How do I really know if an e-mail is from paypal?

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Jan

Jan

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Aug 6, 2006
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I just started with PayPal and got a wierd e-mail right before leaving today. It looked like a "real" paypal e-mail. When I checked the "source" the link in the mail was to what looked like a phone #. I went to paypal (I did NOT use the link in the e-mail) and clicked on my account-no problems, alerts, or questions!

Is there a way to know the difference between real and fake spam paypal e-mail?

Here's the e-mail without the link that was this (except with numbers) www(dot)###-###-####(dot)com
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Unauthorized access to your PayPal account!


We recently noticed more attempts to log in to your PayPal account from a foreign IP address.
If you accessed your account while traveling, the unusual log in attempts may have been initiated by you. However, if you are the rightfull holder of the account, please visit Paypal as soon as possible to verify your identity:

Click here to verify your account

You can also verify your account by logging into your PayPal account at (paypal site address?). If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choise but to temporaly suspend your account.
We ask that you allow at least 72 hours for the case to be investigated and we strongly recommend to verify your account in that time.

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team


Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

To receive email notifications in plain text instead of HTML, update your preferences here.



PayPal Email ID PP468
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OK, I really need to get to work
 
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THIS IS NOT PAYPAL!!!! I had the same email -I copied and pasted it into PayPal's link about strange emails and they confirmed it was fake. I constantly monitor my PP account so I know what's going on and I knew this ws fraudulent. Do not reply, do not send them your info!! On PP they give you hints for what to look at in the address and the email itself to verify the legitimacy of the content. But this is a fraud!!!!
 
If the e-mail is addressed to "Dear paypal user" or something else i.e not your actual name it's always going to be spam. Probably the easiest way to check.
 
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Plus they never ask you to click on links. They will ask you to go to paypal and login. Not click this link to login.
 
Since they spelled 'choice' as 'choise' , 'temporarily' as 'temporaly'.....

I think it is safe to assume that is not Paypal :)
 
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And if you're using outlook, you can usually hover your mouse over the link and see that the real link that shows in the tooltip popup is not actually paypal.com - usually it's something like paypal-securityx.com or something.
 
Actually, you FORWARD the email to paypal. Do not include the main juicy ip info. They'll reply back and say yes it was a scam. Please send all the juicy details.
 
Well my philosophy is paypal will never send me anything important, so i never read any mail they send :D

May get me in trouble down the way but, keeps me out of the tricks. Also most scams send you to some address like paypal.1kkl2jh.net or some crap.
 
Simple to do, and many people int he thread have hit on the key things.

1) If they address you as Dear Paypal user, trash it.
2) A real Paypal email will address you by name and by email address.
3) Hover over the link and look at where it is coming from, look carefully. It will contain something like blah.23423.paypal.support.com.blahjunk.scammerurl.com/junkcrap - if it is a scam.
4) If you get one and want to make sure anyhow, do like you did and log into Paypal and you will get a notice there is there are any issues.
 
Yeah, I got a similar one today that scared the crap out of me. The subject line had something about "limited access account" right after a legitimate email from them about a chargeback.

Whoever tried this one was stupid, though - the return address was sercice@paypal.com instead of service@paypal.com...oops!
 
The first line "Unauthorized access to your PayPal account!" tells me it's fake!
They want you to log in immediately at their fake site.

And what was about this part? (paypal site address?) It's easy to see if a url is fake.
 
Jan said:
I just started with PayPal and got a wierd e-mail right before leaving today. It looked like a "real" paypal e-mail. When I checked the "source" the link in the mail was to what looked like a phone #. I went to paypal (I did NOT use the link in the e-mail) and clicked on my account-no problems, alerts, or questions!

Is there a way to know the difference between real and fake spam paypal e-mail?

Here's the e-mail without the link that was this (except with numbers) www(dot)###-###-####(dot)com

OK, I really need to get to work
Click to expand...

Type in paypal.com and see if there are any actual problems posted in your account. Also try calling them.
 
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