Patrick

I know a lot of people here use Pay Pal. Have any of you received messages seemingly from them (very official with the Pay Pal logo and trademark) asking you to click onto their website and double check your personal file or your account will be suspended? I did and thought if was a fraud, but when I got a second one, I forwarded it to [email protected] and they responded that YES it is a fraud! I've had others from other places and they usually don't even look real -- but this one looks quite authentic.

janis

I get those about once a week and have NEVER opened one - just smelled like a scam from the get go . . . . .

I can think of no reason for them to e-mail you for updates. If you were using PayPal and there was a problem it would show up then and you would update things from w/i the transaction screens. I just NEVER open these sorts of e-mails.

Nikki

I have gotten these and reported to Paypal. In Paypal's response, they point out that all official correspondence from them includes your name, not just "Dear customer". One way to tell if it's a fraud.

Flyboy

These are very common, as are similar e-mails from banks that use logos and formats to make them very official-looking.

Nimrod

It's called phishing -- thought everyone had heard of this by now.

sfowler

Well it's particularly obvious when they send them to an email that isn't the one you use at the site from which the email is purporting to come.

st2327

Had one two weeks ago...with 71 million on Paypal they are bound to get some phish. What a world!

jody

I get them all the time. The ones I really get a laugh from are from banks where I don't even have accounts!

DixieChick

There were two obvious misspellings in the one I got from "PayPal" today. Sheesh...

fehgeddaboudit

Now, you're on to something, Pat.
They arrive every few weeks. The most recent message arrives not as text itself, but as text in a picture format, as an attachment to the email. When the message is forwarded to spoof@paypal, the attachment disappears. However, PP is able to deduce it is, indeed, phish.

Another common message arrives from your bank whichever bank you are currently using.

Somebody on Fodor's mentioned a website www.quatloos.com where the Nigerian scam letter is fully explained as well. This scam can end in death for those who pursue the wealth or the scammers.

The appeals to greed or preservation of wealth are the two most successful of all.

Intrepid1

They come from "banks" that you do and do not have accounts with; they even come from the local Cable TV supplier..at least the logo looks the same, etc.

A nicely "updated" method to get funds. I suspect some of them watched the TV "evangelists" and their pathetic appeals for financing and figured, "Hey, if it works for them...."

kjosker

Phishing. I HATE that word. I don't know who coined it, or why it was felt that a new word was needed to describe an old act, the act of robbery. I sometime think it's an attempt to trivialize the act, make it cutesy.

If someone comes up to you on the street and says, "Give me your wallet or I'll break your face" and the act gets interrupted by any means, it's still an attempted robbery, punishable by a sentence to prison.

If someone breaks a pane of glass on your back door in an attempt to get in, and the dog scares them off, it's an attempted burglary, punishable by a sentence to prison.

If someone through deceit tries to gain access to your financial accounts in an attempt to STEAL your money, it's phishing.

AARRRRGHHH!

Patrick

One of my most hated ones is the constant barrage of emails supposedly from Earthlink (which is my internet provider) asking me to provide financial details or my account will be suspended. Like others they are poorly written and filled with spelling and grammatical errors. I have of course, always ignored them.
But recently my virus protector keeps sending me emails at least weekly that they have blocked an email containing a doomsday virus. Those messages have nearly always come from "Earthlink.net support" with a subject of "your account is in jeapordary" or something to that effect.

socialworker

*Anything* and *Everything* that comes into your email asking you to *verify anything* is a scam!!!

Robespierre

Intrepid1, the people who send money to TV preachers are receiving value for their contributions. If they weren't, they wouldn't send their money - would they?

No one is holding a gun to their heads. Televangelism is capitalist entrepreneurship at its finest.