You open your inbox and see an email purportedly from Paypal warning you that your account has been limited. A limited Paypal account? Oh no!
If you won’t be able to lift the limit, all funds in your account will be stuck there, meaning you can’t spend or withdraw them!
So to solve this problem, you should just click the link in the email, right?
Wrong! Do that and you become the next phishing victim.
Phishing emails, also known as fake or spoof emails, are designed to direct recipients to a fraudulent website where they are asked to provide personal information. These information are then used for identity or credit card theft.
We have a vast collection of Phishing emails which circulated in the past and here’s another one to add to our list.
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From: Service Paypal <paypal@alertes.com>
Subject: IMPORTANT – Update Your Account Information
Information Regarding Your account:
Dear PayPal Member:
Attention! Your PayPal account has been limited!
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system.We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.We requested information from you for the following reason:
Our system detected unusual charges to a credit card linked to your PayPal account.
Reference Number: PP-259-187-991
This is the Last reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible. Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access.
Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.
Click here to activate your account
We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologise for any inconvenience..
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The email bears an unmistakable resemblance to the actual email that Paypal sends to users with a Limited Account. All the links in the email also direct to Paypal’s official website.
Except one.
The Click here to activate your account link in the email above directs to the spoof Paypal website cgi-bin/webscrcmd=_login-run/webscrcmd=_account-run=524685741142/ updates-paypal/confirm-paypal/
If you will go to the site and type in your Paypal login information, you are on track to be scammed! Using the username and password you submitted to the fake site, the scammer will log in to your PayPal account and most likely spend your remaining funds or bill your credit card.
You don’t want that to happen to you? Then don’t instantly click on any link contained in emails supposedly sent by Paypal or eBay or your bank. Make sure first that the email indeed came from a trusted source.
These sites will almost always never ask for your password or login information, so be wary if you receive an email asking such.
In the event you clicked on a link and got redirected to a another website, double check if that is the official website of the account you are logging into. Paypal’s official site, for example, is Paypal.com — not Paypale.co.cc as in the fake email above.
Knowledge of spoof and fake emails is your armor against identity theft. Make sure you’re aware and protected!
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