BEWARE OF FAKE PAYPAL SITES

Periodically, unethical people send out e-mail messages to us in an attempt to gather our information and to misuse it. This is called phishing. Most companies ignore this misconduct but one has taken the pro-active step of tracking down these miscreants.

If you receive a message from somebody claiming to be PayPal, be very careful. Here is part of a PayPal team response to a spoof e-mail which I forwarded to them:

     Paypal Will Never:

     • Send an email to: “Undisclosed Recipients”  or more than one email
        address
     • Ask you to download a form or file to resolve an issue
     • Ask in an email to verify an account using Personal Information such
        as Name, Date of Birth, Driver's License, or Address
     • Ask in an email to verify an account using Bank Account Information
        such as Bank Name, Routing Number, or Bank Account PIN Number
     • Ask in an email to verify an account using Credit Card Information
        such as Credit Card Number or Type, Expiration Date, ATM PIN Number, or
        CVV2 Security Code
     • Ask for your full credit card number without displaying the type of
        card and the last two digits
     • Ask you for your full bank account number without displaying your bank
        name, type of account (Checking/Savings) and the last two digits
     • Ask you for your security question answers without displaying each
        security question you created
     • Ask you to ship an item, pay a shipping fee, send a Western Union
        Money Transfer, or provide a tracking number before the payment received
        is available in your transaction history

Whenever you receive a message claiming that there's some sort of problem with your account, always visit PayPal's site and type in your details there. Otherwise you could have your credit card maxed out and your bank account drained.

If you've already fallen for one of these scammers and their bogus e-mail warnings or you feel somebody has hacked into your account, log into PayPal's site in a new browser window  and click on the "Security and Protection" link. Then click "Identify a Problem" link. Then click on "I think someone may be using my account without permission." Next, click "Unauthorized Account Activity."

Additionally, you can help PayPal track down these cyber thieves by forwarding suspicious e-mails to spoof@paypal.com. Don't delete any attached files since those help the PayPal team to track down the originator of the phishing attempt. By doing this, you reduce the number of phoney e-mails going out and save naive computer users the heartbreak of being ripped off.

I wrote about scams which i fell for in How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity.  Read more about God's providential guidance in my life at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers. My previous paperbacks are on the Bruce Atchison's books link.