ANOTHER CREDIT CARD SCAM

[AlanHo]

If you have ever purchased anything via the internet, you may have paid by credit card via a company called Paypal. This is a genuine company and is well known.

I today received what looks like a genuine Email from Paypal worded as follows :-

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Dear PayPal User,

For security purposes your account has been randomly chosen for verification. To verify your account information we are asking you to provide us with all the data we are requesting. Otherwise we will not be able to verify your identity and access to your account will be denied by our security department at once :

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_verify-run

Thanks for using PayPal!

Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

To receive email notifications in plain text instead of HTML, update your preferences.

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The link in the Email takes you to what looks like the genuine Paypal site and a form for you to complete asking for your credit card number - password - mothers maiden name etc.

NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT FROM PAYPAL - BUT IS A CRUDE SCAM TO GET YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS - IF YOU GET THIS OR A SIMILAR EMAIL - BIN IT.

NO REPUTABLE BANK, CREDIT CARD OR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WOULD EVER ASK FOR SUCH DETAILS OVER THE INTERNET.

[andsome]

Scams are now thick and fast, as is any spam. I had 53 spam messages waiting for me on the server this morning, and can usually expect considerably more to arrive during the day. One of these had no address at all, and I could not therefore blacklist it in Mailwasher. It contained only a load of jumble letters and symbols, but also contained an attachment. Needless to say, together with all the others, it was deleted by Mailwasher. This is the beauty of Mailwasher, in that you can preview these messages without downloading them.

[bluesman821]

Mailwasher,I love it. Have had it for about a month and it lets me see all those 44 kb "Security Notices", "Microsoft Updates" and delete them. :P

[-pops-]

I had one of these messages a few weeks ago. I also had a similar thing from ebay.

Now, I've never used paypal or ebay for anything at all - I am absolutely certain of that. Any etrader that wants me to use a third party payment system loses my business and I go elsewhere as I work on the philosophy that if a company isn't big enough to have its own credit card arrangements, it ain't big enough to deal with me.

As for ebay, I've heard so many tales of woe about rip-offs and general bad experiences, I couldn't cope with the hassle. OK, many people trade on ebay with no problems but I know lots who haven't.

Brian