Warning Fake Email Paypal identity theft scam and Pasword theft attempt

Warning Fake Email Paypal identity theft scam and Pasword theft attempt
Originally uploaded by 123flickr.

This diagram is edited from various screen shots of a fake email claiming to be from Paypal in order to obtain passwords. Included are the things to look for and shots from the counterfeit sites. Tips on protecting yourself and reporting similar instances.

Hover over the link in the email and copy shortcut paste it in the browser address bar look at the link and see if it matches the site.

Even when the URL address is shown make sure the version of the link shown is the same as the link in the shortcut. in your email. It is very easy for someone to place a different address in a link than what is shown even if the link looks like an address.

When receiving a notice telling you to protect your account. Log into your account the way you normally do. If there is a problem with your account the main site will instruct you what to do. Be careful of lures, because the unscrupulous will use copyright infringement and copy as much as possible to make a site look authentic.

In this case the counterfeiters left some original links to the actual Paypal site in other parts of the "Fake email" so that it make it difficult for you to recognize the email as a fraud.

By comparing your full headers in the email to the first emails you received when opening an account you can compare and see very many differences in the information.

Make sure mail is from your actual account host site before adding new addresses to your address book.

Do not set your mail accounts to automatically save every address you send mail to. Some con-artist will send you one thing from a address and request you to reply by mail. Once you have replied, they take the chance that they have made it to your address book and start sending spam which no longer gets filtered if you have added them. Though it may seem quicker to set everything to automatic, it saves you time and reduces problems in the long run.

This particular case takes you to a php login page buried under a personal business site registered under the a domain showing "under construction."

Just hitting the spam key will place the sender into a very long list of spammers and the emails still go out for quite some time. By going to the original - Real site and finding their procedures on reporting fake emails you help more. Big companies and small companies do not want to be counterfeited. Send in the report to the people who would like to really stop this and chances are a little better of stopping the fraud. If you receive fake emails you are not the only one.

Con men are sometimes able to get away with sophisticated looking scams because they actually work for the company that they copy or else they are real familiar with the company because they have accounts there and know what you expect to see or find. If that is the case then the main site can easily find matching IP Addresses and identify the source.

Remember, your tax dollars have spent money forming commities of people who have made laws to stop this behavior. Do your part and from time to time do a bit more than just hitting the spam button. It always feels worse if it's your password that got stolen. Help to discourage such behavior.