Once again, today’s scam of the day comes right from my own email box where I received an email purportedly from PayPal telling me that during a routine screening, indications of improper use was found on my account and that consequently my PayPal account had been shut down until I confirmed that I am the proper user of the account. In order to do so, I was instructed to click on a link and provide confirming information. If I had done so, I would have either provided personal information that would have resulted in my becoming a victim of identity theft or downloaded a keystroke logging program that would have stolen all of the information contained on my computer and made me a victim of identity theft.
TIPS
The particular email that I received which is copied below also contained an authentic looking PayPal logo, however at closer look the URL for the entity sending me the email ended with paypal.org. The real PayPal’s URL ends with paypal.com. In addition real PayPal messages will always use your full name while this one was sent without a salutation to anyone. Real PayPal emails will never ask for personal or account information. It definitely will not ask for credit card numbers or bank account numbers, drivers license numbers or email addresses. If you have any questions with your email account you should go directly to their real website at https://www.paypal.com and click on the “contact us” link on the bottom of the page. The “https” as contrasted with merely “http” at the beginning of the URL indicates that your information is being encrypted for your safety.
Here is a copy of the phony email sent to me:
| Please complete the attached form to verify your Profile information and restore your account access. |
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| Personal Information Profile |
| Make sure you enter the information accurately, and according to the formats required. Fill in all the required fields. |
| Dear customer , |
| As part of our efforts to provide a safe and secure environment for the online community, we regularly screen account activity. Our review of your account has identified an issue regarding its safe use. We have placed a restriction on your account as a precaution. |
| To lift the restriction we will require some further information from you. |
| If, once we review your further information and we’re confident that the use of your account does not present a safety risk to our service and customers, we’ll be happy to reinstate your account. |
| We have sent you an attachment which contains all the necessary steps in order to restore your account access. Download and open it in your browser. After we have gathered the necessary information, you will regain full access to your account. |
| We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. |
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| Very sincerely, PayPal Review Department
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