[dfinn]

if this isn't new let me know and I'll delete this but it's the first time i've seen/heard about it.

I recieved and email today that looked extremely official. It was looking like it was sent from paypal and telling me that the payment (that I had obviously not authorized) had been put through succesfully for around $300. There was a link down at the bottom that said:

"If you haven't authorized this payment click here to cancel the payment".

and that's where they get ya. The link went off to some site that wasn't paypal.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

I think a lot of those Paypal scams look official, yet, as you described, link you to another site.

 

[dfinn]

Yeah, they are pretty good at making them look legit. I've never seen one though that looked like an email saying I had just paid someone. It's pretty good social engineering on the part of the scammers. Usually I don't pay any attention to these but this one caught my eye because

1. it said I had paid someone when I knew I hadn't
2. it was for a large sum of money

 

[binary visions]

Good to know.

Personally, I never click on links in emails. If the company needs some information from me or if I've got something going on with my account, it'll tell me if I manually go to the site and log on.

Some of the eBay ones have gotten really, really good. I got one about a week ago that had zero spelling errors and the grammar was spot-on, and it used all the official terms and graphics that eBay typically puts into their emails.

 

[Dartman]

Some of the eBay ones have gotten really, really good. I got one about a week ago that had zero spelling errors and the grammar was spot-on, and it used all the official terms and graphics that eBay typically puts into their emails.

Yes, quite clever 'cept for one thing...

I don't have an Ebay account.

Mike

 

[W4S]

What does clicking on the link do besides take you to another page and give them the email addy? Sorry, I'm just learning this internet thing.

 

[dfinn]

it will usually be a page asking for your login and password from paypal or ebay or your bank or wherever. Sometimes they even go as far as asking for things like bank account # and social security #.