7 Ways to Spot a PayPal Scam E-Mail

By: Mike Makler | Posted: 15th August 2005

Paypal is a great site and is used by many to send and receive money.
Unfortunately some dishonest people are using the Popularity of Paypal
to line their own pockets with gold at the expense of unsuspecting Pay
Pal members. These paypal Scam Artists will try to get your Paypal ID
and password so they can Login then Clean out your Paypal Account of
all funds. Paypal is fully aware of this problem and is doing
everything possible to stop this. Unfortunately if someone logs into an
account with a valid Id and Password it is very hard for Paypal or any
other secure site for that matter to stop it. As a Consumer you need to
be educated so you can protect yourself.





A Typical Paypal
Scam Artist will send you an e-mail requesting that you update your
account. Often this request to update your account is made under some
false pretence like it is suspended or has been suspected of Fraudulent
use. Here is a Copy of a recent Paypal Scam E-mail I received

http://ewguru.com/hbiz/scam.html.
You will notice the Pay Pal Link on this page looks real. Don't click
it. You can however do a right click properties and notice that it is
in fact a phony link.



Paypal has an excellent online Article
about how to spot Fake E_mails. Much of the Material in this article is
derived from the paypal site href="http://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/abuser?cmd=kept/general/SecuritySpoof">http://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/abuser?cmd=kept/general/SecuritySpoof





Here are 7 ways to spot a Pay Pal Scam E-mail







1 - Any E-mail Sent to an E-mail Address that is Not Your Primary Pay
Pal E-mail Account is more then likely a scam.



2
- Fake links. After you click on the Link if it doesn't Start
https://www.paypal.com then it is a Fake Link. Even if it says Paypal
in it somewhere it is a Fake Link. The term "https" should always
precede any website address where you enter personal information. The
"s" stands for secure. If you don't see "https," you're not in a secure
web session, and you should not enter data.

(This goes for any payment Processor including your online Bank
Accounts)



3 - Subject like Please Restore Your Account Access.



4 - Generic greetings. Lot's of emails begin with a Greeting, such as:
"Dear PayPal member.



5 - Many Fake emails try to trick you with the threat that your account
is in jeopardy if you don't sign in and fix it NOW!



6
- Emails that appear to be websites. Some emails will look like a
website in order to get you to enter personal information. PayPal never
asks for personal information in an e-mail.



7. Misspellings and
bad grammar. Fake emails may contain misspellings, incorrect grammar,
missing words. Many Times these are used to trick the E-mail Filters



A quick review style="font-weight: bold;">

If you receive an E-mail with a Link requesting you to click on the
link and sign in to your Pay Pal account, Don't Do It!



If you receive an E-mail with what looks like a Paypal Sign in Form,
Don't Sign it!



If you are unsure if the e-mail is Real or fake forward it to
spoof@paypal.com and request assistance.



If
you absolutely must login to your pay pal account then I would highly
recommend you do the Following. Close all open Browser sessions. Run a
Spyware check on your computer You can get a free Spyware program here ( target="_blank"
href="http://www.download.com/Spyware-Doctor/3641-8022_4-9063584.html">http://www.download.com/Spyware-Doctor/3641-8022_4-9063584.html)
then type in https://www.paypal.com/ directly into your Browser window
do not click on any links.





Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001, When he built his
first Sales organization of over 100,000 Members.



Subscribe to Mike's Newsletter here:

http://www.ewguru.com/hbiz/list-sign-up.html



More Articles by Mike:

http://weeklytipsandtricks.blogspot.com







Copyright © 2005-2006 Mike Makler



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Tags: website address, money, logs, popularity, e mail address, gold, scam artists, pockets, e mail account, secure web, paypal account, secure site, scam artist, pay pal