Phishers Target PayPal Users with Scam E-mail

According to the news from HelpNetSecurity published on November 25, 2011, cyber-criminals are yet again targeting PayPal users with e-mails that apparently the Internet payment firm sent with a form attached, urging recipients for completing it with their financial as also other personal information so as for continuing using their accounts.

Carrying the header, "You have changed your PayPal e-mail address," the scam electronic mail provides the file attachment labeled as "Personal Profile Form-PayPal .html."

Users receiving the e-mail will find its content telling that they've included certain e-mail id, which's fresh for their PayPal account. But incase they didn't endorse this change then they should verify with their relatives who maybe empowered with viewing the accounts. Despite that if the users think that someone not authorized to access the accounts has altered their ids then they should fill the given form so their original e-mail id along with their PayPal accounts can be kept intact, the e-mail adds.

Moreover, one note inside the fake e-mail directs the user to open the form within the latest Web-browser like Opera 9, Internet Explorer7, Safari 3 or Firefox 3 that have a JavaScript running. It also reminds that this is to help safeguard the user's account, while finishes with regrets for any difficulty caused.

Furthermore, it indicates that incase the user overlooks the request from PayPal, then the firm will be bound for tentatively blocking his account.

Certainly, PayPal didn't send the e-mail with any HTML form attached, therefore whatever information the user would post will actually land up with the phishers.

Notably, there's the greatest rate of online-phishing attacks targeted at PayPal since different from conventional banks, the brand enjoys a truly international existence that raises the scammers' possibility of effectively trapping victims through their bulk e-mails.

Thus, following the latest PayPal spoofed e-mail, the firm has immediately done to advise recipients for sending the e-mail at its security team's address. This and other precautionary measures -to verify anything that's not in the e-mail by visiting PayPal's original website via entering the URL-address straight into the web-browser, and ignoring the above kinds of e-mail are always advisable.

Related article: Phishers Expand Their Sphere of Attacks

» SPAMfighter News - 12/2/2011