Protect your online accounts

I'm sure most of you know about the deceitful ways people try to get information regarding your accounts, such as - bank statements, pay pal, ebay, credit cards so on.
Once a month, I feel safe to say I get one in my email claiming to be one of my accounts that needs to be updated immediately or it will be shut down or penalties attached or some urgent piece of crap. They're obviously in a rush to get the info and run with it.
If you do get one don't click on their link they provided, instead type in or go through your bookmarks and report them.
These look so real you would swear it was for real, they are good at being bad!!! :boxing :rasberry :neener :guns

 

This is a type of attack called phishing

Both Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 have means of protecting you against phishing. Recommend that you upgrade.

As for email Mozilla Thunderbird has an extension called SPF Verification that will check for spoofed email addresses.

 

I have IE7, this comes in my email, I do have spam protection too but it probably thinks it's actually a real account, I can't tell the difference. I send it to who ever they are impersonating and sure enough it always turns out to be fake, fraud, phishing, spoof whatever. They use all the logos from different companies. I heard before they added a (s) to the end of their email address but don't think thats the case any longer. The one I got this am is not a very good one, not much went into it. I worry about the younger people who have their first bank account, credit card etc.

 

this was the response from pay pal

Dear Darlene
Thank you for taking the time to contact spoof@paypal. The email you
reported was not sent by PayPal and is a phishing (fraudulent) email.

-------------------
What to do Next
--------------------
Delete the phishing email. If youve already responded to the email,
please log in to your PayPal account and perform some important safety
measures.

1. Go to your Profile and change your password and security questions.

2. Review the payments listed on your Account Overview.

If you notice a payment that you dont recognize, visit the PayPal
Security Center to file a claim. Well promptly investigate any
suspicious transactions and you wont be held liable for unauthorized
payments sent from your account.

-------------------------------------
Visit the PayPal Security Center
-------------------------------------
In the new PayPal Security Center youll find fraud-fighting tips,
tools, and technology.

Youll learn:
* Ways to stay safe online
* How to spot fake emails
* What to do if you suspect unauthorized activity in your account

Youll also find tools to help protect against identity theft:
* Equifax credit alerts: Receive notifications about activity on your
credit accounts
* eBay Toolbar: Download a toolbar that warns you when youre on a
potentially fraudulent web site

-------------------------------------
Safeguard Your Account
-------------------------------------
Phishing emails often try to get your attention by telling you that
theres a problem with your account.

One way to figure out if an email is really from PayPal is to open a new
browser and log in to your PayPal account. Any important information
about your account will be displayed once you are logged in.

------------
Thank You
-------------
By alerting us to this phishing email, youre taking an active role in
keeping the PayPal community safe. Users like you are our greatest
partners in combating spoof.

Well use the information you provided to work with law enforcement to
shut down the fraudulent website.


Sincerely,

PayPal

**********************************************************
Remember, PayPal will never ask you for your password in an e-mail.
There are no exceptions to this policy. If someone claiming to be from
PayPal asks you for your password in response to an e-mail, you should
refuse to provide it and contact us. To contact PayPal, go to the PayPal
Help Center and click the "Contact Us" link.

 

Ah, good... you've taken measures to protect yourself!

However, nothing beats user education!

Recommend you look at this Microsoft whitepaper titled Recognize phishing scams and fraudulent e-mails, as it has some great tips.

 

I count myself lucky in that the first time I saw one of these, it was from a bank in which I've never had an account, to an email address I would never have given them if I had.

I've just lumped all the rest of them under the "idiots are idiots and I refuse to deal with them" category now.

 

Whenever I go to my banks main page when I want to do transactions, they specifically state that they will never email me for info, if I've lost it, just come by and present your credentials. I really don't understand people getting fooled by this crap.confused

 

That's how I first caught on. On ebay I use one email then on pay pal it's a different one. So I'm thinking they got it from ebay thinking that would do it. In fact if I had not so much trouble confirming it,there may not have been a red flag.

 

Yes, this is true. Any of the legit Banks and so on would NEVER ask for account details and passwords, etc. over the net, and if they are real, they state that. And it's almost just as dangerous to give that info over the phone. It's usually some overseas cyber-crime scumbags, claiming to be your bank, or some Govt. Dept.

If you set your email spam setting to put anything but the safe senders 'white list' into the junk folder for examination/deletion, you should be safe. NEVER click on any of their links to see what they are.

 

Here is what happened to me. I tried to log onto Wells Fargo but couldn't get pm because I forgot my password. Then I got an Email on opera web mail that looked like Wells Fargo stating they noticed I tried to log in but was unsuccessful and to click on a link for help. Weird because I use hotmail for the bank! How did they know ? Opera must not be secure.

 

This is my spam filter! Nothing gets in unless I give it the ok.

 

as regards my bank details i have a code generator supplied by my bank and without that you can not enter my account.

i have F SECURE for my anti virus and BACKLITE for e mail and phishing filter so far i have had no problems i just hope that this reply is not the kiss of death

 

I don't think some of you are getting the picture. It isn't a matter of them accessing your account, they have you do it for them. Plus I don't think virus is an issue.
PICTURE THIS- You receive an email, your bank, credit company or whatever. It IS from your account (so you think), looks identical, logos, privacy statement, the whole page is exactly the same.
They give you a link to click on to update your account information, otherwise you'll be dropped or won't be able to access your account something, anything to that affect.
From there they want your current mailing address, phone number, confirm account numbers ,everything your actual company account would need. Only this is not your company.
So, type in your site yourself, then report the email you received. Hopefully they can track down some of these jerks and arrest them.

 

sorry darlene i did not misunderstand i just forgot to mention that my bank never send e mail to me they post them on my account so that wen i log in with my code i get any messages that are for me alone

 

I wouldn't count on "these jerks" ever being brought to justice. Too many regional jurisdictions prevent it.

THERE ARE telltale signs of phishing, however!

1. The letter won't be addressed to you specifically. It will say "Dear Customer", whereas a legitimate email will address you specifically.

2. The domain of their links will be suspicious. Check what the status bar says when you hover over the link, and compare it to URLs found by googling information on the company. The URLs should not match.

3. Most legitimate companies will NEVER ask for this information in the first place, as it has been mentioned. There's no need! They maintain a database. Asking for your information is like them asking you to do their job for them. Any company with any sort of reputation would avoid this. Also, they would want to avoid losing customers over their mistakes. They wouldn't have sudden ultimatums under penalty of account closure. That's bad business!

 

Yes I have learned the difference in the senders address, although they change all the time. I have had them come to me using my name, First and Last. That leads me to believe Ebay is a wealth of information for these people including Pay Pay which are connected.

 

I'm sorry I'm the one who misunderstood, not knowing what some terms are such as F secure.
I do have my computer ignorance listed on another thread. confused

 

i am not sure but i think F SECURE is available in the states as i have seen comments about it on MGs it is an internet security system.
my son in law is a geek and he says that MCAFEE is better but i have no idea maybe we should start a new thread on this (or has it been done)confused

 

I have no idea personally. Have online protection that came with the broadband connection. Then I learned on here it was not nearly enough. There is a Tech. Forum here that lists things that are a must. For me it included Windows Defender, Spywareblaster, Spybot- Search and Destroy, CCleaner, I'm looking to see if there are more, guess you can't have too much, scary, huh? Take a look, they suggest you download from here to prevent extra or unnecessary toolbars.

 

hi good morning from belgium i just read your reply darlene and am happy to say i have most of the protection that you have.
i have learned about downloading from suspect sites and wherever possible use MGs it really is a great big family who try to look after each other:wave

 

Good morning from California. Now we cross our fingers and wait

 

DAMN! Spam actually got through this! Just today! They spoofed MY email address! The barstiches!

 

Are you joking? Really? I get mail in my inbox with peoples names all the time. I delete it without opening. What really pisses me off is when in the subject there is a comment or question regarding personal body parts. Now my ISP doesn't have a section to report them, as if they could do anything, HUH?

 

I didn't put my email address on my approved list, because I never email myself from my account to my account. However, messages "sent by me" come through the daily list of spam quite regularly.