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

[John G -]

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.

[John G -]

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? I thought it was a free program, instituted by the Democrats.

[John G -]

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.

[John G -]

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.

[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...

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 . 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...

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.

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

Either be one or know one that likes you.

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

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?)



(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.