New kind of phishing scam to watch out for

[TimM]

The page is trying to overlay a fake address on the address bar. It doesnt fool me since I don't have mine in the default location. Nasty...

[RunDownHouse]

For us less copmuter savvy folks, could you explain a little more what that means?

[TimM]

For years scammers have been sending official looking e-mails to paypal members asking to "verify" their information. They get sent to a fake website that looks an awful lot like the real thing. If you try to log in there, the username and password will be sent to the scammers, not to paypal. Then they can raid your account.

One defense to this was to just look at the address bar and see that you are not really on PayPal's site. This one uses some kind of overlay to replace the real address with a fake one. If my internet explorer had the toolbars set up in the default way, with the address bar right below "File Edit etc...", I'm pretty sure this would cover up the real address perfectly.

[Joe Taylor]

That's a new one... thank goodness I dumped IE a long time ago for Mozilla (Firefox)... amazing the security holes that just won't work on Firefox. (I just checked it - the "fake" paypal address bar doesn't even show up.)

[Mobed]

Some more tips. Paypal will only address E-mails to you using your First and Last names. I never use the links in emails I will type in the address or google it (if Im unsure). And the one I know from personal experience, make sure your receiving the "e-mail" on the account you have registered with paypal (my fake scam e-mail came to my hotmail address not the one I use for paypal). After reporting it to paypal they said "once you get one your bound to get more."

[mcozzy1]

Thanks for the Mozilla tip. I heard it mentioned before, but I decided to check it out from your post. It's unbelievably easy to install and it works just like Internet Explorer.

[BusterStacks]

there's an eBay scam going around AOL that looks VERY authentic.

[gila]

Yea Mozilla rocks. I downloaded it a few weeks ago and really love it. A highly recommend it.

[TobDog]

Pls note, the ady days https but there is not lock sign at the bottom, so it is not secure! Always go to the sites in your browser by typing them in or thru your own favorites, never use the links, especially if they are asking for info.

[deacsoft]

[ QUOTE ]
thank goodness I dumped IE a long time ago for Mozilla (Firefox)

[/ QUOTE ]

BINGO!