I thought I’d let everyone on the forum know about an email scam doing the rounds. I’ve just had a bit of a fright regarding PayPal, the online payment facility which I think is linked to Ebay. I was sent an email claiming to be from PayPal which told me to click on a link to check out my account,(Ibet a lot of you know what’s coming next 
) I clicked on the link and was taken to a page which looked exactly like the PayPal website asking me to re-enter my credit card details and PIN no. I was blindly entering my card no. when the warning bells rang and I came to my senses. I immediately closed the page and reported it to PayPal. After some investigation it turns out it was a scam, all the warning signs were there, I just wasn’t on the ball at that time. Luckily there’s no damage dane as I didn’t “send” any info but it just shows how easy it is to get caught out. Please pass this message on as I’d hate for anyone to get fleeced like I almost did 
Good of you to post this. I would never have known about these tricks if I hadn’t seen warnings about them here. It all sounds so plausible. I am sure I would have given all my information.
This is a pretty common thing these days. To make things simple:
Ebay, Paypal, Amazon and Yahoo will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER send you an email with a link to update your information, enter your pin, enter credit card info, bank info, etc.
Dionys
Hey all,
You should also be aware that when you clicked on the link you may have downloaded spyware to your computer that can scavenge info off your computer. If you have a Mac, nevermind.
John
Oddly, PayPal does send email with security warnings from time to time which is pretty hard to distinguish from the phishing scams described here. I say “oddly” because it makes the scams seem more legitimate. I can’t remember one which contained a link, but to be safe:
Never click email links which claim to be to PayPal. Instead, if you see an email and feel the need to check your account, open a separate web browser window and type www.paypal.com in the URL bar.
That](http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/malspyware.html%22%3EThat) (the bit about Macs) isn’t true. There is less spyware (and, indeed, less software in general) for Macs, but it does exist, and so do security issues. Mac owners should take the same precautions as everyone else, in my opinion.
It is also possible for a webpage to capture your keystrokes in an entry field prior to you ever leaving the field or pressing Enter or Tab.
Kevin Krell
Kevin, that was something I wasn’t sure about so, as I had typed some of my details in, I contacted my credit card company and stopped my card immediately. Now I’m glad I did, thanks for that bit of info,Geo
It is possible that they had a keystroke capture, tho I don’t think it’s likely (however, take what precautions you deem necessary, better to err on the side of caution). I have a mac, and yes, they are ‘safer’ but not ‘safe’…
If one really feels the need to correct info due to an email warning, go to the main website (www.paypal.com) and log in regularly and do it, never enter info like that after following a link.
Here’s](http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en%22%3EHere%27s) a safe example (it’s an experimental service from Google) of capturing keystrokes as you type. Follow the link, and start to type “tin whistle” or something in the search box.
I learned about the keystroke capture thing from my brother, who used it a couple of years ago when giving on-line tests and surveys to his students. Sort of like when the psychiatrist says “now say whatever comes into your mind. Black…? Win…?”
Kevin Krell