PayPal Fraud e mail....please read

[Mike Griffin]

Hi guys and gals

I just got off the phone with PayPal in regard to a very official looking e mail I received stating that there had been a problem with someone trying to hijack my PayPal info.  Rather than try to explain the e mail I have copied and pasted it into this posting so you can see what it actually looks like.  PayPal says that any correspondence they send to a customer will be addressed personally and not as "Dear valued PayPal Customer"  They asked me to forward this to their fraud division via e mail and I did. A lot of us depend upon PayPal to send and receive funds so just wanted to give you all a heads up...here is the actual e mail....ALSo DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHED FILE WITH THE E MAIL
_____________________________________________________________________

Dear PayPal Account Holder,

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:

We recently received a report of unauthorized credit card use
associated with this account. As a precaution, we have limited
your online account access in order to protect against future
unauthorized transactions.

Case ID Number: PP-859-48-3971

This is a reminder to restore your account as soon as possible.

Please download the form attached to this email and open it in a
web browser. Once opened, you will be provided with steps to
restore your account access. We appreciate your understanding as
we work to ensure account safety.

In accordance with PayPal User Agreement, your account access
will remain unauthorized until the issue has been resolved.
Unfortunately, if access to your account remains unauthorized for an
extended period of time, it may result in eventual account closure.
We encourage you to restore your PayPal
account as soon as possible to help avoid this. 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 apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
PayPal

You are receiving this email notification because this email address is listed as the administrative contact email for your PayPal account.

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. Please download the attache PayPal Form and complete the filled and click on Submit button.

PayPal Email ID PP076
Case ID Number: PP-859-48-3971

[Bob Reeves]

Been going on for years.. I use to forward them but now just hit the delete key...

[Wynn Robins]

simple tip folks.

anything that starts without your actual name is a fake.  ALL e-mails FROM  PAYPAL and other providers will ALWAYS start with Dear (your name) and never with dear member, user, etc

this is one thing the spamers cant do - so it is addressed to "account holder, user, member" etc - its bogus.

[Mike Keville]

I've been getting this type of garbage from several sources, including Western Union (as if I even have an account there!) as well as Pay Pal, banks and others.  Just delete them....immediately.  Reputable institutions have repeatedly stated that they will never contact you asking for personal information.  They already HAVE it!!!

[Randy Ryan]

Reminds me of  phone thing that was going on here for a while. A Voice mail from a supposed legal firm about a very important legal matter. My wife was beside herself with worry. It too over a week for me to convince her that if it was real #1, they'd know our name, #2 they wouldn't leave a recorded message in the first place and #3, if it was real, they'd be on the doorstep, not the answering machine. They finally quit, but you have to wonder how many people keep falling for this stuff, they keep doing it so it must work.

[Brian Massey]

Yes, tons of these emails floating around. One simple trick to help determine any possible validity . . . mouse over the link they want you to follow. Then look at the bottom of the page, the url that you will actually be directed to will be displayed. Sometimes they try to fool you with verbage that has the actual company name involved, but if it is not the simply direct link you are used to, well . . .

Like everyone says, just hit delete.

Brian

[Chucky]

In addition to the red flags already noted, others include a fictional claim of attempted contact and PayPal's uncanny awareness of unauthorized credit card use.  Yeah, sure! 

[john e. holliday]

Used to get them for Ebay and I kept forwarding them to Ebay.  Haven't had one for over a year.   Thought I had it taken care of with PayPal, but it has started again after about 6 months of nothing.  The ones that take a reply get my general nasty reply of what to do in the back room.

[Douglas Ames]

If your not sure, ALWAYS bypass the E-mail and go directly to your account on a NEW page (tab). There should be a message if they were trying to get hold of you.