Warning - paypal account scam

[Green_not_greed]

For those of you with Paypal accounts, please dont reply to the link in any email you get about dubious transactions. I received the email below, which looks genuine enough (and of course it is for a payment I never made). The link for a refund is a phishing website.

Beware - please dont reply of you get this. I didn't but did check it out.

Email follows:

You sent a payment of 39.00 GBP to Skype (sales@skype.com)
Thanks for using PayPal. To see all the transaction details, log in to your PayPal account.

It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in your account.



Merchant
Skype
sales@skype.com

Instructions to merchant
You haven't entered any instructions.


Shipping address - Unconfirmed
United Kingdom

Postage details
The seller hasn.t provided any postage details yet.




Description
Unit price
Qty
Amount


3 month subscription

39.00 GBP
1
39.00 GBP








Subtotal
39.00 GBP


Total
39.00 GBP


Payment
39.00 GBP


Payment sent to sales@skype.com





Issues with this transaction?
If you haven't authorized this charge, open a dispute at:

https://www.paypal.co.uk/helpcenter/open_dispute (http://suedpfalzcacher.de/blog/wp-includes/js/.index.html?&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d43b1bb6ca 6ed6d454adc375ba2d28b99) and get a full refund.

[chaz]

Had a few forward on to spoof@paypal.com to report them

[weezer 316]

I used to work for the abuse team in BT, seen more of these than you can imagine.

If you hold your cursor over the paypal link at the bottom you will see at the bottom of the screen it will pop up the address its actually taking you to. In this case its puts you here: http://suedpfalzcacher.de/blog/wp-includes/js/.index.html?&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d43b1bb6ca 6ed6d454adc375ba2d28b99

Seems to be a site based on wordpress blogging software.

[Beat Bug]

I've had these several times. First time I contacted PayPal and they gave me the address to forward the email to. It's always £39 for a Skype subscription! Also, as I have more than one email address, I know when anything is spam, as it usually comes into the wrong email!

[Kodiak]

If PayPal write to you for any reason they ALWAYS start off with "Dear John Smith" or whatever your Real Name is. If you receive a e-mail from someone who claims to be PayPal, even if it has all their Logo's ect on, and starts off with Dear PayPal Customer" then it is a Fake.

If you are ever in doubt then forward the whole e-mail to Spoof@paypal.com and they will advise you if it is fake or not. Also never ever use any link in any e-mail. You should go to the correct web page and log in from that.

[dragonfly]

I registered my name incorrectly on Paypal so know instantly if its a real email from them or a spoof!

[RecQuery]

Basically what Weezer said. Also I don't like them because they break NX-Domain stuff but a DNS service like OpenDNS (http://www.opendns.com/home-solutions) will block known Phishing sites. A decent browser (Firefox, Chrome) will warn you also about known threats.

Also a general rule, unless you know what you're doing never follow links in e-mails but instead type the URL into a browser.

[pat]

Received this scam warning today, please be aware.



Pensions Scam calls:
Info received from Scottish Public Pensions Agency about a scam telephone call.
"We understand that a small number of our members and pensioners from our NHS and Teachers schemes have received recorded phone messages from an Organisation presenting itself as “The Pensions Helpline” or “your pension provider”.
From what we have been told, the recordings suggest that “people born after 1952” are due a “bonus” or that “you may be at risk of losing part of your pension”. Recipients are prompted to press a number between 1 and 9 to continue the call. It is of concern that people receiving these messages may believe that they are being contacted by their pension provider and that personal or financial information may be given as a result of one of these calls. SPPA wishes to draw attention to this scam and has been raising awareness amongst our customers that we do not cold call in this manner and never requests bank details over the phone.
Available evidence suggests that this is a UK-wide scam not specifically targeting SPPA members and pensioners. Nevertheless, SPPA treats such risks very seriously and has taken a number of steps to ensure that its customers, staff and other relevant organisations are aware of the risk of fraud and are taking appropriate countermeasures. This includes contact with Action Fraud to highlight the scam and awareness raising amongst counter fraud contacts within other Scottish public bodies.
SPPA’s advice to customers is as follows: Put the phone down on unsolicited telephone calls. Never give personal or financial information out to anyone who cold calls you on the telephone. Report any scams to Action Fraud online. To discuss your SPPA pension please contact us directly. Help reduce unsolicited calls by registering with the Telephone Preference Service.

[Hoida]

Have had several of these e mails and as I have never dealt with pay pal just marked them as junk!