Believable PayPal Scam...

[cpals]

http://www.baacktech.net/paypal.jpg

Almost thought my account had been hacked, but then I looked at the 'Dispute Transaction' link and it looked phony. Also, verified my bought items by typing in paypal.com myself to see if anything had been purchased.

What is bad is the item it says I purchased is a real item at dickssportinggoods.com and also, the link in the email http://vine-group.co.jp/.paypal.com/claim/cgi-bin/ goes to a website that looks identical to paypals.

Comments? Forgive me if this is a repost.

Thanks.

 

[AStar617]

Rule #1: If the greeting doesn't address you by your name/account name, it's fake.

/thread

 

[buck]

What does the from field say in your email? Its hard to see.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: AStar617
Rule #1: If the greeting doesn't address you by your name/account name, it's fake.

/thread

Usually spammers do address you by your name/account name. It's one of the easiest pieces of info to dig up.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You actually clicked on a link in a "PayPal" email message?

And are admitting it here?

 

[FoBoT]

ignore emails
or at most, close your email, then log on to the site from a fresh browser and check out your account

never ever never ever ever never click a link in any email

 

[AStar617]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: AStar617
Rule #1: If the greeting doesn't address you by your name/account name, it's fake.

/thread

Usually spammers do address you by your name/account name. It's one of the easiest pieces of info to dig up.

If you are phishing for a specific individual's info, maybe, but "usually" (as you state) that does not happen. The majority of the email addresses created on free webmail sites don't even have a real first/last name associated with them. And even so, that doesn't scale well at all for the millions of emails sent out daily by a professional outfit.

This is confirmed by the fact that OP's greeting was generic as expected.

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Usually spammers do address you by your name/account name. It's one of the easiest pieces of info to dig up.

He means your actual name. I've never seen a Paypal scam email do that. If your name is Bob Jones and Paypal sends you an email, they'll say "Dear Bob Jones". Most spam that uses my name only comes to me that way because my email address happens to be myfirstname@domain.com - and then they only use my first name. They have no idea what my last name is.

eBay does the same thing. They include your ebay username and your full name in every email transaction.

 

[AStar617]

Yup, pretty much any financial services company addresses you fully these days.

Another giveaway in OP's scam: "To: <undisclosed recipients>"

 

[cpals]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
You actually clicked on a link in a "PayPal" email message?

And are admitting it here?

No, it's called 'View Source' in Microsoft Outlook.

 

[newnameman]

Originally posted by: cpals

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
You actually clicked on a link in a "PayPal" email message?

And are admitting it here?

No, it's called 'View Source' in Microsoft Outlook.

Originally posted by: cpals
the link in the email http://vine-group.co.jp/.paypal.com/claim/cgi-bin/ goes to a website that looks identical to paypals.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: AStar617
Rule #1: If the greeting doesn't address you by your name/account name, it's fake.

/thread

Usually spammers do address you by your name/account name. It's one of the easiest pieces of info to dig up.

if they did, why would rule #1 be they don't address you by your name?

edit, if i read further, astar617 already explained it.

 

[AStar617]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: AStar617
Rule #1: If the greeting doesn't address you by your name/account name, it's fake.

/thread

Usually spammers do address you by your name/account name. It's one of the easiest pieces of info to dig up.

if they did, why would rule #1 be they don't address you by your name?

edit, if i read further, tfinch already explained it.

:thumbsdown:

FYI, I had this avatar first!!

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: AStar617

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: AStar617
Rule #1: If the greeting doesn't address you by your name/account name, it's fake.

/thread

Usually spammers do address you by your name/account name. It's one of the easiest pieces of info to dig up.

if they did, why would rule #1 be they don't address you by your name?

edit, if i read further, tfinch already explained it.

:thumbsdown:

FYI, I had this avatar first!!

whoops! lol, sorry bout that. i'll change it.