[sdiy] OT: Possible Pay Pal Third Party Scam(?)

[Don Tillman]

   > From: "Scott Stites" <scottnoanh at peoplepc.com>
   > Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 07:34:42 -0700 (PDT)
   > 
   > I know this is OT as heck, but Pay Pal seems to be used a lot in
   > the Synth-DIY community, so here goes -

Yes it's way off topic (so let's make the converation short) but it is
a dangerous scam. 

   > This morning I received an email at my work email address.  It
   > was HTML and the sending email address was service at paypal.com.
   > It raised a serious flag with me because my paypal account is
   > through my home email address, not my work address.  I suspect
   > that it may be a scam for someone to acquire credit card
   > information (forgive me if I'm wrong).

It is *exactly* a scam for someone to acquire credit card information.  

   > Here is an excerpt of the message:
   > 
   > > Dear PayPal Customer,
   > > 
   > > This e-mail is to inform you of a recent update we have made to
   > > our systems.  To avoid service interruption we require that you
   > > confirm your account as soon as possible. Please take a moment
   > > to confirm your account.
   > > "http://www.paypal.com@ussr.to/All/xconfirm">click
   > > 
   > 
   > It then goes on to give me instructions on where to
   > click to 'confirm' my paypal account, and tells me that
   > if I fail to do so, my account will be "flagged with
   > restricted access" (I thought all paypal accounts were
   > already "restricted" to the paypal customer).

In the URL "http://www.paypal.com@ussr.to", the "www.paypal.com" is
syntactic fluff that makes the URL look like it's from PayPal at first
glance while the "ussr.to" is the actual domain.  The implications
should be pretty clear.

   > I've forwarded this to Pay Pal BTW.

The PayPal company is not involved.  There have been similiar scams
faking AOL also.

You should forward this message to the FBI or whoever your local law
authorities are.  This is serious credit card fraud.

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don at till.com
http://www.till.com