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Fake Paypal Emails
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By Sitecritic .Net
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Do you use PayPal services? If so, you need to very carefulbecause there are unethical hackers out there who want to stealyour credit card details. How is it possible that people areable to make fake paypal payments? Stolen Accounts? Yes. Nobodyis able to obtain your credit card details unless you gave itaway yourself.
I receive 3 to 5 emails from Paypal asking me to update mydetails. Some of them are very believable because they lookprofessional with the company's header. The emails also seem tocome from trusted sources such as service@paypal.com.
I will use a fake paypal email here as an example:
-------------------- As part of our security measures, weregularly screen activity in the PayPal system. We recentlynoticed the following issue on your account:
We would like to ensure that your account was not accessed by anunauthorized third party. Your account is our primary concern,we have limited access to sensitive PayPal account features. Weunderstand that this may be an inconvenience but pleaseunderstand that this temporary limitation is for yourprotection. Case ID Number: PP-072-838-560
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-submit
For your protection, we have limited access to your accountuntil additional security measures can be completed. Weapologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
To review your account and some or all of the information thatPayPal usedto make its decision to limit your account access,please visit the Resolution Center https://www.paypal.com/. If,after reviewing your account information, you wish to seekfurther clarification regarding your account access, pleasecontact PayPal by visiting the Help Center and clicking "ContactUs". We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.Please understand that this is a security measure intended tohelp protect you and your account. We apologize for anyinconvenience.
Sincerely, PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal Email ID PP648769005 --------------------
As you can see, the email is written professionally and thelinks seem to come from paypal. The chances of falling into thefraud is high for unsuspecting readers.
How to Detect Fake Emails 1. If you move you mouse over thelinks in the email, you will have a clue of what is going on.For example, the urlhttps://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-submit actuallypoints tohttp://www.google.com/url?sa=p&pref=ig&pval=2&q=http://64.72.193.9:82/login/index.php. If you click on it, you will arrive at apage that looks exactly like paypal.com. Will you be tempted toenter your details?
2. Look at the url in the address box of your toolbar. The urlreads http://64.72.193.9:82/login/index.php. Now, it is prettyobvious that you are not in the official PayPal website.Whatever details that you enter will reach the hands of thehacker.
3. Try logging in with a fake password and you will go through.The fake website will not have the actual PayPal database andtherefore, cannot verify your identity. Any password that youenter will get you into the admin area.
Who Are The Victims There are many complains of stolen paypalaccounts or credit card numbers everyday. My personal experiencetells me that most of the victims are new internet users andaged people. Busy IT professionals also make up a smallpercentage of it. I believe anyone can be a victim if they arenot careful.
Hackers Are Intelligent Once your paypal email, password andcredit card details are obtained, the hacker will make paymentsusing the details provided. Making large payments will besuspicious. So they like to make small payments, perhaps fiftyto a few hundred dollars a month so that busy people like youand me will not take notice of that. Your credit card numbermight already been stolen but you are not aware of it. Checkingyour monthly bank statement carefully is a good way to detectunauthorized payment.
Prevention Is The Best Cure What should you do when you realisedyour paypal account was stolen? Contacting PayPal might help butI am quite pessimistic about it. The thing that annoys me mostis that alot of hackers are getting away from their act with noaction taken. Perhaps, it just takes too much time and effort totrack down the hacker.
I would suggest everyone to learn more about internet securityespecially if you are running an online business or want to makeonline payments.
Conclusion Though Paypal is a great payment system, it is abusedby many unethical people. The same could have been done to otherpayment systems such as 2checkout, moneybrookers...etc. Internetscams are everywhere and anyone with an email should becareful.
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