Phishing Expeditions - How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off

What is Phishing?

It is sending you an official looking email to trick you into going to a thief's website and giving out sensitive information that will be used to steal from you.

This email is a real Phishing Expedition that I received:

NOTE: the hyperlinked address to the above underlined text was not PayPal's.

This is what PayPal reported and their suggestions about how to protect yourself*:

Dear William H. Leatham,

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.


************************************************************************
This
email is sent to you by the contracting entity to your User Agreement, either PayPal Inc or PayPal (Europe) Limited. PayPal(Europe) Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK as an electronic money institution. ***********************************************************************

* The bolding is mine.