FORGED EMAILS: Microsoft, PayPay, Yahoo, Ebay, IPIU, & Others

[Technical Support]

WARNING!


FORGED EMAILS, also known as Spoofed Emails.
For more details: Click here (http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/email_spoofing.html)

-------------
UPDATE for fraudulent emails: 3-30-2007
Now receiving forged email from:

admin@microsoft.com Subject: Internet Explorer 7 Downloads

<hr>

FRAUDLENT EMAILS: Paypal, Yahoo, Ebay, IPIU, Others:

Warning, you may be receiving forged emails asking you to log into your accounts at Ebay, Paypal, Yahoo, IPIU, and others.

These emails LOOK OFFICIAL, but they are not.

When you read these emails and it gives you a link in the email to log in, just place your mouse over the link and read the real link in your STATUS BAR at the bottom of your page. (Or, right-click and choose properties to see the real link).


Example of a fake Ebay email:

They ask you to sign in at a secured site at:
https://signin.ebay.com/

However, the Properties of the above link in the email show the following site:

http://24.1.233.198:81/signin.ebay.com/

The above web site is really http://24.1.233.198:81 located in Texas and NOT the real ebay site in California.

If you had logged into the fake site at 24.1.233.198:81, then they would have your Ebay Name and Passcode to commit fraud!

<hr>


WARNING #2!

Do NOT tag any incoming emails from ipiu.org or privateinvestigators.cc as "spam". Even though our emails containing attachments may be fake at times, you will be blocking our real emails if you tag them as spam. You are better off deleting the fakes and keeping the real emails.

IPIU emails do NOT contain any Attachments. We do NOT ask you to open an Attachement in the email or to "colick" on an Attachment. At most, we will email some members web links to our forum site, but again - we do NOT email any Attachments.

If IPIU emails you a web link, place the mouse oover the link WITHOUT CLICKING ON IT and see if it is located somewhere at our root web sites, such as www.ipiu.org , www.ipiu.org/forums, or our ecommerce site at www.privateinvestigators.cc

-In other form emails, such as PayPal, by placing your mouse over the email web link that these emails ask you to click on, you will see their phony web addresses, which sometimes have an official name attached to a numeric phony web site. DO NOT CLICK on the email link.

If you want to verify if your account has been cancelled or suspended, then LOG IN AT THE REGULAR ACCOUNT SITE ONLY. (Or, if it is related to IPIU - then privately email usa@ipiu.org to verify)

Other home pages of other web sites that have been hot with forged emails include:

www.ebay.com

www.paypal.com

www.yahoo.com

www.(yourbank).com

<hr>
UPDATE: 2-22-2007

www.paypal-accounts.com IS A PHONY WEBSITE!

The REAL SITE is www.paypal.com

For more details on the phony site, go here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=paypal-accounts.com


<hr>
UPDATE for fraudulent emails: 9-26-2005
"MonkeyMan395" Hoax purports to be wanted for murder:

Go here for truth:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Monkeyman935

<hr>
UPDATE for fraudulent emails: 3-30-2007
Now receiving forged email from:

admin@microsoft.com Subject: Internet Explorer 7 Downloads

[Viki Hostek]

Technical Support, Thanks for the valuable information.

[Sean Morgan -]

Thanks for the Warning!

[Edward Taguba]

I got several from people trying to use ebay.com and paypal.com. and don't forget www.bidpay.com

[John French -]

Thanks for the info.

I have a collection of fraudulent emails sent to me for PayPal, eBay, several banks and several credit card companies. I save them because I would like to track these people down and prosecute them if possible. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to make a living at it!

Almost all web sites for banks, credit card companies, as well as eBay, and PayPal have links on their web sites for submitting fraud attempts directly to them, so don't just trash them unless you just don't have time to mess with it.

PayPal advises: If you think that you have received a fraudulent email (or fake website), please forward the email (or URL address) to spoof@paypal.com and then delete the email from your mailbox. Never click any links or attachments in a suspicious email.

Ebay Link: Report Spoof Email by Forwarding It to spoof@ebay.com

Sooner or later folks, there are going to be email fraud attempts aimed at your prescription drug suppliers, and every other company out there that has personal or financial information on YOU...so be diligent about monitoring your email...these CONS are getting very tricky.

Hope this was helpful.

[Victoria S Kinney]

Thank you for the warning.

[Irene Keselman -]

Thank you for the information. We've had server problems at work because of these for 2 days now.

[Dan Klimek -]

Learn from my stupid mistake! I got one of these emails from PayPal or so I thought and was taken for almost $1,600.

What happens is you get an email that tells you confirm your name, address, and credit card number. Once they have that they actually make withdraws from your account.

I use a checking card for PayPal and they took every penny in the account plus because I didn't know this was happening my bank was charging me overdraft fees.

For someone going into criminal justice as a career it was a dumb thing to do, but the emails are VERY REAL looking, and I didn’t even think twice. I should have been more suspicious. So learn from me

I went to the bank one day and I wouldn’t give my card back at the ATM so I walked in and found out what was wrong. There were 11 withdraws made from my account in MADRID SPAIN, and another Spanish city that I had never been to nor do I know anyone in. Hopefully my bank will find my not responsible, and I hope that everyone that reads this and uses a card online will learn from my loss.

[Roberta A Bryant]

Dan,

Ccontact your bank some will give you back your funds and go after the pay pay plan. my bank has made three fights for me and won all It has to stop somewhere and I am sure if the banks don't stop it they will get hit with giving out unauthorized funds
Roberta Bryant ;)

[Kathie Evans]

HELLO ALL! Just wanted to put my little 2 cents in here,I was also using Pay Pal and someone hacked into it or I accidentally clicked on a link somehwere and YES! I was taken for about 1500 Boy was I furious! One day I opened up my email and wow, they said I just withdrew all this money. It took me a while to fight to get my money back, but the bank finally gave it to me. Just be careful out there, its amazing what people do with all the spam and things.I now, will not use paypal, and am very careful on opening things!
BE SAFE!
Kathie

[Temistocles Tatis]

Thank you for providing such of great information.

[Stacy Moll]

Thanks for the information.

[Roberta A Bryant]

HELLO ALL! Just wanted to put my little 2 cents in here,I was also using Pay Pal and someone hacked into it or I accidentally clicked on a link somehwere and YES! I was taken for about 1500 Boy was I furious! One day I opened up my email and wow, they said I just withdrew all this money. It took me a while to fight to get my money back, but the bank finally gave it to me. Just be careful out there, its amazing what people do with all the spam and things.I now, will not use paypal, and am very careful on opening things!
BE SAFE!
Kathie

Kathie,
I have had unauthorized amounts taken from my account not through pay pal my bank placed my funds back imediatly and I was told they would not take the money back unless they found it to be my fault. Anytime you have funds taken with out authorization always contact your bank
Roberta :)

[Tina M. Husted]

I got one of these yahoo 00000 and when I got to the part where it asked for my bank card code I realized it wasn't real cuz Yahoo would not ask for that. So I immediately clicked on the X to close the window and even logged off internet just in case. Whew! close call. That was about 4 months ago. Yesterday I got one that said "Yahoo Billing" and when I opened it , it had a wierd scarey message like "7m ..." I learned after that first one to log on directly and don't ever click on links mainly from your emails. On the other hand I also got someone that just decided to charge my debit credit card and I didn't even know who they were. Something called "My Real Estate Mentor" for $29.95. I had to get a new debit card and sign a letter and fax it to my bank to have them investigate. I got my money back! Tina

[Tina M. Husted]

HELLO ALL! Just wanted to put my little 2 cents in here,I was also using Pay Pal and someone hacked into it or I accidentally clicked on a link somehwere and YES! I was taken for about 1500 Boy was I furious! One day I opened up my email and wow, they said I just withdrew all this money. It took me a while to fight to get my money back, but the bank finally gave it to me. Just be careful out there, its amazing what people do with all the spam and things.I now, will not use paypal, and am very careful on opening things!
BE SAFE!
Kathie

:confused: Did you have money sitting in your PayPal acct? I never leave money in mine. I thought they were secure? hmm I better ask them about that. I don't want my info stolen.

[William J Watkins]

All great information. I just learned that my wife has these types of accounts but doesn't keep any mony in them. See is glad to know of possible frauds and can look out for them.

Bill Watkins

[Elmer Branch]

Learn from my stupid mistake! I got one of these emails from PayPal or so I thought and was taken for almost $1,600.

What happens is you get an email that tells you confirm your name, address, and credit card number. Once they have that they actually make withdraws from your account.

I use a checking card for PayPal and they took every penny in the account plus because I didn't know this was happening my bank was charging me overdraft fees.

For someone going into criminal justice as a career it was a dumb thing to do, but the emails are VERY REAL looking, and I didn’t even think twice. I should have been more suspicious. So learn from me

I went to the bank one day and I wouldn’t give my card back at the ATM so I walked in and found out what was wrong. There were 11 withdraws made from my account in MADRID SPAIN, and another Spanish city that I had never been to nor do I know anyone in. Hopefully my bank will find my not responsible, and I hope that everyone that reads this and uses a card online will learn from my loss.We should all pay close Atten: to what we receive thru E Mail, lots of Junk now days. Watch closely to ones who request vitial info. from us. warning do not disclose info. prior to ck. out. Lets catch EM. Hang EM Have great one Good topic Thanks Elmer

[Lee Dale Taylor]

Thanks to everyone in here. Lots of great information that I didnt realize. I have paypal but I havent used it in a while. Gotta do some reserarching since I get emails sayin its from paypal but I never deal with it. I just delete it. Thanks again for the tips
Dale

[Tricia Crews]

About a week ago I received an fraudulent email trying to pass it off as PayPal. I forwarded the email to Paypal, they responded that they had investigated the email and is was not their's. So I went and tried to close my account , and PayPal wont let me remove my checking and credit card info. They are saying that I need to try again at a later date due to pending transaction's. Yet I have not used Paypal to make any purchase in at least 3months. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :mad:

[Kevin Hughes]

Thanks for the info

[Dale Cohen]

Thanks everyone for the information. I have a paypal account but have used it only once in about 4 years. I have not kept any money in the account but I am going to check in to cancelling the account. There is no sense in having it open if I am not using it.

[Lisa Frye -]

About a week ago I received an fraudulent email trying to pass it off as PayPal. I forwarded the email to Paypal, they responded that they had investigated the email and is was not their's. So I went and tried to close my account , and PayPal wont let me remove my checking and credit card info. They are saying that I need to try again at a later date due to pending transaction's. Yet I have not used Paypal to make any purchase in at least 3months. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :mad:

Hello Tricia,

Do you have an update on this yet??

[Tricia Crews]

Thanks for asking Lisa.
No I dont have an update yet.

Thanks :confused:

[Steve Stillwell]

I have been doing my own private investigation on email 00000 for some time now.I have compliled a list of names and email addresses of known 00000 and 0000 artist's.I would eventually like to be the one to come to for Con-sulting on such matters. Thank's!


[Edited by Moderator: Email needs approval]

[Lisa Frye -]

Thanks for asking Lisa.
No I dont have an update yet.

Thanks :confused:

Tricia,

Have you tried to delete your info again if thats what you have decided to do. I would suggest that if you recieve an email that looks like it is from paypay, always go to the main paypal site and not through the site that was sent to you.

This will ensure that it is legit. I'm quite certain your account will be safe this way. ;)

Lisa

[Robert Matlick -]

Has anyone been receiving e-mails from a person supposed to be from Africa and related to a president or Prime Minister and are trying to send money to the US and want you to be their go between. I seem to remember a post in the past with e-mail addresses to send these to. Federal Government or someone like that. Does anyone have these??

[Patrice-Maria Love]

Thanks for this valuable information!
Patrice-Maria

[Shane Henderson -]

this is truely very useful and helpful information. Thanks everyone

[Julia Ann Stewart]

I have been doing my own private investigation on email 00000 for some time now.I have compliled a list of names and email addresses of known 00000 and 0000 artist's.I would eventually like to be the one to come to for Con-sulting on such matters. Thank's!


[Edited by Moderator: Email needs approval]
Steve,

I had to edit out your email address. Personal information cannot be posted on our forum without a preapproved SIGNATURE by Legal Affairs. This is for all the members protection. To apply for an approved upgraded signature, click here for details:
http://www.ipiu.org/forums/showthread.php?t=19427

And please review the forum rules link below that you earlier agreed to:

Click here:
http://www.ipiu.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=2914

[William J Watkins]

I have ercieved some of these e-mails. You should contact your local secret service agency. Should be in the federal building. This is in reguards to the emails from Africa.

[Diane Adele Pitts]

In the fraudulent department, I'm not sure but I think someone may be trying to get my AOL account number and password information. Everyday on my desktop when I first start up, an official looking AOL screen comes on (I have dial-up) and asks me for my user name and password. I was suspicious because if I click on my AOL account, I don't need to put in my user name, I just scroll to it. It takes three hits on the "X" to get rid of it, then I just click on AOL on the desk top and I am fine. It just didn't seem right. Has anyone had a similar situation??

[Jan Conklin]

Hello, Diane!

I could be way off base here, but maybe aol is doing that to you because they automatically put an auto "startup" shortcut (or instruction line) into your computer's startup files when you install aol software.

You can tell if this is the case by clicking on your "Start" button at your desktop's farthest lower-left corner, go to "Settings" then select "Taskbar & Start Menu" and click on that. That should display a dialogue box entitled "Taskbar & Start Menu Properties" which should offer you buttons with options like Add... Remove... Advanced... Resort...

If you click on the Advanced button, a dialogue box or screen entitled Start Menu should pop up, which probably shows folders labelled Printers and Programs (maybe more things, but at least those two). When you click on the Programs folder you should see subfolders displayed with labels like Accessories and Startup. Clicking the Startup folder should display programs such as your aol dialup file, probably entitled something like aol.exe, and that may be why the aol startup box is activating each time you restart your mosheen. There are other places in your PC's program files that this could be stemming from as well, but this is a good place to start.

I suppose there could be a trojan virus in existence somewhere that does this, so it's worth checking out. If you go to McAfee's virus library http://vil.nai.com/VIL/recently-updated-viruses.asp (among others) you can check their updated files on the various viruses going around.

Hope that's helpful at all and not just terribly confusing! :rolleyes:

[Diane Adele Pitts]

For a computer novice like me, it will be a stretch to check it , but I have to start sometime. I'll do it tomorrow step by step like you said and see if it works. I have just heard recently about fake windows popping up in various situations where logos are being stolen and used to look like real web sites...so I thought hmmmm.....
Thanks for your help...I'll let you know how it goes.

[Diane Adele Pitts]

Jan, what is a mosheen?? Also, after I do all that you said, what will I see if it is from AOL and a shortcut for me??

[Katrina Burton Todd]

Tech Support, thank you for the warning.

[Jan Conklin]

Hi Diane! - I'm sorry, "mosheen" is Albuquerque-ese for "machine", or "PC" - some habitual slang I never got over even after leaving the desert four years ago. When you reach the startup menu, you may see a shortcut icon (an icon with an arrow, labelled something like "Shortcut to AOL"), one of aol's current icons like their stylized letters or the little yellow running man with "AOL" behind him, I'm not sure what their current program icon looks like. But if it doesn't have the arrow with it, or isn't labelled a shortcut, you probably don't want to delete it. If there IS a shortcut icon displayed there, you can delete it without fear and then try restarting your machine to see if that fixed the auto-popup-problem.

I apologize if I'm just being confusing rather than helpful. An easier way to tell if you have some kind of spyware program that has been secretly planted on your PC would be to scan your computer with one of the free virus/spyware scanning programs that are online. There are lots of them, but two that come to mind are: http://www.freespywarescan.org/download.html - another is at http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/ .

I'm no PC expert, I just experiment with my own quite a bit and I find it alot easier and cheaper than constantly calling in some expert (even calling my nephew - last resort, always works!) But if you don't enjoy messing with these things please forgive my suggestion; I don't want to be fraggling your last nerve!

/jan

[Katonya L Shaw]

I received one from Washington Mutual yesterday. I deleted without opening the link. The email asked me to update my account. I knew something was wrong because I do not have an account with this bank.

[Jan Conklin]

No I dont have an update yet.

Tricia, You might want to try actually calling PayPal at their customer service number. I know from personal experience that it can be time consuming - my last go-round with them I had to hold listening to dental-office-muzak for a full 37 minutes before a rep answered - but once you're speaking with a person you'll get much better service from PP. Their tollfree # is listed under their "Contact" webpage. If you've already tried calling them, call again and be stern and emphatic.

It was time consuming, but I had been trading emails for 5 weeks before that, without any resolution, so it was more than worth it.

You can remind them that by not letting you close your account and remove your cc information they are leaving you open to potential fraud and financial losses which, by law, they will have to reimburse you for if it is their fault (for not letting you remove your info, when you KNOW 100% for sure somebody is trying to use it fraudulently because you have authorized NO transactions that have not cleared already.) If there is something pending it HAS to be shown to you under your account info, and listed as "pending". They can use that info to see who is trying to use your account, if they have incentive to do so.

Of course you have to make sure you are 100% certain before you get this stern or emphatic with them, because if you're wrong and there is something outstanding you forgot about you end up eating crow.

U.S. banking laws tend to favor the banks more often than the little guy, but the insurance coverage they are required to offer IS on your side; otherwise none of us would ever put our money in a bank or use a credit card. I had an episode last summer where somebody in the UK was trying to use my Visa card, and after they traced the info (doing the identical things I had already done, lol!) for less than 48 hours they discovered it was, indeed, someone in the UK - obviously not me, and they credited all of the debits immediately, changed my account number etc. It's worth pursuing IMHO unless you had the good sense to be born a billionaire and don't have to care about missing funds.

Hope it's helpful. / jan

[Martin Betancourt]

It is helpful information in here and thanks everyone for.
Because few weeks ago someboy was trying to get in to my personal information too, but they could't on this time, mmmmm thanks again family.

Sincerely,

Martin

[Rob Grimm -]

Lots of sick criminals out there. I have had someone tap into my bank account also. I had to cancel the card. I lost about $200 and never saw the money again. Needless to say I am interested in doing some computer fraud investigations in the near future.

[John W Tuthill -]

I have two paypal accounts plus a paypal visa.
You also need to watch the clubs you join,we joined a well known video and dvd club and they passed our credit card number on th anotner business twice.Luckly the number to this other business was on the reciet,I called them and got my money back and found out who signed us up. Cancled that club with a few short words(i think they were french words)even though i don't speak it.

[Janet Normington]

Has anyone been receiving e-mails from a person supposed to be from Africa and related to a president or Prime Minister and are trying to send money to the US and want you to be their go between. I seem to remember a post in the past with e-mail addresses to send these to. Federal Government or someone like that. Does anyone have these??
Robert

You will find a lot more information about such e-mails under the forum entitled "More Nigeria Email 00000".

[Rachel Shefferly]

Thank you for the heads up because i have yahoo email but i have not recieved that yet, but if i do i will know what to do.

[Diane Adele Pitts]

Hi All, I see we must be vigilant. On e-bay, I just felt uncomfortable handing over my credit card number to pay pal. I got in the habit of getting a money order right away and sending it. It makes one think that we we should go back to a cash society or just take money out of our own bank's ATM. I am rethinking using my credit card in restaurants. I may just get the money out ahead of time. If you think about it, even sending our checks to pay for items other than utilities or mortgage, gives others access to our checking account numbers. Maybe I should start paying with money orders!! Hmmmmmm Diane

[Larry J Catoe]

I recieved one of these e-mails about my ebay account and had to setup a new account due to the person who sent me the e-mail stealing my personal information. It was a big headache. Luckly they were not able to do anything with my information before I changed it. Please becareful with your information.

[Scott M Albright -]

There are so many things to reply to, so I thought I'd shoot out a summary:

1) You will always have people trying to steal your information. If you have signed-up for multiple websites vary your passwords, most people don't and that allows a hacker to jump right in. Make your passwords difficult and don't use words that are easily associated to you. The emails asking for personal information is a new catch phrase called "phishing," don't be caught.

2) Believe it or not the Internet is a safer place for electronic transactions than using a credit card in a local store, not as many hands on your information. I don't do online business with a company that doesn't have some form of security feature on their site - such as VeriSign.

3) John French is very right - if you get emails asking for personal information you should forward them to the associated company. Most major online companies (especially ones dealing with finances) have email addresses specifically to track this stuff. John mentioned emails about drug suppliers, etc.. get ready for tons of 0000 emails about helping tsunami victims.

100% of companies should have a policy of not asking you for your personal information unless YOU contact THEM. If they cannot adhere to that line of thinking take your business elsewhere.

4) The nice thing about PayPal is you DON'T have to keep money in there until YOU the buyer is making a purchase. I keep a $0 balance in my account and put the exact money in my account when I'm spending.

5) If you receive an email you think is suspicious trust your first instinct and don't jump on board with what it wants. The Internet is a valuable tool. Check websites like www.google.com, www.hoax.com, www.snopes.com - they'll direct you towards known 00000, etc..

[Aretha Caldwell -]

Thank you so much because I recieved a couple of these e-mails myself and my husband have recieved some but, if you recieve something that your not familiar with then I usually just deleted the entire file. And try to keep your e-mail for business only
that a way if your bank has sold your name to a third party I would send a complaint to the Bank or Credit Card company. But Great Advice

[Lori Copaus]

I have received false e-mails like that from ebay and paypal, I simply forwarded them to their spoof dept. and received an immediate response stating that they hadn't sent those. As far as cancelling your pp acct., is has it's pro's and cons. Pro's- alot of the agencies we work for prefer to pay through paypal. And Con is just alot of people are having money stolen from those accounts.

Lori E. Copaus
P. I . Trainee

[Terry Frampton]

I have received false e-mails like that from ebay and paypal, I simply forwarded them to their spoof dept. and received an immediate response stating that they hadn't sent those. As far as cancelling your pp acct., is has it's pro's and cons. Pro's- alot of the agencies we work for prefer to pay through paypal. And Con is just alot of people are having money stolen from those accounts.

Lori E. Copaus
P. I . Trainee
Lori. This is why I was hesitant to sign up for Paypal, but like you said a lot of agencies we work for prefer to pay through Paypal. I signed up for it with an account that I only keep a few dollars in. ;)

[Matthew Nicholas Eberhardt]

:confused: Did you have money sitting in your PayPal acct? I never leave money in mine. I thought they were secure? hmm I better ask them about that. I don't want my info stolen.


Paypal accounts would be more likely to be hacked into because Paypal deals with international commerce, and that sort of commerce just naturally has a higher percentage of con-artists, consipirators, etc.

In my experience, the best policy is to just put enough money in Paypal to take care of business, but not much more than that. When your money is in a bank, you have much more recourse legally if something goes wrong.

[Tonya Gilmore -]

I have gotten the one from eBay. When I clicked on the link it gave me my eBay toolbar popped up a warning that the site was a fake & gave me a link to report it to eBay. The emails do look very real, so ya'll be careful.

[Michael Harris]

To All:

I get about three of these every day - Monday through Friday. I have several email accounts and only two or three of them get the phishing emails.

The big offenders are eBay, PayPal, Washington Mutual, and Huntington Bank (the newest). The scariest thing is how good these phisihing email look and how close to the legitimate sites they look.

Since I do not deal with all the firms that get phished, I am not concerned about falling for one. I do dread the day when the bad guys get one that fools me.

[Cheyenne Wolf]

I also recieved an email supposedly from pay pal. Personally I like speaking to a human being so I looked them up on the net and made a phone call. The sweet gentleman I spoke with did inform me that they were aware of the problem and the email link had been disabled to prevent those who sent it from getting personal account information on its clients. I check my email everyday and they managed to detect and disable this fraudulent email before I recieved it in my box. Cudos to them for the diligence. Chey :cool:

[Cheyenne Wolf]

Thank you for all the intel. Oh and that word you used that came up zeros is a NO NO. I found out the hard way. So embarrassing :eek: Chey

[Cheyenne Wolf]

Terry thank you so much for that little bit of intel. Guess I may have to have a paypal account. I may use your strategy and let it hold as little money as humanly possible. Thank you very much for sharing... : :) Chey

[Cheyenne Wolf]

Thank you Larry Catoe. I as yet am not to familiar with ebay. I have an antique car that I bought when I was 19 many many years ago. Its value has appreciated greatly and was voted #1 muscle car several times. Though I hate to think of parting with my 70 ss 454, I was considering putting it up on ebay and startin the bids at its estimated value of 27k. To me it sounds like ebay may be easier to crack. With that in mind I may consider other avenues if I decide to sell her. Thank you so much for sharing your experience :) Chey

[Cheyenne Wolf]

To Jan, I didn't have that long of a wait but I made my call later in the evening. I called about 8 in the evening central standard time. I guess call volumes are lower later in the evening. If you have to call ever again try earlier in the morning or later in the evening. Most companies have CSR's available until late in the evening to help you. Later in the evening = less call volume and a shorter wait. Hope this helps anyone who reads it. :)

[Robert G Allen]

Ok...listen to this....

I get these emails all the time. Any time you get an email asking for personal info, DON'T GIVE IT!!! And above all, DON'T click on the links. Reputable companies will not email you to confirm your account info. So, no matter how real it looks, don't click on the links and don't give any info. Go DIRECTLY (not through the link) to the web site of the company you have the account with. Forward the email to them and ask them if it is real. You will get a reply that says it is not. :mad:

I have reported to E-Bay, PayPal and numerous banks that I have received these emails.

In fact, you can be assured that almost any email you get requesting personal information is a 0000. I would like to get into an area of investigation that would expose who the people are that put these emails out, but I don't know if that is an area we can get involved in.

Bob Allen

[Kurk Petterson]

The best situation is when you receive an email about your ebay account... and you don't even have an account with that email address. ;)

You know at that point that it's a mass email that several people are receiving regardless if they have an account or not.

Like everyone else has said, stay on your toes when acting on suspicious emails.

Thanks for the thread.

[Gail Zito]

I got one of these yahoo 00000 and when I got to the part where it asked for my bank card code I realized it wasn't real cuz Yahoo would not ask for that. So I immediately clicked on the X to close the window and even logged off internet just in case. Whew! close call. That was about 4 months ago. Yesterday I got one that said "Yahoo Billing" and when I opened it , it had a wierd scarey message like "7m ..." I learned after that first one to log on directly and don't ever click on links mainly from your emails. On the other hand I also got someone that just decided to charge my debit credit card and I didn't even know who they were. Something called "My Real Estate Mentor" for $29.95. I had to get a new debit card and sign a letter and fax it to my bank to have them investigate. I got my money back! Tina


I also received a fake email from Yahoo asking me for my bank card plus my pin/ATM number. I saved it and went into the official Yahoo site to the security section, found the email address to send the fake message too and sent it immediately. No company should ever ask for your personal info by email; only if you are ordering stuff from the web should you give out this information and always make sure there is the secure/safety icon usually on the bottom right hand side that looks like a padlock. So many people are fooled by the stolen logos and they get terribly ripped off.

Gail Zito

[Carl Oaklund]

Thanks for the warning, I have received many of these and have deleted all.

[Marsha Waters Fisher -]

Thanks so much for this information! I just received an email from AOL asking to update my account information. They needed a new debit or credit card number. I forwarded it to AOL and it was indeed fraudulent!

[Ralston Taylor]

I recently received a PayPal Update email. Since when did Paypal ask for the ATM Pin# ?

Ralston Taylor

[Ralston Taylor]

I received an update by or suspend one week ago. I opened the link, but stopped after seeing the field for atm#. I then clicked on the question link, which brought me to a PayPal webform where I questioned this. A few days later I received a response to the question webform and told to call PP. Before I called them yesterday, I had already received an opinion survey on how my complaint was handled over the phone, before I actually made the call.
I still have the email, in which I want to forward to the proper people. Where should I send this letter?

Ralston Taylor

[Ralston Taylor]

Hello All.... I thought it would be informal to include my letter. FYI

Dear valued PayPal® member:



It has come to our attention that your PayPal® account information needs to be
updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to
reduce the instance of fraud on our website. If you could please take 5-10 minutes
out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into
any future problems with the online service.


However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension.
Please update your records on or before April 30, 2005.

Once you have updated your account records, your PayPal® session will not be
interrupted and will continue as normal.

To update your PayPal® records click on the following link:
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run



Thank You.
PayPal® UPDATE TEAM

Accounts Management As outlined in our User Agreement, PayPal® will
periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements.

Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_privacy-outside



Ralston Taylor :cool:

[Garry VanCamp -]

Thanks for the information.
Regards,
Garry VanCamp

[Stacey Lawalin]

Thanks for the warning! I deal with these sites a lot, so this is valuable info to be aware of.

[Tamara Bell]

I work for a hugh bank currently and all the information provided her is correct and true. Allways check or goto the website of the company yourself and through the website you can contact their tech. support for verification and in some cases they will ask you to forward the e-mail to them. These companies will never ask you to re verify your information a second time they already have it on file. It almost happened to me on e-bay, (I got a fishing e-mail), good thing I just read the securities area in pay-pal and i ent them the e-mail and it was fraud. I can say that working for a bank and seeing customers daily going through identity fraud, is a very sad thing for the person. So PI's keep a look out and question everything......... :confused: , No ? is a silly ?...... :)

[Jim Johnson--]

Hello All,
Intresting enough I received such an e-mail asking me to up date my information.
After checking with ebay's Trust and Security Dept. they assured me it was fraudulant.

[Nicole Marlin]

I have received several of these emails myself. When I received the first one I was rather alarmed. I did not click on any links. I went to my account first to check on things. If you receive these emails send them to spoof@paypal.com and they will investigate the matter further. Hope this helps.

[Jackie R Rutherford]

Technical Support,Thanks for the valuable infomation.

[Donald Bowen]

I have something I'd like to add to this! Everyone should check their outgoing emails as well as incoming! Recently I had EBay and PayPal close down my accounts. I had any messages with my email address being used as "the sender" copied and sent back to me as a received message. One morning I found 11 emails that I allegedly sent out to other people asking if they received my offer. I never sent them!

After the accounts were suspended and all the information changed, I had them both reopened. EBay still has not told me if they found out where the originator was! This makes it difficult when you know you didn't originate the emails and yet you are credited with sending them.

[Cheryl Bliton]

WOW, I wish I had this information before. But I did realize that this was a fraud, esp if you don't you the paypal (which I didn't). I just feel really sorry for the older generation.

[Dianne Riker -]

:eek: It is funny that the original posting on the subject was back in 2004 because I just recently received an email from whomever regarding my PayPal account. I had a problem with this particular email and wrote directly to paypal to find out if the email I received was legit. It wasn't, as a matter of fact according to PayPal it contained a virus. Be Smart all and pay attention to anything you receive, be it ebay or paypal. What a world we live in. Take care all.

[Donald Bowen]

Don't just think that older folks are getting ripped off. A friend is under 20 and she was taken for more than a few hundred. Just out of high school and to think, she is just getting started as an adult. I'm thankful she has a lot of family supporting her. She took some advice to get better protected and now has a family member (and me) to help her with her future internet transactions.

She also received a virus with her originally received email. I don't know which one it was but it took three days to clean it out of her computer!

I wish all people with computers at least get some free software available almost everywhere to clean their computers of the spyware and fraud information they don't even see being loaded into their computers.

[Maday Llerena]

I'm glad you are sharing all this valuable information here in this forum because I just ordered a couple of items from e-bay and I payed with my credit card. Now I know to be careful, thanks!

[Cynthia Wilson]

Hello,

I just wanted to let everyone know that I received two e-mails in my junk mail at yahoo in the last couple of days, from what I thought was IPIU. When I transferred them to my inbox and opened them, there was nothing but garble on them. I was concerned that there were virus's attached so I deleted them rather than copy them, to show here. I did not want to take a chance of bringing the virus, if there was any, to IPIU.

Please be aware of this, and be careful if you find IPIU e-mails in your junk box. They may not be from IPIU. They had a rather omonious sound to them, which is why I opened them, I thought I was loosing my IPIU status or something. Which is why I opened the e-mails.

If anyone has received the e mails as well through yahoo.com mail, or can advise me as to the ones that I received, I would really appreciate that.

[Donald Bowen]

Well Maday, I hope no one thinks I'm downing the use of internet commerce. I'm not really. I just want people to continue to be aware. The downtime I experienced comes to something good if it helps to keep others from getting bad information or viruses.

This tells me that good came from a somewhat bad experience! Keep going with it! This is positive and good when everyone keeps their focus on it.

[David Copeland]

Hello,

I just wanted to let everyone know that I received two e-mails in my junk mail at yahoo in the last couple of days, from what I thought was IPIU. When I transferred them to my inbox and opened them, there was nothing but garble on them. I was concerned that there were virus's attached so I deleted them rather than copy them, to show here. I did not want to take a chance of bringing the virus, if there was any, to IPIU.

Please be aware of this, and be careful if you find IPIU e-mails in your junk box. They may not be from IPIU. They had a rather omonious sound to them, which is why I opened them, I thought I was loosing my IPIU status or something. Which is why I opened the e-mails.

If anyone has received the e mails as well through yahoo.com mail, or can advise me as to the ones that I received, I would really appreciate that.Thank you Cynthia for notifying us that there are some forged IPIU emails floating around.

We have updated this topic on Page 1, Post 1 to include IPIU along with Yahoo,, Ebay, Paypal, and other international websites that have had some of their customers receive phony forged emails that contain "attachments".

For the record, IPIU NEVER emails any attachments because of potentail virus'.

Here is acopy of our latest bulletin:

<hr>
Warning, you may be receiving forged emails stating your accounts have been suspended, cancelled, or need verification. These emails LOOK OFFICIAL, but they are not.

<b>IPIU emails do NOT contain any Attachments.</b> We do NOT ask you to open an Attachement in the email or to "colick" on an Attachment. At most, we will email some members web links to our forum site, but again - we do NOT email any Attachments.

If IPIU emails you a web link, place the mouse oover the link WITHOUT CLICKING ON IT and see if it is located somewhere at our root web sites, such as<b> www.ipiu.org , www.ipiu.org/forums</b>, or our ecommerce site at <b>www.privateinvestigators.cc </b>

<b>If you want to verify if your account</b> has been cancelled or suspended, then LOG IN AT THE REGULAR ACCOUNT SITE ONLY. (Or, if it is related to IPIU - then <b>privately email usa@ipiu.org to verify</b>)

To read more, go to our <b>Technical Support Forum</b> and look for the interactive topic regarding <b>FORGED EMAILS</b>.

Or, copy and paste the following link into a new browser:

http://www.ipiu.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25183

[Michele R. Schibi--]

Thanks for the information. Michele

[Daniel Mayer -]

As recent as last week, I received another Paypal email concerning the updating of my personal account information. I had contacted Paypal a couple months of ago and they advised not to answer any email without contacting them first.

Dan Mayer

[Robert Scott]

Thank you very much for this useful warning on email 0000.

[Robert Donovan]

UPDATE for fraudulent emails: 9-26-2005
"MonkeyMan395" Hoax purports to be wanted for murder:

Go here for truth:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Monkeyman935

[Cindy Mekeel -]

Thanks for that information. I once worked for USBank and any withdraws that were not authorized by you went to the fraud Department. They then tracked down the withdraws, and once it was found in your favor all the money and any overdrafts that it caused were all refunded as a bank error. Most banks will not hold you responsible.

[Lisa Holmes]

I received an e-mail yesterday pertaining to my credit card account on amazon.com. I'm so very happy I did NOT update my credit card info. like they wanted me too. I e-mailed them back and told them I would not give out my credit card info. online.....I told them to call me, but they didn't...lol! I still have the e-mail. Does anyone know who I may contact about this fraud? Thanks for the heads up.

[Cindy Mekeel -]

I received an e-mail yesterday pertaining to my credit card account on amazon.com. I'm so very happy I did NOT update my credit card info. like they wanted me too. I e-mailed them back and told them I would not give out my credit card info. online.....I told them to call me, but they didn't...lol! I still have the e-mail. Does anyone know who I may contact about this fraud? Thanks for the heads up.
Hi Lisa
Did you save the e-mail? If you did, contact the co. that carries the credit card and they can have you e-mail them the e-mail that you reveived. This way they can tract down who is sending these out. This is how we did it at the bank. Good Luck !! :)

[Lisa Holmes]

Hello Cindy and thanks for responding. Yes, I saved all 3 of them. I will contact my credit company in the morning since they are probably not open at this time of night. Thanks for the help. Take care.



Hi Lisa
Did you save the e-mail? If you did, contact the co. that carries the credit card and they can have you e-mail them the e-mail that you reveived. This way they can tract down who is sending these out. This is how we did it at the bank. Good Luck !! :)

[Frederick Budde]

Hello Cindy and thanks for responding. Yes, I saved all 3 of them. I will contact my credit company in the morning since they are probably not open at this time of night. Thanks for the help. Take care.

Lisa;
Time is of the essence, and the fraud departments are open 24/7.

[Lisa Holmes]

Thank you Fred for the info. and I have called my credit card company fraud dept., and Amazon.com. Amazon stated the e-mails were not from their company and will begin their investigation, and I'm waiting on the person from the fraud dept. of my credit card company to return my call. Thanks to everyone for their info.



Lisa;
Time is of the essence, and the fraud departments are open 24/7.

[Michael Harris]

Lisa,

Some companies (e.g., PayPal) have email addresses for 'spoof' emails. For the major companies, (e.g., PayPal, eBay, Wamu, Wachovia) check to see if they have such an address.

I forward these phishing emails to them; they think they can locate some of the perpetrators.

[Lisa Holmes]

Michael,

Thank you for the info. about the spoof e-mail addresses, and I did send them all to amazon's spoof e-mail address, and they are investigating them. Much thanks to all......I came close to doing a stupid thing, I almost let my guard down by updating my info. Even police 00000 up.... :D



Lisa,

Some companies (e.g., PayPal) have email addresses for 'spoof' emails. For the major companies, (e.g., PayPal, eBay, Wamu, Wachovia) check to see if they have such an address.

I forward these phishing emails to them; they think they can locate some of the perpetrators.

[Michael Harris]

Lisa,

Have you taken a close look as some of those emails? They are absolutely wonderful.

You need to look at the email address carefully; you should be able to tell the fake ones after you check out a few.

Most of the ones I get are from places where I do not have an account.

[Lisa Holmes]

Michael,

What threw me for a loop was that all 3 was from Amazon.com, a site I have ordered tons of DVDs.


Lisa,

Have you taken a close look as some of those emails? They are absolutely wonderful.

You need to look at the email address carefully; you should be able to tell the fake ones after you check out a few.

Most of the ones I get are from places where I do not have an account.

[Frederick Budde]

Even the headers on those "phishing" e-mails can be misleading. I am currently being bombarded by warnings from PayPal and EBay. All communication goes to spoof@(Ebay or PayPal). To date, out of close to 40 e-mails, none has been from the stated provider!

[Martin Betancourt]

Thanks everyone for this valuable information, I am going to teke care on my Paypal Account, I have not surprises yet.

[Michael Harris]

To All:

My daughter has a small eBay business and requires payment through PayPal. During the past week, she received an email allegedly from PayPal.

Since she knew that the message had bad information, she was going to just delete it. I looked at it carefully - the link to the website was the correct PayPal address. I right-clicked on the hyperlink and then clicked on Properties - aha, the real address did not match PayPal.

The phishing emails are getting better; the hyperlink has a good address, but the real link is to the bad guys.

[Frederick Budde]

To All:

My daughter has a small eBay business and requires payment through PayPal. During the past week, she received an email allegedly from PayPal.

Since she knew that the message had bad information, she was going to just delete it. I looked at it carefully - the link to the website was the correct PayPal address. I right-clicked on the hyperlink and then clicked on Properties - aha, the real address did not match PayPal.

The phishing emails are getting better; the hyperlink has a good address, but the real link is to the bad guys.

Good catch, Michael. I'm getting 3-4 "messages" per day from PayPal. All get forwarded tp Spoof@PayPal.com. To date, every one has come back as "not sent by PayPal".

[Michael Harris]

Good catch, Michael. I'm getting 3-4 "messages" per day from PayPal. All get forwarded tp Spoof@PayPal.com. To date, every one has come back as "not sent by PayPal".
Dr. Budde,

PayPal seems to have the best response to the phishing. I hope that the members of the IPIU forum caught the message - the bad guys are getting smarter and more sophisticated all the tiem.

[Frederick Budde]

Dr. Budde,

PayPal seems to have the best response to the phishing. I hope that the members of the IPIU forum caught the message - the bad guys are getting smarter and more sophisticated all the tiem.

Amen to that!
Please drop the "Dr.", that's only for clients :) , not for my IPIU friends.

[Frederick Budde]

Talk about timing! I just got the latest issue of CSO magazine, and the cover story is: "How to Foil a Phish". Great article, try and pick up a copy.

[Frederick Budde]

Talk about timing! I just got the latest issue of CSO magazine, and the cover story is: "How to Foil a Phish". Great article, try and pick up a copy.

I found the same information on the web; this should be required reading for anyone interested in security.
http://www.csoonline.com/read/100105/index.html

[Jason Hofmann]

I just recieved what is called SPOOF mail from PayPal. It came addressed as service@paypal.com and looked official. In the e-mail I was told that a new address was added to my account and I needed to go to the link on the page to verify if correct or not. The link was paypal.com/us/wf/f=ap email. That link puts you on what looks like a PayPal sign on page. The only difference was this page does not let you continue to your account unless you put your credit card information and address in the spaces provided. If you try to back out of the page it keeps promptong you to give the info. You have to right click and close the page from your tool bar at the bottom. I did not give any info and contacted PayPal. That is when I learned about SPOOF e-mail. I was just glad I opened the e-mail before my wife. I hope this info will help someone else who has questions about SPOOF or fake emails. Just remember to always close your browser and type in the link you want yourself. This is the only way to be sure you are not being 0000000.

[Frederick Budde]

Good catch, Jason! In the future, don't click on any links in a "suspect" e-mail. EBay, PayPal, etc. will always direct you to open a new browser window.

[Michael Harris]

Jason,

Fred s right - no NOT click on any suspect link. That is - do not left-click the link, that will open it. Do a right-click and check the Properties. This is safe and very revealing.

[Ashley Mayne--]

I get these all the time. I don't even open them. There are plenty of scumbags out there. Be carefull everyone.

[J Ginsberg -]

Some bank called FlagStar Bank in Michigan sent an email to my business email account claiming that "my profile was locked due to excessive login attempts" and requested me to log in and update my profile. I deleted the email, since I don't have accounts in Michigan, business or otherwise. This phish was nicely designed, except the subject line was, "Flagstart Bank (Message from Customer Service). Yes, the subject line was one key that alerted me. That, and that my business accounts are with a reliable bank which doesn't send me emails unless I invite them too. I usually don't. Another key: The email was dated four days ago and only showed up in my server a few minutes ago.

If I get another one of these, I'd love to forward it to the FBI, but I don't remember the email forwarding address for them. Thank you for reading.

Johnny

[Michael Harris]

Johnny,

I have also noticed the improved quality of the phish images and the use of links that look real. The bad guys are getting smarter.

I have not bothered to look at the date/time stamp to see when the message was sent. I will look for it the next phish emails.

[J Ginsberg -]

Yea! two more phish emails received in my account. This time I have captured them and put them in a separate storage folder without responding to them. One was FlagStar, and the other one was...Bank of America. These (expletive) are getting way good, but there are obvious flaws in the email. Anyway, Would anybody have the email addy for the FBI for forwarding these emails? It would be so very much appreciated. Thanks.

Johnny

[Frederick Budde]

Johnny/Michael;
If I'm not mistaken (and that's never a sure thing), CERT would be the contact point for these phishing attempts.

[J Ginsberg -]

Johnny/Michael;
If I'm not mistaken (and that's never a sure thing), CERT would be the contact point for these phishing attempts.

Is that their email address? CERT@fbi.gov?

[Frederick Budde]

Is that their email address? CERT@fbi.gov?
Nope. I'll look it up and get back to you. Good morning, by the way :)

[Frederick Budde]

US-CERT is collecting phishing email messages and web site locations so that we can help people avoid becoming victims of phishing 00000.


You can report phishing to us by sending email to phishing-report@us-cert.gov.


Forward the message, including the headers.


You can forward a message without double clicking to open it in a new window. Highlight the email in the message list of your inbox and follow the directions for your particular mail client:
In Netscape/Mozilla/Thunderbird Mail

Select View > Headers > All
Select Message > Forward As > Inline
Address the forwarded message to phishing-report@us-cert.gov

In Outlook Express
Forward the message As an attachment.
Address the forwarded message to phishing-report@us-cert.gov

In Mulberry
Select Message > Forward. Select the option Include Headers in quote. Click the Forward button.
Address the forwarded message to phishing-report@us-cert.gov
If you are using an alternative to these email clients, please consult your documentation for instructions on how to forward messages with headers.


Other methods of reporting phishing email
In Outlook Express, you can create a new message and drag and drop the phishing email into the new message. Address the message to phishing-report@us-cert.gov and send it.

In Outlook Express you can also open the email message* and select File > Properties > Details. The email headers will appear. You can copy these as you normally copy text and include it in a new message to phishing-report@us-cert.gov.

If you cannot forward the email message, at a minimum, please send the URL of the phishing web site.
* If the suspicious mail in question includes a file attachment, it is safer to simply highlight the message and forward it. Some configurations, especially in Windows environments, may allow the execution of arbitrary code upon opening and viewing a malicious email message.


Learn More About Phishing
The following documents and web sites can help you learn more about phishing and how to protect yourself against phishing attacks.
Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks
Protecting Your Privacy
Understanding Web Site Certificates
Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG)
Federal Trade Commission, Identity Theft

[Frederick Budde]

ADMIN:
Please post this information on the appropriate forums.
Thanks!

[Frederick Budde]

Here's another great source of information on phishing, spam, etc. Bookmark this site:
http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com/

I originally got the link from the Infragard (FBI) website.

[Michael Harris]

Fritz,

I like this site. I checked it out and took the quizzes to see if I were at risk - I am not.

[Frederick Budde]

Fritz,

I like this site. I checked it out and took the quizzes to see if I were at risk - I am not.
Good morning, Michael!
Long time no hear:)
Glad you enjoyed the site. Please send it to anyone you know who might not be as astute as the people on these forums (my mother for example). I have a coronary when I see the stuff she forwards to me.
Have a great day.

[Michael Harris]

Fritz,

I still work full time and go to school full time. I am doing a couple of sociology classes right now - Social Problems and Cultural Diversity. The Social Problems class has a scenario about a high-school dropout, ex-con who cannot get ahead. The course has stacked everything against this guy. The course does build on some of the other courses and I actually enjoy these two.

I have friends (nurses) who believe all the emails that they get. I scared them recently by explaining what really can happen when you respond to some of the emails.

I work with a paranoid (retired government - SES1 I think) who believes that everything is evil. He even refuses to get an ATM card from his bank. He got the link to the site before I even thought about anyone else.

[Michael Harris]

Fritz,

I just noticed that my post count dropped another 25 posts. I suspect that this one will get moved or deleted also.

[Frederick Budde]

Fritz,

I still work full time and go to school full time. I am doing a couple of sociology classes right now - Social Problems and Cultural Diversity. The Social Problems class has a scenario about a high-school dropout, ex-con who cannot get ahead. The course has stacked everything against this guy. The course does build on some of the other courses and I actually enjoy these two.

I have friends (nurses) who believe all the emails that they get. I scared them recently by explaining what really can happen when you respond to some of the emails.

I work with a paranoid (retired government - SES1 I think) who believes that everything is evil. He even refuses to get an ATM card from his bank. He got the link to the site before I even thought about anyone else.
Michael;
I fought the EZ Pass for years, but traveling between NY and southern NJ? I just gave up:)

[Michael Harris]

Fritz,

EZPass makes life easy - if you watch the account you use to pay for it.

[J Ginsberg -]

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I've graduated to the big leagues. I received a paypal spoof addressed to the old pi email. I forwarded it to spoof@paypal.com. I got a feeling that someone would love to have my information really badly. Lucky for me, I only use paypal when I have to. With all of this phishing garbage going on, maybe a merchant account would have to become an option. Any ideas about this from anyone? I am still in business set up mode, and I'd like to be able to take credit cards via paypal, since that's really cheap and easy, but what about securitywise? Thanks, folks. :)

[Michael Harris]

Johnny,

PayPal is the only firm I have found a "spoof" email address for. [Convoluted English] I feel safer with PayPal than any other online company, even some of my banks.

My daughter uses PayPal for her eBay business - no troubles.

[J Ginsberg -]

Johnny,

PayPal is the only firm I have found a "spoof" email address for. [Convoluted English] I feel safer with PayPal than any other online company, even some of my banks.

My daughter uses PayPal for her eBay business - no troubles.

Hi Michael. I should also mention I tried for forward the phishmail to CERT as well, but for some reason my webmail wouldn't cooperate. I still have the phishmail for evidence. As long as I forwarded it to PayPal spoof, would it be overkill to still forward it to CERT as well? Thanks for your answer in advance.

Johnny

[Frederick Budde]

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I've graduated to the big leagues. I received a paypal spoof addressed to the old pi email. I forwarded it to spoof@paypal.com. I got a feeling that someone would love to have my information really badly. Lucky for me, I only use paypal when I have to. With all of this phishing garbage going on, maybe a merchant account would have to become an option. Any ideas about this from anyone? I am still in business set up mode, and I'd like to be able to take credit cards via paypal, since that's really cheap and easy, but what about securitywise? Thanks, folks. :)
Johnny;
I use PayPal for all my shopping, but my understanding is that PayPal is expensive (relatively speaking) for handling credit card transactions. That's why many vendors add 3% to the cc transactions. Costco, BJ's and Sam's Clubs all have programs where you can accept cc's at much less money.

[Frederick Budde]

Fritz,

EZPass makes life easy - if you watch the account you use to pay for it.
What, I have to pay for it also?:p I thought it was a free program, instituted by the Democrats.

[J Ginsberg -]

Johnny;
I use PayPal for all my shopping, but my understanding is that PayPal is expensive (relatively speaking) for handling credit card transactions. That's why many vendors add 3% to the cc transactions. Costco, BJ's and Sam's Clubs all have programs where you can accept cc's at much less money.

Yes. But PayPal is relatively easy to set up. Costco requires either becoming a business member or upgrading to Executive Membership. I do have a Costco membership for personal stuff, but I'm keeping that in reserve for now. :)

There's been an increase in the phishmail lately. I'm having some trouble forwarding them to CERT from my webmail. I took my old domain off my email client since my email was getting so thick. If you have any suggestions, they would be welcome. :) Thanks.

[David Johnson]

Very useful information!!

[Frederick Budde]

Yes. But PayPal is relatively easy to set up. Costco requires either becoming a business member or upgrading to Executive Membership. I do have a Costco membership for personal stuff, but I'm keeping that in reserve for now. :)

There's been an increase in the phishmail lately. I'm having some trouble forwarding them to CERT from my webmail. I took my old domain off my email client since my email was getting so thick. If you have any suggestions, they would be welcome. :) Thanks.
Let me ask around and find a better way to report phishing attacks.
I received 4 more PayPal e-mails today, none of which were legitimate. Have a great day.

[J Ginsberg -]

Let me ask around and find a better way to report phishing attacks.
I received 4 more PayPal e-mails today, none of which were legitimate. Have a great day.

At the risk of being nailed as "chat", I figured out how to do it from webmail. If you look at my intro thread, you'll see the address the phishmail is going to. Thanks. Have a great day yourself. :)

[Rafael J Ramos]

I have received a few of these I just cancel them with out looking at them.

[Michele R. Schibi--]

I have received several of these emails saying my paypal account had fraudulant activity & was cancelled. I have to say I can understand how or why someone would open an email like that. I am sooo very glad I was smart enough not to. I am somewhat paranoid regarding my computer & my personal information with all the scammers & hackers etc out there I never take chances. I try to keep up by going to my IPIU forums as well as other places on the internet that provide information on the latest 00000, viruses, etc. Because I do this I was aware of the 0000 w/paypal & other 00000 currently going on out there & I knew NOT to open those emails. I feel really bad for people that get 0000000 or conned.
Thanks for everything you do for us IPIU & your forums of endless helpful information. Michele

[Lorraine L -]

I know a lot of people, including myself, who have received emails from Africa (Nigeria) requesting a favor to help w/ funds. We all know it is bogus but if you're ever unsure, go to www.snopes.com and the site will tell you if something is true or bogus.

Also, secret service can't do anything about this type of email because it's out of the United States' jurisdiction. In fact, the Nigerian government turns their face as a lot of corrupt behavior, since it too is corrupt. United States Secret Service used to have an office in Nigeria and our gov't pulled it out because it's dangerous and the Nigerian gov't doesn't cooperate.

Sad but true. :eek:

[Sandra R McGeorge -]

Just to confirm what someone said earlier...I majored in Criminal Justice and I did a paper once on Corruption in Nigeria...

Let's just put it this way, they were the country at the TOP of the list of the MOST corrupt countries in the World...

Need I say more? Those emails you are getting are from CON artists...and they are trying to get some poor mark to give up their banking information...

LIKE MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME AS A CHILD: "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is..."

SANDRA MCGEORGE
B.A. Criminal Justice
Class of 2003

[Sandra R McGeorge -]

When I get them, I simply forward the entire email to spoof@paypal.com...(Without opening it !) I'm sure that PayPal has a whole FILE CABINET full of mine !

PayPal writes back ASAP and confirms that (usually), it wasn't an email sent by them...

This is scary and truly unfortunate... I have been shopping on the Internet since 1997, and now it has come to this...

I'm gonna cancel my PalPay account as well. It's only a matter of time before "they" get through to my bank account...:mad:

Sandra McGeorge
B.A. Criminal Justice

[Schywanda Lewis]

Helpful information. Thank you I will keep my eyes open.

[Stormy Renner]

Thank you for the useful information - I have seen some of these recently.

[Charmine Mack]

This is a serious Warning! Do not answer any e-mails/post from Africa or anyone asking for help because they are dying and they need for you to go get their money out of their account. If anyone ask you for any money upfront to do a transaction. Please do not give them money. If anybody sends you a check, do not cash that check for any reason.
Thanks everybody for that Warning.

[Cheryl Mason -]

I get a ton of the emails that are supposed to be from eBay and PayPal, so I just send them to spoof. I would like to know how to stop getting these spam mails altogether without having to change my email addy! :)

[Technical Support]

Getting a lot of phony ebay emails this week.

[Michael Harris]

To All:

Have you noticed how good some of these emails look?

Some banks, credit card companies, and online companies have an email address to forward these emails. Some of the better ones use "spoof@xxx.com"; more banks need to do the same.

[Melanie Kozik -]

It is a shame (of course) but these exact 00000 have been going on since the businesses they are 00000000. eBAY & Paypal especially - so many people do not look for the secure https or they answer bogus emails without even looking at the email address in the bottom of the screen that looks Nothing like the one in the email they receive.

I am a pretty good authority at this type of thing so if any *new* 00000 come out, I'll be on the look out and the take down.

Best regards, Melanie

[Donald Robinson -]

thanks for the information

[Cynthia Ford]

UPDATE for fraudulent emails: 3-30-2007
Now receiving forged email from:

admin@microsoft.com Subject: Internet Explorer 7 Downloads

[Melanie Kozik -]

The easiest way, of course, to usually tell if it is a s**m spoofed email is that they do generally contain a url link.

If you drag your curser over the link and look at the bottom of your screen, you will see that the URL's do not match; are not even remotely the same.


I imagine most of you know that but...

In any event, samspade.org has wonderful free tools for tracking down these spoofs to the point of being able to contact their service providers and have them shut down. I've done it probably hundreds of times. Samspade has changed a bit, but you now just start with the simple URL and get to the nitty gritty tools.

Hope that helps - Melanie

[Michael Harris]

Melanie,

Good advice. I use Comcast for my email and they offer a "View Source" link to see the full details of the sender.

[Melanie Kozik -]

When I get them, I simply forward the entire email to spoof@paypal.com...(Without opening it !) I'm sure that PayPal has a whole FILE CABINET full of mine !

PayPal writes back ASAP and confirms that (usually), it wasn't an email sent by them...

This is scary and truly unfortunate... I have been shopping on the Internet since 1997, and now it has come to this...

I'm gonna cancel my PalPay account as well. It's only a matter of time before "they" get through to my bank account...:mad:

Sandra McGeorge
B.A. Criminal Justice

What I do to avoid this being a problem is I have a seperate bank account for paypal ONLY. When it gets to over a certain amount, I just transfer the majority of funds to another account -- that way - if it ever comes to that - I don't lose much. :o

Besides, in Paypals own FYI, THEY can take money from your account so I just set it up that way as a safe guard from the beginning.

Seemed logical to me since paypal is important for some of my clients.

melanie

[Jerome O Isaac]

Greetings Melanie, I'm pleased to meet you here at IPIU, I do hope you're well and doing fine.

Thanks for sharing this tip and advice with us, yes! it is greatly appreciated, keep up the good work.

Have a great day.

[Michael Harris]

...I use Comcast for my email and they offer a "View Source" link to see the full details of the sender.
To All:

I had a chat the other day with a "reformed" techie. He was a techie in his early teens - then found himself in serious Federal legal trouble.

He may be a bit suspicious of Big Brouther watching him - or he may be a strong defender of the Bill of Rights.

He told me about his phone - unless you physically attach a listening device in his handset, his conversations cannot be recorded. He has other stories that I will keep secret.

The point (as it relates to this thread) is that he "ghosts" on the Internet. Unless some US agency (e.g., FBI, NSA, CIA) is looking specifically for him, he is undetectable on the Internet. You have read a few tips for avoiding the obvious problems of spoof (forged) emails, but how do you protect yourself from a serious techie (hacker)?

The thing that triggered the conversation was the book that I was reading - The Ultimate Spy. This is an oversize book with lots of photos and illustrations on spies. For those of you who read about the "howdunit" books I have will understand that this is for fiction writers to make their fiction realistic. Great book.

And stay safe out in the ether.

[Jerome O Isaac]

Greetings Michael, its nice to see and hear from you, as one of the senior member here at IPIU you're been a great source of information not only to me but to many others as well, thanks and keep up the good work.

There was a movie out a few years staring Mel Gibson, it had something to do with the Gov. tracking you through books you read, I think either Demi moore or Julia roberts was co-star, anyways the technology was already published way back in the 80's or 90's when I read about how to stop Eavesdropping.

I use a firewall that blocks out a few numbers from my IP address, there's also programs designed hide the complete IP address, the fact remains that some people just wont make an extra effort to protect themself until something happens to them, still remains.

I hope I didn't go off topic too much here, thanks again for your guidance.

Have a great day.

[Michael Harris]

Jerome,

Thank you for the kind words.

I believe that the movie was Conspiracy Theory with Julia Roberts.

[Melanie Kozik -]

To All:

The point (as it relates to this thread) is that he "ghosts" on the Internet. Unless some US agency (e.g., FBI, NSA, CIA) is looking specifically for him, he is undetectable on the Internet. You have read a few tips for avoiding the obvious problems of spoof (forged) emails, but how do you protect yourself from a serious techie (hacker)?



That's easy :rolleyes:

Either be one or know one that likes you. :cool:

Melanie :)

[Michael Harris]

Melanie,

Thank you. Not being a hacker-type, I would have to rely on friends.

Which method works for you?

[Melanie Kozik -]

Melanie,

Thank you. Not being a hacker-type, I would have to rely on friends.

Which method works for you?

N0w th3t 1s a que5t1on 1 sh3ll refr31n fr0m answ6ring

(if that's ok with you.) ;)

M/

aka

Melanie

[Michael Harris]

Melanie,

It works, but only for people who are not too literal. I almost wrote that you have "typos" in the message.

It was very readable.

[Melanie Kozik -]

Melanie,

It works, but only for people who are not too literal. I almost wrote that you have "typos" in the message.

It was very readable.

I am assuming you have a sarcastic sense of humor :eek:

Right? - heehee

(me too)

M/

aka

Melanie

[Michael Harris]

Melanie,

This is becoming the Melanie and Michael show.

I had written in one of the threads about the Nigerian con game and that I was going to follow up on that. I see that some of the sophistication of the spoofs is finally getting to the Nigerian games.

The problem with the con games is that the perps are not smart enough to have someone edit them for readability.

The problem does not appear in the spoofs. Even without a command of English, the spoofers simply copy the images and language of real sites and real emails.

Here is a place for good techies regardless of language.

[Melanie Kozik -]

RE: the nigerian sc3m, etc...

This may have been mentioned; but a good place to read up on any of this type of thing (be it emails or website) is:

http://snopes.com/

go to the bottom rt. of the page - hit search and put in the word Nigerian - you will get 16 hits on it - *rumor has it*.

urbanlegends used :( to be good but they went all googley ad now and the site is no good any more really.

But at snopes - you can look up anything and they generally have the *scoop* on it at Snope.com

M/ aka Melanie

[Michael Harris]

Melanie,

You are correct, Snopes usually has good information. It is the right place to start. Snopes is not always correct, but they will keep you out of troble.

[Melanie Kozik -]

Melanie,

You are correct, Snopes usually has good information. It is the right place to start. Snopes is not always correct, but they will keep you out of troble.

Sorry - I should have addressed you properly:

To Your Dear Highness Weird Duke Michael (Hay! did that come with a kewl sword too?)

:D :D :D

(I am sorry - I just COULDN'T resist!)

M/ aka mischievous Melanie (i before e except after c)

[Michael Harris]

To All:

I got another of these spoofs the other day and it had a link to the credit union's website.

My first thought was - I did not know that they had a website. I checked the Properties of the hyperlink (right mouseclick) and it matched the email, which was not quite what I would have expected.

I followed the link and it had the correct mailing address, etc. for my federal credity union.

I was suspicious and wrote a letter to the credit union for comfirmation. The site looks Great, but I have been in the IPIU forums too long to be that trusting. Why didn't the federal credit union let us know about this site.

To Melanie: Please nag me in about a week to see what my results were.

[Michael Harris]

To All:

Please smack me for my fat-finger typos. I changed the 0000-up brace (holds the hand up at 32 degrees) for a forearm brace and I can type more easily, but still have the fat-finger typos.

Mea culpa.

[Vicki McCarthy -]

but the emails are VERY REAL looking, and I didn’t even think twice. I should have been more suspicious. So learn from me

Real looking? Boy are they ever. They even use the PayPal logo, and Amazon, and e-bay, etc, on the e-mails. It is easy to see how some people are tricked. I might have been, except that two years ago, when I got my first fraudulant e-mail from PayPal, I had just checked my account balance online, then went to my mail box and found the e-mail saying that my account was over drawn. I am sure that I would have clicked on that link in a panic had I not just been to my account.

Since then I have had fraudulant e-mails supposedly from ATT, Qwest and several banks that I don't even do business with.

It is a nasty world out there, and that is one of the reasons I have become a PI, to try to help clean it up a little.:rolleyes:

[Michael Harris]

Vicki,

It is a scary world out there. The forged email cons are GOOD. The Nigerian cons could take a lesson from them.

I think that the real difference is the mindset of the perpetrators. The Nigerian cons were originally from Nigeria and had a mediocre command of English. The forged email cons do not have to worry about the language; they simply copy material from legitimate websites and emails.

The federal credit union email that I mentioned a few posts ago was real. But it was so childish in its presentation - I thought it was from someone who did not read or write English or that it was from a grade school child.

The credit union should have let its members know that it had a website - and then hired a professional to manage it and the email traffic from the site.

[Adam Nystrom]

I just got one today from "service@Payploul.com," which redirected me to a mock Paypal page that asked me for my email address and password (the latter of which Paypal NEVER, EVER requests), followed by my credit card number, pin number and bank name. The page is designed to look like a Paypal page, but it was a pretty lame attempt since some of the graphic links were dead. Hope this helps some people on the lookout.

[Cathy Harding]

Thank you for the info. I knew about most of them but did not know that IPIU could be one too!

[Jerome O Isaac]

Greetings Everyone, nice to see you all here, I hope you're all well and doing fine. :)

Adam, thanks for the heads-up on that one but I'm curious to know if you actually Clicked on the link? if no, good for you, but if you did, well, not to scare you to much but when you recieve Emails that you don't know who there from or you never subscribe to thier service don't Click on them because (1) - you're telling them you have a valid email address) so use caution on any ad that tells you to Click its link,

Don't be afraid to call pay-pal and inquire if you're unsure. be very careful on the coming day/months/years.

Have a great day.

[Tracy Laabs]

I receive these emails all the time and I have spoken with PayPal, they gave me an email address to forward any (Paypal) emails to them to prove originality.
They will inform you if the email was legit or not.

[Luke A Slowik]

Hi Everyone. I as well have been receiving alot of the PayPal & Ebay emails lately. Follow the link below for more information from PayPal on how to protect yourself from fraudulent emails
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/general/SecuritySpoof-outside

[Jerome O Isaac]

Greetings Everyone, its nice to see you all here safe and in good health. :)

Tracy, good job! Luke, thanks for the link, keep up the good work.

Be alert and stay safe.

Have a great day.

[Melanie Kozik -]

To All:

I got another of these spoofs the other day and it had a link to the credit union's website.

My first thought was - I did not know that they had a website. I checked the Properties of the hyperlink (right mouseclick) and it matched the email, which was not quite what I would have expected.

I followed the link and it had the correct mailing address, etc. for my federal credity union.

I was suspicious and wrote a letter to the credit union for comfirmation. The site looks Great, but I have been in the IPIU forums too long to be that trusting. Why didn't the federal credit union let us know about this site.

To Melanie: Please nag me in about a week to see what my results were.


Dear M1cha3L:

I f0rgot t0 nag you 1n a w33k to find out y0ur r3sults...?

S0rry - I am suff3ring a bit of brain-damage.

What were they? No, there are NO typos in this post! :D

M/

aka

Melanie

[Michael Harris]

Dear M1cha3L:

I f0rgot t0 nag you 1n a w33k to find out y0ur r3sults...?

S0rry - I am suff3ring a bit of brain-damage.

What were they? No, there are NO typos in this post! :D

M/

aka

Melanie

Melanie,

They actually do have a website - a bit primitive, but real. They would have done better to announce the website in their print newsletter.

[Heather Young]

It is so unfortunate that in todays world there are so many crooks out there. I am particularly annoyed with the fake bank E-mails but more so the "Representive needed" ones now. I recieved an E-mail from a "Childrens non-profit Organization" in the UK which had the web link etc attached. I began a conversation with several people via E-mail and phone in an attempt to become "employed" by them. To make a long story short...I eventually recieved 5 money orders for over $2500 which I had to cash on their behalf and keep 10% as salary. Needless to say I smelt a rat early on and took the money orders and all E-mail correspondence down to the local PD. A report was made and they photo-copied the money orders and correspondence and generally said there was nothing they could do with the evidence, I also had saved all phone messeges that I had recieved from these crooks. The money orders are so professional that you honestly think they are totally real-even the retailers like Wal-Mart etc can't tell the difference, and cash them for the person. The CID told me that it was good that I didn't cash any of the freudulent money orders as they now come after the people who cash them. I can understand how poorer people would cash them as they need the money but unfortunately don't understand the trouble they will find themselves in. I still possess those items and did have those crooks telling me that they would come after me through various "government and law enforcement bodies", I certainly don't believe them and neither do the police. If anyone obtains these types of offers etc they can forward them onto the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). If you wish to send in your complaint or have any additional information to provide to the IC3, please use the following link
http://complaint.ic3.gov

[Michael Harris]

Heather,

The bad guys are getting smarter. They used to target only the greedy and then they switched to the soft-hearted.

Thanks for the link to IC3.

[Vickie Walker]

Thanks for the info.

[Luke A Slowik]

Great info Heather, thanks!

[Heather Young]

Thanks Michael et al for your replies. I just wish the PD could do more to help the "little guy" and catch these rouges. Seems that even when you present perfectly good evidence with E-mail identities and computer ISP addresses the police still are clueless to help either because of the lack of man power and resources (Thanks Michael for that clear-up earlier). - Same old story. Real sad in this day and age when you think about it...

[Heather Young]

Oh just one more thought on the Bank etc E-mails. If you ever find a request to log in because of "Your account has been blocked" or "You must log in to re-verify your account" NEVER click on the link on that E-mail. Even if I recieve an E-mail (which I know is from my bank) I still don't click on any bank E-mail links. I revert back to the original web page of my Banks every time, if they want information or have a messege it will be in there when I log in. I personally always send all of my banks a copy of the freudulent E-mail for their files.

[Michael Harris]

Heather,

I always try to forward the email to spoof@nameofbank.com. I know that PayPal has a spoof email address. Sometimes I use multiple addresses - service, support, abuse, etc. Some banks and financial organizations use one or all of these for collecting these malicious emails.

[Richard Rigby]

Watch out for the Secret shopper 00000 too, i recieved one in the mail not too long ago and even had a check for over two grand, but it was not real, if i would have cashed that check and then two or three days later it bounce I would be legally binded and responsible for the total amount. watch out ya'll

[Michael Harris]

Watch out for the Secret shopper 00000 too, i received one in the mail not too long ago and even had a check for over two grand, but it was not real, if i would have cashed that check and then two or three days later it bounce I would be legally binded and responsible for the total amount. watch out ya'll
Richard,

With the checks and money orders, you simply go to your bank and have them verify it. They probably see dozens every week, but they can confirm if it is valid. Then you send it to the police or FBI or Secret Service. It varies from locale to locale. I understand that the Secret Service (formed to investigate financial fraud) are ultimately responsible, but in my state, the Newark, NJ FBI do all the hard work.

[Michael Harris]

To All:

I found this in my email today. Usually, I do not forward these, but I did check this one out. Even if no one has done this, it is a serious threat.

New Credit Card 0000
Snopes.com says this is true. See this site – http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/cr editcard.asp
This one is pretty slick since they provide YOU with all the information, except the one piece they want.
Note, the callers do not ask for your card number; they already have it. This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA & MasterCard Telephone Credit Card 0000 works, you'll be better prepared to protect yourself.
One of our employees was called on Wednesday from 'VISA', and I was called on Thursday from 'Master Card'. The 0000 works like this: Caller: 'This is (name), and I'm calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My Badge number is 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I'm calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which was issued by (name of bank). Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 from a Marketing company based in Arizona?'
When you say 'No', the caller continues with, 'Then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from $297 to $497, just under the $500 purchase pattern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address), is that correct?'
You say 'yes'. The caller continues - 'I will be starting a Fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 1- 800 number listed on the back of your card (1-800-VISA) and ask for Security.'
You will need to refer to this Control Number. The caller then gives you a 6 digit number. 'Do you need me to read it again?'
Here's the IMPORTANT part on how the 0000 works. The caller then says, 'I need to verify you are in possession of your card'. He'll ask you to 'turn your card over and look for some numbers'. There are 7 numbers; the first 4 are part of your card number, the next 3 are the security Numbers that verify you are the possessor of the card. These are the numbers you sometimes use to make Internet purchases to prove you have the card. The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him. After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he'll say, 'That is correct, I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have your card. Do you have any other questions?' After you say No, the caller then thanks you and states, 'Don't hesitate to call back if you do', and hangs up.
You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the Card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA Security Department told us it was a 0000 and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of $497.99 was charged to our card.
Long story - short - we made a real fraud report and closed the VISA account VISA is reissuing us a new number. What the scammers want is the 3-digit PIN number on the back of the card. Don't give it to them. Instead, tell them you'll call VISA or Master card directly for verification of their conversation. The real VISA told us that they will never ask for anything on the card as they already know the information since they issued the card! If you give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN Number, you think you're receiving a credit. However, by the time you get your statement you'll see charges for purchases you didn't make, and by then it's almost too late and/or more difficult to actually file a fraud report.
What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from a 'Jason Richardson of Master Card' with a word-for-word repeat of the VISA 0000. This time I didn't let him finish. I hung up! We filed a police report, as instructed by VISA. The police said they are taking several of these reports daily! They also urged us to tell everybody we know that this 0000 is happening.

[J Ginsberg -]

Hey Michael.

****! These guys know exactly what they're doing. Thanks so much for your alert today.

Here's another 0000: I have an email purporting to be from the IRS. They say that I am owed a refund of taxes or something like that on a Visa or Mastercard. They have a link to click on. The "From" entry is refund@irs.gov. I do not click on the link, since it's most likely a costly error. This kind of message usually winds up in my SPAM folder. I just delete it. If you know what I'm talking about, Michael, feel free to post. I appreciate your information.

Johnny

[Michael Harris]

Johnny,

I have received those IRS.gov - you have a refund - messages.

The bad guys are getting bold. On the other hand, if I get 12 eBay or PayPal messages a day, am I going to fall for it?

[Heather Young]

Wow Michael this is really scary and I hope I can hold out by not giving any information out via telephone. I'm so so so so, glad that you posted this information Michael, as in the past I have gotten real security alerts from various CC companies and I was usually very trusting of these types of calls. I think that it's time to re-verify every call, E-mail and normal mail by re-calling those numbers etc which we know to be the correct information before giving them the time of day.
When I think about how many people they could have already 0000000 using this method makes me so angry. Is there anything sacred anymore!!!! :mad:

[Michael Harris]

Heather,

I have Internet access to all my accounts - credit cards, banks, credit unions, PayPal, etc. I check these often. I actually check my primary bank accounts daily.

Most reputable financial institutions have dispute links that are easy to use. Some do it by Internet and some by phone. Keep checking your accounts and do not give any information over the phone unless you make the call.

[Heather Young]

Michael, I appreciate all your good advice on all of these forums and understand that no-one is safe and that everyone is a potential target these days. I do keep a daily check on all my accounts aswell. You mentioned before that you were instructed by the CC company to file a police report. Even with these reports the police aren't very powerful in stopping these thieves.

[Jerome O Isaac]

Greetings IPIU members, I hope you're all having a great day, do stay safe this holiday season.

Michael, thanks for sharing.

Have a great day.

[Melanie Kozik -]

Guys & Gals - I am not sure at all where to post this but I think it is pretty dern important.

I just received a *bounced* email in which my agency email address is being USED to Send Spam!

I got it because the persons email box was full so it bounced back to ME because it is MY agency email address used to send the spam (it is for Viagra).

Answers please! I rarely, maybe twice have even used this address and so I am very curious to know HOW this is happening; is anyone else having spam sent BY their agency email address????
:eek::eek::eek:

[Robert Donovan]

Guys & Gals - I am not sure at all where to post this but I think it is pretty dern important.

I just received a *bounced* email in which my agency email address is being USED to Send Spam!

I got it because the persons email box was full so it bounced back to ME because it is MY agency email address used to send the spam (it is for Viagra).

Answers please! I rarely, maybe twice have even used this address and so I am very curious to know HOW this is happening; is anyone else having spam sent BY their agency email address????
:eek::eek::eek:
Read the following:
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/email_spoofing.html

[Melanie Kozik -]

Read the following:
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/email_spoofing.html


Use cryptographic signatures (e.g., PGP "Pretty Good Privacy" or other encryption technologies) to exchange authenticated email messages. Authenticated email provides a mechanism for ensuring that messages are from whom they appear to be, as well as ensuring that the message has not been altered in transit. Similarly, sites may wish to consider enabling SSL/TLS in their mail transfer software. Using certificates in this manner increases the amount of authentication performed when sending mail.
Configure your mail delivery daemon to prevent someone from directly connecting to your SMTP port to send spoofed email to other sites.
Ensure that your mail delivery daemon allows logging and is configured to provide sufficient logging to assist you in tracking the origin of spoofed email.
Consider a single point of entry for email to your site. You can implement this by configuring your firewall so that SMTP connections from outside your firewall must go through a central mail hub. This will provide you with centralized logging, which may assist in detecting the origin of mail spoofing attempts to your site.
Educate your users about your site's policies and procedures in order to prevent them from being "social engineered," or tricked, into disclosing sensitive information (such as passwords). Have your users report any such activities to the appropriate system administrator(s) as soon as possible. See also CERT advisory CA-1991-04, available from
http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1991-04.social.engineering.html (http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1991-04.social.engineering.html)OK - that is all fine and dandy - but I have not been ticked into anything - I am quite savy to this type of thing--and as I have No Control over the agency email addresses there is nothing I can DO to prevent this as I can with those that are Under My Control.

In any event, after reading this - is what you are trying to tell me is that it has nothing to do with the Union and everything to do with Me?

Or am I mis-understanding?

[Michael Harris]

Robert,

Thanks for the link. It was most interesting. I think it answers Melanie's question nicely.

[Donna Reagan]

OK - that is all fine and dandy - but I have not been ticked into anything - I am quite savy to this type of thing--and as I have No Control over the agency email addresses there is nothing I can DO to prevent this as I can with those that are Under My Control.
Again, if you read the full page of the link that Robert gave you there are a couple of sections worth reading, including a reporting mechanism.

Another good set of Google Results is here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=spoofed+email


In any event, after reading this - is what you are trying to tell me is that it has nothing to do with the Union and everything to do with Me?It has nothing to do with the union or you! It is an inherent risk that anytime you email someone or your email address is advertised anywhere on the internet or anyone gives out your email address, that it can end up being spoofed by spammers.

Even if you requested a new email address, it will probably get out and become spoofed too.

This is one of the reasons why IPIU and other web sites have gone to a CONTACT PAGE where an unknown person has to type in an Image Verification to send a message (email) to the site. You may wish to look into adding a Contact Page for your website too.

[Chris Holtzinger -]

Thanks for the info. In the past I too have received this type of e-mail . So far, I have had the luck to suspect a bad e-mail and deleted them. I didn't know to scroll over the link with the mouse to check for the address. You learn something new everyday ! Again Thanks.

[Nancy C Medved]

Hi Michael and all: Thanks for the input. My experience is : Company calls asking me if I use VISA (which i do), then says I am entitled to prize. He has my card #, wants to confirm last 4 digits of card.
Dont know if this was legitamate or not, but i dont give info on phone calls.

[Lynn E Payne]

I recieve emails form PayPal and E-Bay all the time. I just delete them. I too keep track of my accounts and know when these are not real. Thanks for al the info.