Clever 'PayPal' phishing fraud e-mails
Posted by: Geoff P on 30 January 2008
Is anybody else getting fraudulent e-mails claiming to be from PayPal?.
Good old Norton picks them up nicely but for info I have received two with the following text in the headers.
The first one was pretty blatant:
========================================================================================================
Dear PayPal Member,
You have received this email as part of a Verified PayPal Campaign meant to increase security for your credit
card against online credit card fraud.
Verified Paypal has detected that you have been using this email address for online purchases and in order to
protect yourself against online credit card fraud We would like to introduce you to a new system that will
Protect you against frauds.
You can associate your email address to your credit card and receive a password that you will use for any
online purchase. Also you will be notified by Verified Paypal when an online purchase is made.
Follow the below and go to Verified Paypal. You can join the Verified Paypal system or learn more about this.
[web link here: that sends you to a clever copy of the nomal PayPal login page]
=======================================================================================================
The second one is a bit more subtle:
========================================================================================================
Dear PayPal Member,
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.
Case ID Number: PP-337-105-495
This is a third and final reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible.
Be sure to log in securely by opening a new browser window and typing the PayPal
URL. 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.
In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement, your account access will remain
limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your
account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further
limitations or eventual account closure. We encourage you to log in to your
PayPal account as soon as possible to help avoid this.
To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to
make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution
Center. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further
clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal by visiting
the Help Center and clicking "Contact Us".
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 Account Review Department
----------------------------------------------------------------
PayPal Email ID PP638
[folowed by the same web link]
====================================================================================================
I sent these off to PayPal's notification site and they have confirmed they are fraudulent and that they are working to disable these.
so probably more to come
regards
Geoff
Good old Norton picks them up nicely but for info I have received two with the following text in the headers.
The first one was pretty blatant:
========================================================================================================
Dear PayPal Member,
You have received this email as part of a Verified PayPal Campaign meant to increase security for your credit
card against online credit card fraud.
Verified Paypal has detected that you have been using this email address for online purchases and in order to
protect yourself against online credit card fraud We would like to introduce you to a new system that will
Protect you against frauds.
You can associate your email address to your credit card and receive a password that you will use for any
online purchase. Also you will be notified by Verified Paypal when an online purchase is made.
Follow the below and go to Verified Paypal. You can join the Verified Paypal system or learn more about this.
[web link here: that sends you to a clever copy of the nomal PayPal login page]
=======================================================================================================
The second one is a bit more subtle:
========================================================================================================
Dear PayPal Member,
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.
Case ID Number: PP-337-105-495
This is a third and final reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible.
Be sure to log in securely by opening a new browser window and typing the PayPal
URL. 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.
In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement, your account access will remain
limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your
account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further
limitations or eventual account closure. We encourage you to log in to your
PayPal account as soon as possible to help avoid this.
To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to
make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution
Center. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further
clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal by visiting
the Help Center and clicking "Contact Us".
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 Account Review Department
----------------------------------------------------------------
PayPal Email ID PP638
[folowed by the same web link]
====================================================================================================
I sent these off to PayPal's notification site and they have confirmed they are fraudulent and that they are working to disable these.
so probably more to come
regards
Geoff