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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,227 |
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Valued Member
United States
363 Posts |
Well, not mine, but an email sent to me today stating that I had won a set of 4 Vulcan tires and my Paypal acc't had been charged $379. This would show up on my credit card as such and such. Of course I never bought any Vulcan tires. (I actually prefer Michelin, but that's beside the point) The email even gave a name and address of the person to whom the tires would be sent and it wasn't me! The Paypal logo was there and for all the world looked like an official email.  I had gotten something like this before, except the last time I had purchased a set of encyclopedias for a few hundred bucks, paid for out of my Paypal account. Even though I knew this was a scam and 99.9% sure no charge had been made, I still got that initial feeling of having been kicked in the stomach. If this happens to you, don't reply to the email which is what the scammer is hoping you'll do. A person's first gut reaction is to make this right and explain that a mistake has been made. (after all, you didn't order anything like this) But, I'm sure after emailing back, the next step will be to turn over your personal info (Paypal password, who knows what else in order to right this terrible wrong) First, calmly bring up your Paypal acc't and see what the most recent transactions were. In my case, there weren't any, so I knew I was safe. Then, forward the scammer's email to spoof@paypal.com Usually, they will send a response to you in a few minutes affirming that, yes, this is indeed a spoof email, and thanking you for reporting it. Just thought this might help someone else to whom this might happen. Dont' panic! I meant to add: don't use any links in the spoof email to get to your Paypal acc't, use instead your link from your favorites list, or go to it from your own personal ebay page. Edited by adobero1
08/11/2006 11:19 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
one thing, you need to forward the whole email to spoof@paypal.com not just the email address it came from
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Valued Member
 United States
363 Posts |
Yes, that's right, the whole email. Thanks.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1454 Posts |
I have gotten those as well. This is great that you brought this up adobero. People need to be informed and not panic. Education is the key.
I just delete them and go on. I know I should probably report them but I just don't mess with it anymore. The first thing I do is exactly as you say, go straight to my Paypal account using my browser and if the charge isn't there, I delete and go on with my life. As a matter of fact I don't open any e-mail that says Paypal on it. I just go straight to Paypal to check things out.
And yes, do not click on any link in an e-mail whether it be from Paypal or not. Even a friend could unknowingly be sending you something that could do harm.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
986 Posts |
Thanks for the heads up. I've heard of this happening to many people before, but nobody in my family's been scammed yet.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
891 Posts |
Luckily I haven't gotten any of these. How are they getting your email address anyways? Is it though ebay or paypal somehow? |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by Southern Yankee
Luckily I haven't gotten any of these. How are they getting your email address anyways? Is it though ebay or paypal somehow?
Not through ebay nor PayPal; they have too many protections in place. Most spoof scams get email addresses from the same sources as spam: bot-crawlers which search the web looking for addresses which they then harvest and add to their list. If your address is posted anywhere on the web, it WILL be harvested. Most of my spam and scams are addressed to an alias address which I NEVER use for financial matters. I receive one or two ebay or PayPal spoof scams per week. If forwarding a spoof to PayPal, ebay, or to any other financial institution, the FULL headers should be included; these will have complete routing information and can lead back to the originator. Depending on one's emailer (Eudora, Netscape, Outlook), the full email headers may or may not be accessible or openable (Eudora has a button for "blah blah" to expand the headers). Fred |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
891 Posts |
Thanks Fred I wasn't aware of any of that. I guess that is one of the downfalls of using the internet. Seems no different than getting junk mail through the post office. What a pain.
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by Southern Yankee
Thanks Fred I wasn't aware of any of that. I guess that is one of the downfalls of using the internet. Seems no different than getting junk mail through the post office. What a pain.
About the only effective filters for junk email are those which are built into one's emailer. Spamblockers at the ISP level block too much legitimate email and in most instances don't permit the recipient to review the filtered mail for real email. I use Eudora which has an algorithm which is programmable by the user and has an adaptable memory so that it remembers the type message which the recipient doesn't want. It's still only about 90% effective, so I have to screen the "junk" for legitimate messages. Still, like junk mail, spam and scams are probably going to be with us for a long time - just another fact of life we have to learn to live with. |
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Member
United States
1154 Posts |
I also got one where it said I won an auction for a Ipod. Not a good experience. THey had my pass word and all that junk.
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
Half of the spam is not even adressed to me but to anybody's name at my mailer with a name vaguely ressembling mine.
However my mailer catches 95% of the spam and only filters out one real newslettre I want
I am curious ; I will be changing mailer 1st of octobre without any forwarding of mail
This should shake all nameless mail
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
I get an average of about 4-5 pieces of this type a mail a day, I even had some Guy from England call me every name in the book, about not getting his items .. Truthfully I have no Idea who he is or what he was talking about.. But talk about make you mad .. Calling you names like that. I wish I new were they were.
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Member
United States
3242 Posts |
I have won so many laptop I could be a wholesaler for best buy I just delete
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,227 |
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Posted 08/12/2006 01:03 am
