Phishing Scam: You have a new message from PayPal
Once again spammers are using big names such as PayPal to attract the attention of potential victims. Using electronic mail as a channel to spread phishing and hoax e-mails has become a rather profitable venture for cyber-criminals. The most common fraud e-mails have interesting topics that involve password resetting for bank, e-mail or online accounts; a beneficiary of substantial funds following a death or lottery winning notifications.
The phishing e-mail that we are exposing today has the subject heading: “You have a new message from PayPal !” and it is supposedly from: “services@paypalc.com”. The content of the e-mail is as follows:
Dear Member,
As part of our efforts to provide a safe and secure environment for the online community, we regularly screen account activity. Our review of your account has identified an issue regarding its safe use. We have placed a restriction on your account as a precaution.
To lift the restriction we will require some further information from you.
If, once we review your further information and we’re confident that the use of your account does not present a safety risk to our service and customers, we’ll be happy to reinstate your account.
We have sent you an attachment which contains all the necessary steps in order to restore your account access.
Download and open it in your browser.
After we have gathered the necessary information, you will regain full access to your account.We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Very sincerely,
PayPal Review Department
The e-mail contains a link to a spoofed website that will capture a victim’s confidential information and make it available to remote phishers. Once a cyber-criminal has your information he/she could commit fraud and steal your identity, leaving you with more debt and an empty bank account. Users should always remember that most legitimate companies never send their members e-mails that require them to provide personal information; in such instances it is almost always a scam.
Here are a few tips on how to avoid becoming the next victim of a Phishing Scam:
- Firstly, do not rush into action after receiving a suspicious e-mail
- Avoid providing sensitive information on social networks
- Do not reply to unsolicited or spam e-mails; just delete them
- Unsubscribe from all mailing lists that do not interest you anymore
- Do not click on suspicious links especially if a link is from an unsolicited e-mail
- Do not open suspicious attachments especially if an attachment is from an unsolicited e-mail
And last but not least, should you receive an e-mail that requires you to provide personal information contact the company directly via verified sources.
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