PayPal Phishing Scam Erupts again during the Year-end Holidays

E-mail phishers are yet again cashing in on the approaching holidays when people get busy with online shopping for the festival. They're distributing fake e-mails supposedly from PayPal telling buyers it wasn't possible to verify their transactions alternatively processing of their payments couldn't be done.

The cyber-criminals are hoping to profit from their fraudulent messages expecting the panicking end-users would be so distressed that they wouldn't realize the electronic mails really not coming from PayPal as well as that the messages didn't use their name in the addressee.

If users can't recognize the fraudulent nature of the e-mail and hit the link that should land them on the "Resolution Center" actually get led onto a phishing website that the criminals crafted.

Once on the site, the victims navigate through several web-pages that ask them to key in the login credentials of their PayPal accounts, enter their postal address, birth-date, phone number, payment card details and maiden name of their mother.

The website increases the urgency as well as tension via enumeration of all that which the end-users can't do because of the limited nature of their accounts.

The way fakes are made, the particular website looks very convincing; however, users with more knowledge require perusing the URL only to note it dubious. Sadly, many people exist who will even then believe it followed with providing the information asked. Helpnetsecurity posted this, December 4, 2017.

Christopher Boyd from Malwarebytes observes that it's a particularly treacherous trick as December falls when many people find it hard making up all the festive purchases.

The fraudsters rely on people's hurry during the holiday as well as the ease built into clicking web-links that enable them to steal money without difficulty.

Thus Boyd urges end-users not to follow web-links within unsolicited e-mails instead verify the e-mails' claims via visiting the website by typing in the URL inside their web-browser.

There are some glaring mistakes in the e-mails to be noticed. The header space doesn't have a 'help' web-link. An alarm bell is missing to give notifications alternatively there isn't any gear icon to click for making one's account configurations up-to-date.

» SPAMfighter News - 12/11/2017