

Verify

Cordialement,

 

 

Far as I know we do not have a paypal account

 

Sorry if posted in wrong bit

 

i have had the same email a few times, it is a [problem], ignore it, the first 2 times i checked my transactions, nothing was amiss

[snowdragon]

thank you everyone, like said we do not have a paypal account as refuse to use it due to this sort of thing same as we refuse to have a ebay account! seeing as how ebay have had problems recently am so glad we do not

Sandy

[colin11]

the really sad thing is, people will fall for emails like this, and give all their details to some crook somewhere

[renegadeimp]

A wise man once said... "Stupid is as stupid does".

[Guest]

if poss (or inclined), report it to paypal.

[andydd]

I had one that started 'Dead Customer...'

[adridude]

I had one that started 'Dead Customer...'

 

are you sure you're not one of my clients? LOL, I sent out a mail-shot to a targeted croup of my customers and accidentally did the Dead [Title] [surname] in the template lol! I'm glad my customers have a sense of humour though! I got back quite an entertaining response

[adridude]

@Sandy and all other Users who get these:,

 

There's loads of mail like this floating around. I've even had e-mails like this pretending to be from the HMRC, Banks, Companies House and various other high profile organisations. When I got the HMRC one, this particularly concerned me being a business owner, so I contacted the Police "Action Fraud" and discussed this with them. As I guessed, the mail was "phishing" i.e. "fishing for your personal details and passwords", and was told to handle them in the following manner:

 

1) If you receive a mail like this which has a "click here" or a "button" to "go to" a page to resolve "whatever the email outlines"DON'T CLICK IT.

Reasoning:

The moment you click on that link or button, many of these fraudulent sites rely on you clicking this link/button, which often has a unique ID hidden in it linking your email address to something in their systems. This is how they can "confirm that you've read it AND RESPONDED.

 

Don't mark it as spam QUITE yet... See (2) below...

 

2) If the email is from paypal, as in Sandy's example, rather than relying on links (or even favourites you have stored in your browser), manually browse to http://www.paypal.com or http://www.whateverCompany.com, log in MANUALLY, NOT with the stored usernames and passwords you could have saved in the page. From here, use the companies own website to see if they do or don't need to contact you.

 

Also, if you don't feel quite happy doing the above, then feel free to call the company directly, but as I say, go to their page i.e. http://www.paypal.com, get the phone number FROM THEIR SITE (not from the linked site in the email), contact them and their staff will be more than happy to help you out.

 

Finally, if it involves your bank, and you still don't feel happy talking about it over the telephone, then get yourself down to the local branch and get some help from the staff in-branch. This is the fool-proof method.

 

3) If one of these emails involves a government body i.e. HMRC, Border Agency, Companies House etc... then contact that body directly. DO NOT do anything via a website. Let them know about the email immediately. 9 times out of 10, they might tell you to delete it as they didn't send it.

Reasoning:

Often government bodies will contact you via post rather than by email. But as they government is trying to go "digital" they are relying more and more on "online services". If you do receive one of these emails, pass it off as "spam" and ignore it, you could be missing out in very important information from that body. In the case of HMRC or Companies House you can wind up getting some very very hefty fines for being late or not updating information in a timely manner.

 

FINALLY

If you exhausted the list above, and have come to the conclusion that this is in-fact spam, then note that most email programs and websites have a "mark as spam" button or option so messages from that source (whichever scoundrel sent it) will be binned in the spam folder.

 

Note though, it's good practise to "skim over" your spam folder from time to time, just incase an important email ends up in there by accident.

 

here's a list of links for the various email websites and programs for how-to's managing spam.

 

List of Help Documents on How to Manage Spam in Various Programs and/or Websites

 

Apple Mail: Mark messages as junk or not junk

Windows Live Mail (Windows Vista and Windows 7): Block spam and other unwanted e‑mail

Windows Live Mail (Windows 8 both Tablet and PC): http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/junk-delete-sweep

Microsoft Outlook (for Windows): http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/outlook-help/overview-of-the-junk-email-filter-HP010355048.aspx

Microsoft Outlook (for Mac): Label a message as "junk" or "not junk"

 

The above are the mainstream apps / email programs on your computers...

 

Now for a list of website help i.e. hotmail / yahoo regarding marking as junk:

 

1) Apple iCloud Mail (i.e. http://www.icloud.com): iCloud: Manage junk mail

2) Microsoft Outlook/Hotmail/Live (i.e. http://www.outlook.com, http://www.hotmail.com, http://www.live.com): How to Mark a Message as Junk in Outlook.com

3) Yahoo Business Mail (http://www.yahoo.com): How do I mark an email as spam?

4) Yahoo Personal Mail (http://www.yahoo.com): s-yahoo-sln3402.html?impressions=true"]Report spam, hacked accounts, and phishing [problem]s to Yahoo

 

 

 

If you have another mail program or use another site and would like help with it, feel free to drop me a PM. just another note, I'm not here for "fixing mail issues" lol, I'll just point you to a link or a resource which will tell you how to "manage spam" for your setup...

 

Hope this helps!

[Mrs E Blackadder]

I had an email claiming to be from Paypal with details of a Postman Pat figure that someone in Suffolk had, apparently, bought from me for £347! It even gave a name and address in Suffolk where I should post the item to. Needless to say, I passed it on to Paypal who confirmed that it was a phishing email. I have never looked on Google maps to see if the address I was supposed to send the mysterious Postman Pat figure to actually exists; would be funny if it did!

[adridude]

I had an email claiming to be from Paypal with details of a Postman Pat figure that someone in Suffolk had, apparently, bought from me for £347! It even gave a name and address in Suffolk where I should post the item to. Needless to say, I passed it on to Paypal who confirmed that it was a phishing email. I have never looked on Google maps to see if the address I was supposed to send the mysterious Postman Pat figure to actually exists; would be funny if it did!

 

Maybe it's another one of those "garden gnome trips around the world" haha

 

[citizenB]

I have moved this thread into the General Consumer issues forum

[Mrs E Blackadder]

Perhaps there is a Post Man Pat figure that just keeps going round in a circle - his best mate is probably the gnome!

 

 

I had a quick check of the address and it does actually exist ) No idea if the person really lives there, but they must be well hacked off by now that Post Man Pat hasn't been delivered.

[johnrailwayman]

The important thing is never open any attachments. It is helpful if you forward the email to PayPal so that there fraud department can investigate and have a chance to trace who sent these [problem] e-mails. Pay Pal will tell you that they never send emails to customers this way or ask for personal information. By forwarding these [problem] emails to either Pay Pal or The Police fraud department you will be helping to prevent these sorts of things and helping others who are less able to see they are scams.

[josie777]

on a slightly different note - the bank ones make me laugh - you know - the ones where they say that your account has been suspended and it's from a bank that you don't even have an account with!!

sad people imho...