Warning, Fake PayPal Email

This message should be posted on the General Message page but I can't seem to find it. Perhaps admin will copy it over.

I just received this email supposedly from PayPal. I immediately spotted it as a fake and reported it to PayPal security. My first tip that this was a fake email was the fact that I had not added a new email address as this email claims. The second tip is found in the second sentence, but it gets better as you read on. The message is loaded with misspelled words and grammatical errors. Here is the message I received, verbatim:

"May 2006
Dear user of PayPal services,
This email is to inform that you have successfully added a new email in your PayPal account and deleted the old one. If you whant to add more emails or to delete one just login in your PayPal account. All PayPal accounts will come with complete detailed information!
If you are agree to keep the curent settings login to your PayPal account!
If you are not agree with this settings you can cancel the changes in your account. !! "

Checking the real PayPal web site, they have a section on fake emails. They say a real email from PayPal would be personally addressed and not generically addressed to "Dear PayPal User".
Anyone who logs in to the fake PayPal page that this email would send you to would provide these crooks with your password and all other account info.
Beware.

 

that is too funny! well the email , the grammar, not if someone actuallbuiys into it
a while back I was sent an email from "my bank" saying that they had changed the online banking and to update your computer click on the link and enter your account number and your PIN with 4 zeros before each. I thought that is so strange, I never knew I gave my bank my email address. (I am pretty sure I didn't!) but anyway, I knew it seemed fishy, but I just couldn't figure out how this "fisherman" got my email address and knew my bank. My bank is a very small town local bank it isn't like if Wachovia or bank of America sent out something. I am still baffled. And my email address is just generic yahoo, I don't have an email which would signify anything?
anyway thanks duklesdad for keeping us posted!

 

LOL. Wow! That scam has some pretty bad grammar! That's good that you notified Paypal. :y_the_best: Did they say anything to you regarding the matter?

 

That's good info to know. Thanks Auspetian. :y_the_best:

 

Thanks :wink:

 

I got this is my e-mail today and I thought about this post. I wonder if this is really Paypal?

At PayPal, we value the trust you have placed in us by using our service to conduct your transactions online. Because your relationship with us is financial in nature, the protection of your privacy and prompt resolution of your questions is particularly important to us.

This Privacy and Error Resolution Notice provides you with information about how PayPal safeguards your privacy and how you can report errors or unauthorized transactions to PayPal. Under U.S. federal financial services law, PayPal is required to send these notices to you annually. The full terms of the PayPal Privacy Policy and Electronic Fund Transfer Rights and Error Resolution Policy are available on the PayPal website https://www.paypal.com/, which you are welcome to review at any time.

It is PayPal's policy to maintain confidentiality over your personal information. We will NOT sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent.

Thank you for making PayPal a global leader in online payments.

Sincerely,

PayPal


Contents of this Notice:


How does PayPal safeguard your personal information?
What personal information do we collect?
To what parties do we disclose personal information?
What are your privacy choices?
What should you do in case of errors or questions about your electronic transfers?

How does PayPal safeguard your personal information?
PayPal automatically encrypts your personal information in transit from your computer to our server using the Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) with an encryption key length of 128-bits. Before you register or log in to our website, our server checks that you're using an approved browser-one that uses SSL 3.0 or higher.


Once your information reaches us, it resides on a server that is heavily protected. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards on your information.


Only authorized employees are permitted to access customer information. Authorized employees have been trained on how to handle information properly and are subject to strict limitations and guidelines in the handling of that information. Only a small subset of authorized employees is permitted to access customer credit card or bank account numbers.

What personal information do we collect?

Information we receive from you.
When you open a PayPal account, we require certain information, such as your name, address, phone number, and email address.


When you send, receive or request a payment through PayPal, we collect transaction information needed to perform the service, which may include your credit card, debit card, or banking information.


When you sign up for optional features or products, we collect information needed to provide the service or to establish that you qualify for such features or products. For example, if you enroll in the PayPal Money Market Fund, we are required by law to collect your Social Security number (SSN) and date of birth.


When we cannot verify the information you provide online, we may ask you to send us additional information, such as your driver's license or a recent utility bill, or to confirm your location through an automated phone-back process. This verification process is necessary in order to safeguard your account and other customers against potential fraud.
When you sign up for a Business or Premier account or if you send or receive high overall payment volumes through PayPal, we request supplemental information about your business, such as the type of goods you sell and your customer service contact information.
Information about you from third parties.

When you add a credit card or debit card, we use card authorization and fraud screening services to verify the information you provide.


If you receive high overall payment volumes through PayPal, we may do a background check or obtain information about you from a credit bureau or a business information service such as Dun & Bradstreet.


We may receive personal information about you from our subsidiaries and affiliated companies to provide integrated customer support, to facilitate a payment transaction or to investigate potential fraud, illegal activity or violations of the PayPal User Agreement.

To what parties do we disclose personal information?
Other PayPal members. Your name, email address, date of signup, the number of payments you have received from Verified PayPal Customers and your Verification status are available to other members that you send money to or receive money from. If you are buying goods or services, you may choose to reveal your shipping address to complete the transaction. If we conduct an investigation and conclude that one side has engaged in fraud or deceptive practices, we may disclose contact information to victims who request it. As always, we never reveal your financial information to other PayPal members, unless required to do so by law.


Card authorization and fraud screening services. If you add a credit card or a debit card to your PayPal account, we will use these services to verify that your card information and address match the information that you supplied to us and that the card has not been reported lost or stolen.


Other eBay corporate entities.We may disclose personal information to other eBay corporate entities to process payments and provide integrated customer support related to eBay transactions, as well as to investigate potential fraud, illegal activities or violation of the PayPal User Agreement.


Companies with whom we jointly offer products. If you sign up for a co-branded version of PayPal, we will share your information to provide enhanced integration between PayPal's and the other company's services, subject to the applicable terms of service and privacy policies for such co-branded service.

We may provide personal information to companies that offer co-marketed or "private label" products and services with us. For example, we disclose information to GE Money Bank, the issuer of PayPal Plus credit cards, to determine customers' eligibility for the PayPal Plus credit card.


Agencies or authorities with whom we are legally required to cooperate. We may disclose information during the investigation of fraud or illegal activity. For example, we may disclose personal information in response to a subpoena, warrant, court order, or comparable legal process.

What are your privacy choices?

You have the ability to view and update your personal information and credit card or checking account information any time by logging in to your PayPal account and clicking the Profile subtab of the My Account tab.


You have choices in the types of communications you wish to receive from PayPal. When you opened a PayPal account, your notification preferences were set to receive the PayPal Periodical and Product Updates, and invitations to Customer Surveys. To change these notification settings or to opt-in to other notifications, please log in to your PayPal account, click the Profile subtab of the My Account tab, and then click the Notifications link in the Account Information column.


You have the choice of closing your PayPal account. If you choose to close your account, we will mark your account in our database as closed but will keep your personal information in our database. Your information will be used only for fraud prevention, to assist law enforcement, or as permitted by law.


You have the ability to review the PayPal Privacy Policy anytime by clicking the Privacy link in the footer of every page on the PayPal website


If you have any other questions about PayPal's privacy practices, please feel free to contact us at (402) 938-3700, or click the Contact Us link in the footer of every page of the PayPal website.

What should you do in case of errors or questions about your electronic transfers?

A record of all your transactions is available online in your Account History, and we encourage you to review this log regularly. If you think your Account History or a transaction receipt is wrong, or if you need more information about a transfer listed on the Account History or receipt, contact us as soon as you can. In case of errors or questions about your electronic transfers, including any debit card claims, you can call our customer service center at (402) 938-3700. You can also email us by clicking the Contact Us link in the footer of every page on the PayPal website, or write us at: PayPal, Attn: Error Resolution Department, P.O. Box 45950, Omaha, NE 68145-0950. We must hear from you no later than 60 days after we sent the first receipt or notice on which the problem or error appeared. If you contact us to report a possible error or question:

If you contact us to report a possible error or question:
Tell us your name and email address.


Describe the error or the transfer you are unsure about, and explain why you believe it is an error or why you need more information.


Tell us the amount of the suspected error.
If you tell us orally, we may require that you send us your complaint or question in writing within 10 business days.

We will determine whether an error occurred within 10 business days after we hear from you and will correct any error promptly. If we need more time, however, we may take up to 45 days to investigate your complaint or question. If we decide to do this, we will credit your account within 10 business days for the amount you think is in error, so that you will have the use of the money during the time it takes us to complete our investigation. If we ask you to put your complaint or question in writing and we do not receive the written complaint within 10 business days, we may not credit your account.

For errors involving new accounts, point-of-sale, or foreign-initiated transactions, we may take up to 90 days to investigate your complaint or question. For new accounts, we may take up to 20 business days to credit your account for the amount you think is in error.

We will tell you the results within three business days after completing our investigation. If we decide that there was no error, we will send you a written explanation. You may ask for copies of the documents that we used in our investigation. All communications to you about the investigation will be through email or telephone, except in unusual circumstances at our sole discretion.



This PayPal notification was sent to ********because these annual notices are required by federal law. To modify your notification preferences for notices that are not required by law, log in to your PayPal account, click the Profile sub-tab, then click the Notifications link under Account Information. Changes may take up to 10 days to be reflected in our mailings. PayPal will not sell or rent any of your personally identifiable information to third parties. For more information about the security of your information, read our Privacy Policy at https://www.paypal.com/privacy.

Copyright© 2006 PayPal, Inc. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. PayPal is located at 2211 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95131.

 

lols...so strange this was posted. my friend vene sent me the link to this post, after i emailed her about a fradulent paypal email i got yesterday. well...not only one email...i got about seven total!!. it looked really good, thats why i was uncertain. but i went to the site and read about the part where they address you by "dear pay pal customer"....and new it was a scam. so irritating...and really ticks me off that people do this kind of thing. thanks for this post...it was still very helpful to me.

 

I agree. I also feel terrible for those people who had identity theft. That must be so aweful. :x