I got an e-mail from PayPal this morning saying they think my account's been breached, and they've put limitations on it as a counter-measure. Not sure what this means -- I've only used it once, a long time ago, to transfer funds to someone in America who didn't want me to have her banking details. I have no idea whether this 'unauthorised access' means I'll stand to lose money in some way or other, and I'm not really sure whether any action is required from my side.
ETA: Thank you everyone who has warned me that this is phishing. I took your advice and reported the e-mail to PayPal, who have confirmed that they never sent it, and have given me some handy tips as to how to protect myself in future. Thank God I hadn't filled in any details, although I did follow the link initially...I have now deleted all my cookies and files from my computer, and hope that that'll be the end of it.
ETA: Thank you everyone who has warned me that this is phishing. I took your advice and reported the e-mail to PayPal, who have confirmed that they never sent it, and have given me some handy tips as to how to protect myself in future. Thank God I hadn't filled in any details, although I did follow the link initially...I have now deleted all my cookies and files from my computer, and hope that that'll be the end of it.
- Current Mood:
worried - Current Music:'Shanti\Ashtangi' - Madonna
Comments
NEVER follow a link from email to PayPal, a credit card home page or any other place where you would give information that could be used to steal your identity. If you want to check, type the URL into your navigation box manually. (That is, type http://www.paypal.com/ not the address they give you.)
Sometimes just to make myself feel powerful, I go to the phishing sites and log in with username: imnotstupid, password:youarebusted
LOL!
The e-mail I've received purports to be from support@ebay.com with a ReplyTo service@paypal.com. The link takes me to the PayPal login page (the same I get as when I type in the URL manually), but as I don't remember my login, and I'm not that interested in finding out what it might be, I don't think I've committed any serious errors of judgment yet.
Thanks for the warning -- I'll be careful!
I emailed paypal about it when it first hapened to me and they told me that's the easiest way to tell if it's from them x
"Dear [Real Name],
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."
Then there are several instruction as to how to proceed should you already have given out sensitive information, which thank God! I had not done.
The thing that made me suspicious in the first place was that I'd set up my PayPal account from my work addy, as I didn't have a home computer at that time...and I hadn't gone back to change any info later. So I couldn't think how they'd gotten hold of my present e-mail address if they were the real PayPal people.