I’m catching up on all the email I missed out on while I was sick and had to laugh at this new-to-me way of phishing. Click for bigger view.

Phishing Scam


For those unaware, let’s take a closer look. (In other words, don’t freak out if you see something similar in your mailbox, you have lost no money!)

There’s a scammer out there who wants my PayPal login information! The only link in this email is a supposed “cancel this transaction link” and, strangely enough, it currently doesn’t point to a PayPal wannabe site as is typical of these emails. The link points to resultagreeent.tk, but visiting that site gives me a, “yes, this domain has already been registered,” notice and that’s about it. The thing about this guy is not just that he’s a spammer but apparently a stupid one. How can he possibly benefit from sending out these emails?

Typically these emails contain links to PayPal look-alike sites that are only set-up to steal your login information and from there your balance, credit card info, etc. So don’t click those links! They may be disguised inside of domain names, stupid things like, my–paypal–com.info or something, or they may be IP addresses and just look like random numbers, or they could be anything. I’ve heard tale of a certain get-a-phone-call-from-Santa website out there hosting PayPal scams, actually… If you are ever unsure about the veracity of a PayPal email, go to your PayPal account by typing in the address in your browser, not clicking email links!

But take a look at the email, if you’ve gotten one. Whenever you get an email that claims to be from PayPal, always look first at who is addressed. If it says, “dear Member,” like this one does, then delete it – it’s completely fake and you have nothing to worry about. A valid PayPal email will always, always, always greet you by your first and last names!

Now, that right there is enough evidence, but there is one other thing I notice about this email. In fact, I notice it before seeing the whole “dear member” thing. They hid the “to” field. My address and name are not listed as being who the email is to.

There are many more, what do YOU see? :)

* This post may sound a little incomprehensible at some points due to the editing out of information on the person who is shown as “recipient” in the original email. I have had reports that he is a real person (not a spammer’s fake identity as I had originally thought) and that his identity was stolen. Please do not try to contact him, it’s very possible he’s as much of a victim as you are. Also, while I gladly welcome your comments, please do not post any of his (or your) personal information here. Comments to that respect will be edited.

If you have been taken in by this scam, change the password to your PayPal account immediately and contact your banks to keep a watch out for strange charges (its a good idea to have them issue you new credit card numbers as well). If you have not clicked the links and entered any personal information into a site that’s not PayPal, just delete the email. You are safe and there is really nothing else you can do.