Warning - a good PayPal scam

[paolo]

I just got an email notifying me that I had received a PayPal payment from a Nanette Welch for £18.25.

The email looked and smelled like a PayPal one, with the exception of a small mistake in the subject field - ?18.25 instead of £18.25.

Clicking on the link to PayPal in the email takes you to a site that is a very good copy of the PayPal welcome page. But in fact it is this url, a Romanian site:
ermacisza.ro/adokveszek/.temp/paypal.com/

(If you go to look at this page, whatever you do, don't type in your log-in details!)

If I hadn't been paying attention, I would have typed in my email and password to access my account info. That would have given the scammers all they need to empty anything in my PayPal account, and I would probably have been asked for other bank details too.

I didn't really question this unexpected payment, because I have a PayPal donation box on the site, and occasionally I do get payments that way. So that alarm bell was disarmed.

To avoid getting caught out by this sort of scam, which can only get more sophisticated, I recommend that you never click on a link in an email to get to a secure site. Open a browser window and get there yourself.

[vrooje]

I've been wondering when someone would figure out that they could do this to scam people.

Whenever I receive any PayPal e-mail that requires a login, I always open a new browser window and type in the PayPal address (well, actually, I use a bookmark). Anything in an e-mail can be forged, so I never take chances.

[PeeJay]

I've been wondering when someone would figure out that they could do this to scam people.

Whenever I receive any PayPal e-mail that requires a login, I always open a new browser window and type in the PayPal address (well, actually, I use a bookmark). Anything in an e-mail can be forged, so I never take chances.

Spot on advice....

[Sue Dyer]

I had one last week where someone was "trying" to pay me $118 for a gold watch I'd "sold" on ebay but there was a fault with my account and they couldn't credit the money.

Well, duh but I knew I hadn't sold a gold watch on paypal. I guess some folks curiosity/greed might make them click the link but as prev mentioned I came right out and logged into my Paypal as usual.

I got a genuine email from ebay last week too. It is that nightmare time when my credit card has ran out and everything has the old expiry date on so payments are getting refused. The ebay email quite rightly told me to log into my account as usual, not to click a link.

[janskov]

Nasty... I hope you all forward the mails to spoof@paypal.com - they really seem to work hard to fight this.

[Guest3]

Thanks for the tip off Paolo...we offer an option of Paypal payment on our website..so it's one scam to look out for!