Fraud, Phishing and Spam from Paypal.
Jul7Written by:
2009/07/07 08:44 AM 
The internet is rife with fraud and phising today. Just the other day I heard of an incident where a bank had phoned up a client enquiring about a R10000 payment that went off their account. The client knew nothing of this. It was obviously fraud. They found out that it was an internet transaction. They are now going through every transactiuon on their bank account.
Phishing is another way of criminals defrauding you of your money. Because your credit cards are secured through various passwords and keys, they need these in order to steal your money. What better way to actually get hold of these than to just openly ask you to give it to them.
What is Phishing?
In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information.
Have you been caught?
Just the other day I recieved an email from Paypal telling me something about my card being linked to more than one account. I was supposed to go to their website and fill in some details and fix it. Below is a copy of that email.
Dear Paypal client,
________________________________________
This is your official notification that your maestro card has been limited. We recently reviewed your card and it seems that it is linked to more than 1 account. Linking your Card to multiple multiple accounts is strictly forbidden and it can be punishable by law. You are now requested to provide information relevant to your Card. Paypal will investigate the matter promptly and if the investigation is in your favor, we will restore your account.
• How can I restore my account access?
Click here and complete the steps to remove limitations.
Completing all of the checklist items will automatically restore your account access.
The Paypal Team
Copyright © 2009 Paypal Inc. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners
Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.
Now this is obviously a scam and a phishing email. An attempt to get me to divulge my secure card information. I know I don't have a card linked to two accounts. I know that Paypal does not operate fully in South Africa. In SA we cannot draw money out of Paypal, but we can deposit money into paypal.
The link to the "Click Here" goes to some weird IP address. "http://74.7.6.138/securecode/". That should be warning enough.
How to avoid Phishing?
Well the easiest way is to not click on the link they provide. Sometimes it is not that easy to notice the email as a Phising email. The latest MS Outlook has plugins that aid in detecting such phishing mails. Some anti-virus and anti-spam products also aid in warning you about Phishing mail.
Also, never give out your sensitive information over the net. Banks and legitimate financial places will, should, never ask you for this.
Normally the Phishing site is a copy of the real site, and the IP address, as noted above is a clear giveaway.
New browsers, like Internet Exlorer 7 and up have Phishing filter built in. Upgrade your browser.
Newer OS have built in Phishing detection. Upgrade.
Here is a great article from Microsoft on Phishing, take a look.
Have you been caught? Do you know of someone that has been caught?
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Re: Fraud, Phishing and Spam from Paypal.
It will be getting worse and the con artist more clever. Still people are careless and do not pay attention to warnings and there are still people who does not use any form of anti-virus and firewall. There is no secure system, but something is better than nothing. Biggest problem in the UK is identity fraud. One of the hardest things to straigten out if you were a victum. I stick to two online shops and use Paypal where possible. Lot of bad comment regarding Paypal, but I cannot complain.
Pornography sites are breeding ground for trojans and phishing.
By Rustig on
2009/07/07 12:46 PM
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