You open your inbox and see an email purportedly from Paypal warning you that your account has been limited. A limited Paypal account? Oh no!
If you won’t be able to lift the limit, all funds in your account will be stuck there, meaning you can’t spend or withdraw them!
So to solve this problem, you should just click the link in the email, right?
Wrong! Do that and you become the next phishing victim.
Phishing emails, also known as fake or spoof emails, are designed to direct recipients to a fraudulent website where they are asked to provide personal information. These information are then used for identity or credit card theft.
We have a vast collection of Phishing emails which circulated in the past and here’s another one to add to our list.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From: Service Paypal <paypal@alertes.com>
Subject: IMPORTANT – Update Your Account Information
Information Regarding Your account:
Dear PayPal Member:
Attention! Your PayPal account has been limited!
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system.We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.We requested information from you for the following reason:
Our system detected unusual charges to a credit card linked to your PayPal account.
Reference Number: PP-259-187-991
This is the Last reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible. Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access.
Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.
Click here to activate your account
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 apologise for any inconvenience..
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The email bears an unmistakable resemblance to the actual email that Paypal sends to users with a Limited Account. All the links in the email also direct to Paypal’s official website.
Except one.
The Click here to activate your account link in the email above directs to the spoof Paypal website cgi-bin/webscrcmd=_login-run/webscrcmd=_account-run=524685741142/ updates-paypal/confirm-paypal/
If you will go to the site and type in your Paypal login information, you are on track to be scammed! Using the username and password you submitted to the fake site, the scammer will log in to your PayPal account and most likely spend your remaining funds or bill your credit card.
You don’t want that to happen to you? Then don’t instantly click on any link contained in emails supposedly sent by Paypal or eBay or your bank. Make sure first that the email indeed came from a trusted source.
These sites will almost always never ask for your password or login information, so be wary if you receive an email asking such.
In the event you clicked on a link and got redirected to a another website, double check if that is the official website of the account you are logging into. Paypal’s official site, for example, is Paypal.com — not Paypale.co.cc as in the fake email above.
Knowledge of spoof and fake emails is your armor against identity theft. Make sure you’re aware and protected!
Must read these other related, useful articles:
Below is a fake paypal notice.
_______________________________
Dispute Transaction?
From: PayPal (support@PayPal.Inc.com)
This message may be a phishing scam. Learn more
Sent: Thu 8/14/08 5:34 PM
Reply-to: support@PayPal.Inc.com
To:
Dear PayPal Member,
This email confirms that you have paid ResearchAnyone.com $189.95 USD using PayPal.
This credit card transaction will appear on your bill as “PAYPAL *RESEARCHANY”.
——————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
Payment Details
Transaction ID: 20433666FG486722N
Total: $189.95 USD
Item/Product Name: Comprehensive Expert Detective Informational Software
Item/Product Number: 922-116
Buyer: JOHN ANGELS
——————————————————————————–
Business Information
Business: ResearchAnyone.com
Contact E-Mail: sales@researchanyone.com
——————————————————————————–
Receipt Number: 0010-8715-4422-2518
Note:
If you haven’t authorized this charge ,click the link below to dispute transaction
and get full refund
Dispute transaction (Encrypted Link )
*SSL connection:
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 (the highest level commercially available)
Keep your Receipt Number (shown above) for future reference. You will need to refer to this number if you need customer service from ResearchAnyone.com or from PayPal.
If you have questions about your purchase, such as shipping and tracking, we encourage you to contact the seller, ResearchAnyone.com at sales@researchanyone.com.
If you have been unable to resolve your questions with the merchant, PayPal offers a free buyer complaint resolution service that offers a quick, easy resolution to your concerns. It covers physical goods purchases made through PayPal, and is offered at no charge when you register for a free PayPal account. To sign up for an account, click on the ‘Save My Info’ link above.
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
Please do not reply to this email. Email sent to this address cannot be answered.
PayPal Email ID PP344
Hey guys if you want the guys, here’s there contact information. Gee, I wish people who use the internet know something about the world wide web before using it. You can always whois.net anybody’s website any given day of the time.
Now if you want to flood their servers or open up a bomb on it, crash the hell out of it, I wouldnt mind. I hope I start an online website crash, because of this single post. Someone want to contact the Better Business burue(sp)? You have their contact information now. paypal.inc.com, if your reading this, kiss my —. IT SERVES YOU RIGHT!
WHOIS information for: paypalinc.com:
[whois.enom.com]
=-=-=-=
Visit AboutUs.org for more information about paypalinc.com
AboutUs: paypalinc.com
Domain name: paypalinc.com
Registrant Contact:
Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc.
Whois Agent ()
Fax:
PMB 368, 14150 NE 20th St – F1
C/O paypalinc.com
Bellevue, WA 98007
US
Administrative Contact:
Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc.
Whois Agent (dttvlpltwp@whoisprivacyprotect.com)
+1.4252740657
Fax: +1.4256960234
PMB 368, 14150 NE 20th St – F1
C/O paypalinc.com
Bellevue, WA 98007
US
Technical Contact:
Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc.
Whois Agent (dttvlpltwp@whoisprivacyprotect.com)
+1.4252740657
Fax: +1.4256960234
PMB 368, 14150 NE 20th St – F1
C/O paypalinc.com
Bellevue, WA 98007
US
Status: Locked
Name Servers:
dns1.name-services.com
dns2.name-services.com
dns3.name-services.com
dns4.name-services.com
dns5.name-services.com
Creation date: 07 Feb 2004 14:10:48
Expiration date: 07 Feb 2009 11:10:48
It’s a lesson not to be drastic in clicking anything when we get e-mails that may provoke you to sign-in/login-in your account details. These e-mails have one thing in common, abrupt call to action.
And if we look carefully on these email servers, it’s no really address @paypal.com but @paypal.inc.com, paypal.cc.co. These are subtle imitation of the real paypal URL. We must be very vigilant, there are tons of them in the internet nowadays.
There is a forum I found on the internet that is free, and helps with Ebay, PayPal, business and the law. Just post any question, the experts will answer it if it has not already been answered!
The forum has a lot of expert advice on it.
modeeworld.com/forums
I found advice there about how to avoid EBAY suspensions, get past PayPal limitations, also lots of detailed help on creating your own business, getting past trademark violations, VERO and lots more. Plus general advice on how best to sell on EBAY, what sells the best, how to get the best price for your product, really everything related to EBAY and internet business.
Also advice about how EBAY really works and how PayPal really works. The inside scoop.
Beautiful forum. I was made a moderator of the forum and I love it!
my account is faked by someone wit a new account and the details of mine inside….the account is fixed wit nudity pictures,,,need to block that account wit my informations..
have to block that id totally,pls help me peoples.wat i must do for that in facebook.
my account is limited. why did paypal give me a dispute message where in fact i send the money to a friend i know as a personal payment.
I am new to paypal…. the problem is i did follow the dispute instruction… my payment now is on hold. how are we going to get the money either to my friends acct or back to mine.
This webpage doesn’t show up appropriately on my droid you may want to try and repair that
PayPal limited my account and I thought it was a fake email but it wasn’t. Logged in and my account was limited. Has anyone tried using Auction Essistance to get them back on PayPal?