Got An Email From PayPal Today And......
By Bonnie
@yoyo1198 (3641)
United States
February 7, 2011 5:03am CST
the gist of it was that they have limited my account as they have noticed there has been some suspicious activity in the account lately. Well, I haven't used PayPal for a few months now so I know that it wasn't my activity. So I went to the PayPal site (not via the email link...I wasn't about to give some pond scum my financial business data). After looking at my account information, I found it clean as a whistle. No unresolved problems. No resolutions pending. Zilch, nada, no, nope,zed,0, nyet...I'm sure you get the idea. So anyway I chased down what I should do with this obviously fradulent email and PayPal want to see phishing scams like mine. So I forwarded the email to them with headers and footers showing. Haven't heard back from them as yet.
This isn't the only fraud attempt, con job, phishing pitch, that I've had and frankly I'm getting angry because with all of the technology out there why can't someone stop these virtual thieves?
I had another email (3 in fact) from a friend saying she was stuck in London and had all of her stuff and purse stolen and she needed my help in getting her back to the states. Well I know where this friend is and I know she's not in London. So apparently her gmail has been hacked and now they've got my address so they can come and hack mine too. Anger boiling up again.
If I knew enough about computers and technical stuff, I'd figure out how to track these scum bags down. But all I know is how to forward it to my ISP and the corporations that are being used as shills.
How do some of you handle these con jobs? Or does it even happen to you? Any ideas that you think would be workable for me? 
7 people like this
13 responses
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
7 Feb 11
I forward these to the FBI in my state....and they want you to so they can do the tracking...the paypal thing got my daughter into some trouble! She was worried...went right in and gave all her info....dang....took a while to get it straightened out...those people need to get a real job instead of scamming others for easy money!
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
7 Feb 11
in truth as soon as i see it, i handle it the same way you have. ive gotten that same email, again and again. also, ive learned recently, you have to watch what thrown at you supposedly free. because usually its not free. theres crap in the small print that if you agree to the free, they will charge you something. 
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
8 Feb 11
I've got these and similar ones from time to time in the past. They are easy to spot if you know what to look for (as you obviously do.) They keep on sending them out because it costs them nothing to do so and there's always some Internet newbie who gets one of these and responds to it.
All that you can do if you think that your email has been hacked is to change the password and for maximum security you could change it on a regular basis - every month maybe. Thats a hassle and a pain but better than some lowlife scum accessing your private email account.
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
8 Feb 11
@jwfarrimond....I haven't changed any passwords for a long time. I have so many various accounts online that would really be a hassle. It's hard to remember so many as it is. Your comment to skyhighluo is spot on. Thanks so much for that input.
@skyhighluo....Some people get more spam because they do more traveling on the internet. I recognized the PayPal email as a phishing attempt because of its bad grammar. Whoever sent it had included the right PayPal logo but there were other subtle differences. Thank you for your response.
@derek_a (10874)
•
8 Feb 11
There is no way that these people can be tracked down by ordinary comnputer users, and it probably wouldn't be safe to do so anyway. When it happens to me, and it has happened a lot, I forward the e-mail to the professionals who are trying to track the hackers and scam artists. They're email address is - spoof@millersmiles.co.uk - you can send the email to them, as it is, don't add anything at all. 
_Derek
_Derek
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
7 Feb 11
Good morning, sorry this has happened to u. I am sure not technology smart, far from it. I haven't had this happen to me that i know of anyway, duh. I don't know if it makes a difference or not but that is why i have always been leary of going to a bunch of different sights, i just don't do it. Hope u get it all worked out w/out any damage to u.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
8 Feb 11
hOPE U GOT EVERYTHING WORKED OUT IN YOUR FAVOR. Creeps is a nice word for them. I can think of better words for them, lol.
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
7 Feb 11
Hi, lady....Hope you are doing well. Thanks for your input. I get spammed just from going to a few sites. You are lucky not to have to deal with the real tough phishing creeps. They take up too much time to read and I usually just delete them. But this time since it involved my personal finances I had to check it out. Guess that's what the spammers figure...that we'll check it out using their link.
1 person likes this
@globaldoc (858)
• Philippines
8 Feb 11
Paypal is definitely a very legitimate site. It is so useful. However, the rates are high, and they are simply so strict. They do not just listen to people. Anyway, somehow i cannot blame them because there are simply too many fraudulent acts and scams happening online. This is why one should always be discreet in giving out the information one has. It is also very dangerous, so i discourage my friends from doing so.
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
8 Feb 11
Hi, globaldoc...I haven't used PayPal enough to know what their rates are. I did use them to submit their credit cards for online purchases but they have now discontinued that practice. You are most correct about everyone being cautious with their information. I make sure I am on a secured site if I have to enter any of my individual data.
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
8 Feb 11
I've got these and similar ones from time to time in the past. They are easy to spot if you know what to look for (as you obviously do.) They keep on sending them out because it costs them nothing to do so and there's always some Internet newbie who gets one of these and responds to it.
All that you can do if you think that your email has been hacked is to change the password and for maximum security you could change it on a regular basis - every month maybe. Thats a hassle and a pain but better than some lowlife scum accessing your private email account.
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
8 Feb 11
You did all that you can do.
Turn in the phishing e-mails to paypal. I doubt you'll hear from them I don't think that I did when I turned them in.
The thing you need to do is also warn these friends their e-mail has been hacked so they can tell others whom are on their contact list about the scam. I hear about this a few times a year on our local news how some person believe they won the lotto in XYZ country or a inheritance from XYZ country and they need to send money to them to get the money out of the country ect.
I've seen FB accounts get hacked as well.
I've gotten a few lately that have said my bank account with such and such place needs verification. Funny I don't have accounts there so please suspend them cause I don't have accounts there in the first place. THey probably figure being national banks that someone they send a phishing e-mail to will respond thinking it is legit.
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
8 Feb 11
Hi, SnuggleBunnies....the PayPal info on their site stated that someone would contact me but I doubt it will happen any time soon. I'm sure they are busy with these kinds of things. I did try to notify my friend that her email had been hacked but all messages have been returned as undeliverable. So I only hope that she has become aware and discontinued that email address. Thanks for your input.
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
7 Feb 11
I get those all the time and I just forward them to "abuse@____.com". It's very annoying, isn't it? But that's all you can do unless you want to add the address to your spam or junk mail folder. You could even ban the whole domain but you might miss something from a friend. So just add it to your blocked list of senders after you send it to the abuse department.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
7 Feb 11
hi yoyo my best friend Nelda got one of those saying her cousin was in Londona and had all her stuff and her purse stolen so since nelda was a close relative please send some money so she can get home. Nelda being one smart lady phoned her cousin and foundout she had not been to london in her life so Nelda quickly deleted the email . the way I handle those con jobs is to read,,realize my bank does not send out emails like that and my paypal account is fine, and I have not got any money coming fromn the IRS and know the IrS does not send out emails with badly spelled words and rotter grammar sol I delete,delete and delete again. loll
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
8 Feb 11
Usually I report them as spam and then delete them. I did once, long, long ago, take one and fill in all the blanks:
Name: You are a crook
Address: I am not falling for your scam
Mother's maiden name: Not an idiot
etc.
Probably not a good idea, but it felt good at the time...
@rajesh_111 (595)
• India
7 Feb 11
I haven't got the phishing mail regarding paypal but I do often get mails about local banks of my country like account update or security increased etc.. and all those lottery winning notifications. I just simply delete them.
I don't report them because most of the banks in my country will treat me as a scammer and I did reported one time to yahoo mail and in reply they said we can't do anything as the mail hasn't been sent using yahoo mail .
