Click this link Safe - An example of fraud "Phishing"

My adrenaline level started to rise, and I started to panic. The email was entered in my Hotmail, and read:

.. "PayPal (support@PayPal.Inc.com), This message might be a phishing scam Read more Posted: Fri 6/27/08 8:20 AM Reply-to: support@PayPal.Inc.com

"Dear PayPal Member, This email confirms that you have sent an eBay payment of $ 347.85 USD

achaade13@yahoo.com ~ ~ V for an eBay item. Payment Details: Amount: $ 347.85 €, Transaction ID: 2LC956793J776333Y Subject: Digimax 130, information point, eBay User ID: scratchandgnaw2, Edward "Blank", unconfirmed address (the address was provided).

"Important Note: Edward" Blank ", has provided an unconfirmed address If you are planning on shipping items to Edward Harrell, please check the Transaction Details page of the payment to whether there will be affected by the PayPal Seller Protection Policy. .

"Note: If you have not authorized this charge, click on the link below to dispute transaction and get full refund Dispute transaction (Encrypted Link) * SSL connection:. PayPal automatically encrypts your confidential information in transit from your computer to ours using the Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) with an encryption key length of 128 bits (the highest level commercially available)

'. This payment was sent using your bank account using your bank account to send money, just: fee simple, secure, he sent the money faster to write and mail paper checks, paid instantly - your purchase will not appear on the bill at the end of the month.

"Thanks to the use of bank account! Thank you for choosing PayPal! The team of PayPal PayPal Email ID PP118"

My mouse arrow in the balance

My mind was racing. I do not know anyone by the name of Edward "Blank" (I left out the last name), and certainly have not made a transaction of $ 347.85 which was deducted from my bank account. Adrenalin Fear dependents began to mount.

I do not have enough money in the bank account to cover that amount, I thought, and now I take a few bounced checks.

My alarm quickly became indignant and angry thoughts passed through my mind:

- Where was this charge is?

- Who was Edward "Blank"?

- Of course I want to challenge it!

My mouse cursor is hovering over the link "Encrypted". "And I was about to click on it, when it came from somewhere a little voice of sanity." Wait a minute, "she whispered," this email has come in to your Hotmail account. Your e-mail account is yahoo paypal account, not a hotmail account. "

I looked more closely at the address of the sender of the email that I received. He said, "support@PayPal.Inc.com" and I realized I was totally wrong. The "Paypal" the address was a subdomain of the domain "Inc" Primary. A correct return address Paypal would "support@PayPal.com".

What if you had clicked on the link?

Well, probably nothing, until I started to fill out the form for requesting my personal information. The phishermen counted on the fact that now I would be panicked enough to give them the information they wanted, and that it would launch a raid on my Paypal account, bank account, and everything connected with my personal identity.

Clicking on that link would be an invitation to a personal disaster rivaling the tsunami in Sumatra, something that took me years to straighten out (assuming I could do it at all).

Watch out for the buttons

Let's take a look at the email again, and note the "panic buttons" that it uses to sow panic the recipient to take the bait.

1) You have sent a payment of $ 347.85 is not authorized to someone who does not know.

2) This was paid from your bank account

3) The recipient has an email address is not confirmed - the money was sent "in space", so to speak. The implication is that he broke into your account and will do so again.

4) "If you have not authorized this charge." Of course not, and you are invited to challenge by clicking on the link phisherman counts on your first thought. "I've got to take care of this"

5) The link is a Secure Sockets Layer. Implication: You are perfectly safe to do this.

6) payment from your bank account was convenient and fast, etc. They will probably want to "date information".

What should I do?

The proper response to an e-mail of this kind is not to do anything that tries to sow panic to do. Instead, go directly to your account and control costs (this would be true if your credit card or bank account). I saw a lot of phishing e-mails advising me that there is something wrong with my account on the Bank of America. I do not bank with them, but the gambling phisherman is that a percentage of the people he / she will have a spam, and click "secure".

Avoid the Stampede Phishing Scam

The e-mail you receive from phisherman is inherently terrifying. The phisherman use the buttons "panic" to sow panic is to divulge personal information. Your answer to this is simple:

Do not panic and do not be guided in by clicking the link "sure" that provide cost-effectively. Enter the e-mail to where it belongs - in the "deleted". Then empty.

Stay safe online - Never leave a phisherman you panic to do something you will spend a lifetime trying to undo ....