Hello,

I wanted to know if the following letter from PayPal was a scam or if it might be legitimate. When I clicked on the link, it led me to an address that certainly looked like the PayPal address. I have also updated my PayPal information recently because I switched from one e-mail address to another. Thus, I did have multiple password failures but I thought I had cleared that up. And since then, I have been receiving payments from them and have been corresponding with customer support.

I just don't want to delete this in case it's legitimate, so I did send a copy to the customer-service address that I have for PayPal. Meanwhile, I wanted to know if other people have been receiving this particular letter. It did not specify my e-mail address in the TO: section. And the letter claims that a representative has been trying to reach me by phone. Wouldn't that person leave a message on my machine? What does everyone think? Thanks. Sigrid

PS They also misspelled the words "tryed" and "indefinitely."

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We recently have determined that different computers have logged into your PayPal account, and multiple password failures were present before the login. One of our Customer Service employees has already tryed to telephonically reach you. As our employee did not manage to reach you, this email has been sent to your notice.

Therefore your account has been temporary suspended. We need you to confirm your identity in order to regain full privileges of your account.

If this is not completed by September 11, 2005, we reserve the right to terminate all privileges of your account indefinitly, as it may have been used for fraudulent purposes. We thank you for your cooperation in this manner.
To confirm your identity please follow the link below:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run


Thank you for your patience in this matter.

PayPal - Customer Service

Please do not reply to this e-mail as this is only a notification. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

[ September 07, 2005, 09:26 PM: Message edited by: Sigrid Macdonald ]

Sigrid, Don't log onto that site yet. I'm pretty sure this is a scam that I've read about elsewhere. But you know my memory, it's not reliable. But don't do anything with this until you check it out...I'll check it out too.

I'm 99% positive this is not legitimate. I have to log off the Internet right now, but will check my email files later tonight. I think I got a warning from PayPal about this particular scam.

If you have any of your original emails from Paypal when you first set up with them, log into your account from the link in one of those emails. If there's anything wrong, it should show up in your account info once you log on.

Eagle,

Thanks so much for the tipoff. I've received so many fraudulent e-mails over the years from people claiming to be PayPal that was about to dismiss this one BUT it had a very legitimate looking web site address. And I have been playing with my PayPal account recently because I needed to give them my new e-mail address. So I wasn't sure.

Really appreciate your warning. You save me a lot of heartache :-) love, Sigrid

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/general/SecuritySpoof-outside

Sigrid, Here is the link to Pay Pals own explanation of this scam. Check it out. Karen

Sigrid, The link that Karen gives is the same thing that I remember reading about the scam. Unfortunately, what makes this really difficult to determine is that the link you gave here and the link that I use to log in to MY paypal account are exactly the same, letter for letter *** see edit below. To be safe, I would go to www.paypal.com and log in from their home page.

I've been double-checking those links. The ones that my original correspondence from PayPal gave me read: https://www.paypal.com/row/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run. The word "row" isn't in the other link that came in that questionable email, Sigrid. Don't know if that means anything, because both links appear to take you to exactly the same place. I'm confused.

[ September 07, 2005, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: Eagle Heart ]

Karen, thanks for the article.

Eagle, that's why I got confused! The web site address looks completely real. It's only off by one word at the end. And I have had numerous dealings with PayPal over the last few weeks.

But I should have recognized the fact that:

1. I was not called by name.
2. Anytime someone says that our accounts will be off by a certain date, it's usually illegitimate.
3. There were three misspellings in the e-mail! LOL. What an idiot I am!

Anyway, it's a big mess now. I clicked on the link and entered my password before I heard from you, so I called PayPal on the phone. They had to freeze my account because someone had tried to access it three times in the last half-hour. When the PayPal guy tried to delete my account and close it out, his system wouldn't allow him to do it.

My fault. I'm too tired tonight and I have a massive headache. I wasn't thinking straight and that address looked so real. I'll know better next time!

Thanks everyone :-) Sigrid

Sigrid, I'm sorry you got caught by this - but your posting it will alert others who may have been caught off gaurd as well.

1) Never click on the link inside the email especially if you are not sure about it. Open your web browser and go directly to the site from there (don't copy and paste the link, but go to the original site)

2) If the email says, "Dear Customer", "Dear PayPal Member" "Dear Occupant" - its a dead giveaway that its a scam.

3) Be cautious, be safe...

Thx for the reminder, Evie. So important to keep our credit card info safe! Sigrid

I got taken in by this too but never finished updating my account because it asked for my SS number. I had to cancel my credit card and get on the phone with PayPal. Now, when I receive an email from someone who says they are PayPal I just delete it.

Sigrid- Wow, this is scary! So much fraud nowadays, you have to always double check. It's a pain, but I guess... better safe than sorry, right? Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sure it will alert others.

Sometimes I wonder if doing online business is worth the risk . I surely hope so.

Does anyone have an alternative? Another company? Please advise.

Song

I don't think it really matters what company you use - even the major banks have been subject to this fraud scam. And if the internet isn't used, the telephone can be. Never give out credit card info to someone who claims to be calling you from a bank and just wants to "verify" your data.

We have to teach ourselves to be suspicious and ask questions!

The safest, safest alternative? Shop locally and use cash

The second safest? Download an order form and mail in a cheque.

The best alternative? Check your credit card balance regularly, always balance it with your statement, have the card #'s handy and call the company immediately if you notice anything suspicious, and be cautious about where you shop and who you give your # too. Trust your instincts - if the email sounds hoaky, it probably is...

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, give out PRIVATE information over the phone, or the Internet. Its that simple. I know a man who gave someone his banking information (this guy is a smart, very smart) and then thought better of it after sending the email. He immediately called the bank and before they could freeze the account, six to eight thousand dollars had been spent.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, give out private information. If someone ask you for a password, let the red flags go up! They shouldn't!!!!!

JJ

I send all suspicious e-mails to spoof@paypal.com
That is the address they gave me when I started getting scam e-mails. ALWAYS log in right to their website!

They are a big help if you contact them and use the forwarded e-mail to get to the bottom of the scam.

Sherri

If something gives me the tiniest little inkling that it isn't quite right, I always just assume that it is a scam. But then I was raised in NY and we don't trust anybody.

I am fed up with Pay Pal. All they do is ask me to update my information. I do so, then a week later I get another email asking that I do the same. I've been deleting them for the past couple weeks. Has this happened to anyone else? I used the spoof email and even got fed up with that.

My experience is that the scam e-mails have slowed down since I started sending them to spoof. I don't update my info unless I go directly to the site and have a reason to do so. So far, I haven't had any problems. Many of my mystery shopping companies, and freelance work is paid through paypal.

Im with Sherry, I send all paypal messages that I receive via emial to Spoof@paypal.com.

I do the same with ebay messages......

Sadly but true, there's alot of cons out there looking to make a buck off of innocent victims.