Paypal scam

DavidI · 01-10-2007, 04:20 PM

Today my wife received an email from Paypal requesting payment for a laptop. She immediately called me at work to find out if I had made the purchase. I had not, but a couple of days ago I purchased a training collar for my dog online using Paypal to pay the bill.

She forwarded the email to me. I opened the email which appeared official in every way. The invoice contained all of the necessary information that you would find on a bill such as the item, tax, shipping cost, etc.

Below the information was the name of the purchaser, which of course was not me. Below this, in much bigger font, red in color, was a link that read "Cancel this order." I clicked on the link and a new Paypal with all the correct logos and information again appeared. On this page, official appearing boxes for my logon and password appeared. Again, it looked legitimate. The cop in me became suspicious. I closed this page without input my information and went directly to the Paypal site. I logged on to the official site and checked the balance and activity. Of course, there were no such purchases.

I quickly surmised that the initial email was fraudulent. I let some investigators know about the site who quickly shut it down.

Beware!

David

on-ramp · 01-10-2007, 04:23 PM

I get these emails daily, claiming to be from Paypal or Ebay, since I do a lot of business on Ebay.

never click on a link in your email that directs you to a page to enter personal info like your user name/password.

Grady Clay · 01-10-2007, 04:28 PM

David,

Good for you.

Now, how do we catch and prosecute the crooks.

I talked to my local Postmaster about using USPS in these scams. Mail fraud has teeth.

Best,
Grady

DavidI · 01-10-2007, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Grady Clay
David,

Good for you.

Now, how do we catch and prosecute the crooks.

I talked to my local Postmaster about using USPS in these scams. Mail fraud has teeth.

Best,
Grady

That is a good question. I asked the same. Because I did not fill out the information, and was not a victim of fraud, in my case there was no crime. It is still b.s. and would like to put a smack down on the punk who tried to rip me off. I'll do some checking and see if something can be done to identify the crooks.

David

Grady Clay · 01-10-2007, 05:24 PM

David,

How much money is involved? If reasonable, I’ll front the cost.

A year or two ago a Pelican posted his having someone meeting him in Amsterdam with a yellow hat and standing on one leg. It would be fun (for us Pelicans) and productive (to convict crooks) to pursue this.

If everyone scams the crooks, perhaps the problem will be solved.

Best,
Grady

The Prez just finished his "adderss"
G.

DavidI · 01-10-2007, 05:44 PM

You are a good man Grady, but the bill was about $800. I am going to talk to some investigators tomorrow and see what can be done to track them down. I'll report my findings.

On another note, 20,000 more troops! GWB is an idiot.

David

sammyg2 · 01-10-2007, 06:07 PM

I get one of these about once a week.
I just delete them but if I could track them down I would be tempted to revert to my violent person I was in my youth.

Grady Clay · 01-10-2007, 06:35 PM

David, (and all)

I think this is an issue we can all have a slight impact on the problem and fun in the process. Collectively we can divert the crooks. In some circumstances, we can actually put them in the position to be successfully prosecuted.

As independent citizens, what we do when a crook is trying to scam us is a criminal act on their part. If we “play along” that is not entrapment. This allows all sorts of prosecution possible.

One key is to get them to do this through USPS. Note that most Nairobi scams use private (FedEx & other) for communication. All it takes is to use USPS.

A Pelican “scam brigade” would be fun and worthwhile.

Best,
Grady

911pcars · 01-11-2007, 12:23 AM

Another hint is to look at the URL at the top of your browser window ("http://.....). If the URL isn't the website requesting payment (e.g.

www.ebay.com) and/or if there isn't an "https" in the URL line, it's a fake.

In the case of the Ebay scam, an email is sent requesting payment for an item. The link leads you to a facsimile of the ebay sign-in page. Of course it isn't. It's just a way to get your screen name and password.

The PayPal scam has more dire consequences. Someone using your password can quickly transfer any funds from your account as well as the bank account that backs up the PPal account.

Sherwood