The Steel Guitar Forum

Received this, and am checking to see if it's making the rounds or is bona fide. The link asks for my ATM pin number, so that would seem to be a red flag.
I have forward the email to paypal spoof.

"Information Regarding Your account:
Dear PayPal Member!

Attention! Your PayPal account has been violated!

Someone with ip address 193.42.87.164 tried to access your personal account!

Please click the link below and enter your account information to confirm that you are not currently away. You have 3 days to confirm account information or your account will be locked.

Click here to activate your account

You can also confirm your email address by logging into your PayPal account at http://paypal.com/. Click on the "Confirm email" link in the Activate Account box and then enter this confirmation number: 1036-8535-4511-9500-3892

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team"

I had a very similar email this morning. Forwarded it onto Paypal. They confirmed it IS a scam. Beware.

Thank you, Tony.
Paypal verified it was a phishing expedition.
It helps my blood pressure to have it verified by you.
Give out my ATM pin #...! Would that we were all as stupid as they think we are.

First any legitimate e-mail from Pay Pal will have your name on it. If it doesn't have your name on it it's SPAM or in many cases "phishing" messages to get you to log on to a site somewhere so they can steal your logon ID and password.

I considered forwarding or "reporting" them to Pay Pal but with the large number of them that are sent it's probably a waste of time as they change identities and URL's so often it's hard to pin anything down.

Yep, I got that same email this morning and forward it on to the "big spam" guys in cyberland.

I wish I could meet somebody that does that kind of scam so I could kick the living s*** out of them!

I guess I'm a bit angry sounding, aren't I ... sorry, I'll calm down soon.

Charlie, I get these,frequently. I just forward them to the paypal spoof address.

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www.phelpscountychoppers.com/steelguitar

I get these messages routinely when I open my e-mail. I ignore and delete them immediately because I have NEVER had a PAYPAL account.

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<img width=100 src=http://www.steelguitar.com/customer/cus ... sgene1.jpg>
GUITARS ETC
WEBSITE

Yep, SCAM 'tis! Lots of this crapola going around ..sadly ..BEWARE! I use PayPal lots and get frequent scam attempts. NO legit service such as PayPal, ebay or (any other) would ask for SS#'s, PIN #'s or Passwords. If you get anything like that, Send the letters (forward) to proper authorities and NEVER click on ANY links!

In addition to forwarding the phishing scam email to spoof@paypal.com I also copy and paste the entire source code into a report form at www.spamcop.net which causes reports to be lodged against the scammer with his own ISP, his web host, and all intermediaries.

Anybody can sign up for a free reporting member account at SpamCop, by going to www.spamcop.net and clicking on the link to get a reporting member account ID.

------------------
Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
<small>Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage</small>

<SMALL>I ignore and delete them immediately because I have NEVER had a PAYPAL account.</SMALL>

What a crazy world.

I got 1 too PayPal fraud.
They said they were adding an unknown name
to my account.
They want your password.

Here is the reply I got from spoof@paypal.com, regarding this scam:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>
Dear (name removed for security),

Thank you for contacting PayPal. We appreciate you bringing this suspicious email to our attention.

Commonly referred to as phishing, these emails are sent by fraudsters in an attempt to collect sensitive personal or financial information from the recipients. PayPal takes phishing threats seriously. Our fraud
prevention specialists are working 24/7 to help protect you and enable the community to stay safe.

After review, we can confirm that the email you received was not sent by PayPal. Any website which may be linked to this email is not authorized or used by PayPal.

Our fraud prevention team is working to disable any website linked to this email. In the meantime, please do not enter any information into this website. If you have already done so, you should immediately log
into your PayPal account and change your password, as well as your security questions and answers. We also recommend that you contact your bank and credit card company immediately.

If you notice any unauthorized activity on your PayPal account, please report it to us by following the instructions below:

1. Log in to your account only from the PayPal website. Do not use links provided in any email.

2. Click on the Security Center link at the bottom of the page.

3. Click on the 'Unauthorized Transaction' link under the Report a Problem column.

4. Follow the instructions on this page in order to access the appropriate form.

Lastly, we recommend taking a few steps to protect yourself from identity theft:

> Download the SafetyBar, a toolbar for Outlook and Outlook Express, which identifies known spoof emails.
> Get eBay Toolbar with Account Guard which warns you when you're on a potentially fraudulent (spoof) Web site.
> Frequently monitor your account for suspicious activity.

For additional tips please visit the PayPal Security Center at http://www.paypal.com/security.

Once again, thank you for reporting this suspicious email. Your vigilance helps us in our efforts to protect the PayPal community. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.

Sincerely,

PayPal
______________________________

Important: PayPal and its representatives will NEVER ask you to reveal your password. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this policy. If anyone claiming to work for PayPal asks for your password under any circumstances, by email or by phone, please refuse and immediately contact us via our secure webform online.
</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The advise contained at the bottom applies to all PayPal members who believe they are being scammed or whose accounts may have been compromised by ID thieves.

------------------
Bob "Wiz" Feinberg
Moderator of the SGF Computers Forum
<small>Visit my Wiztunes Steel Guitar website at: http://www.wiztunes.com/
or my computer troubleshooting website: Wizcrafts Computer Services,
or my Webmaster Services webpage</small><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 23 January 2006 at 06:05 PM.]</p></FONT>

By the way, Monday's Paypal scam emails came from Romania.