Don’t fall foul of scammers’ phishing trips
Q
I RECENTLY received two emails from Paypal, but neither made sense. One was a payment request from Abercrombie & Fitch, the second from Neverland Motors. Both said I had ordered something and they were awaiting their cash before posting the items. However, I had never used either company.
Even stranger, the recipients of both the clothing and the car parts were someone other than me. The addresses were genuine – in London and Belfast.
I tried to forward these emails to Paypal and then to another email address I own – but nothing happened. What is going on? Andrea G
A
PAYPAL has no transaction records because you never made them. The two retailers are genuine but neither company has anything to do with these emails either.
These are “phishing” trips – designed to get personal details such as bank accounts or credit card numbers. While the fraudsters have incorporated technology to prevent you forwarding their emails, you managed to print a screen grab and send it to us.
They have stolen Paypal’s logo and the sending address appears legitimate.
Further down in your email, there is a link which says “Cancel this transaction”. The fraudsters expect you to try this because you do not recognise the purchase.
Don’t. It leads to another site which enables them to verify your email and ask for account details. Some – not all – internet service providers have now blocked this and similar emails.
Earlier this year, Paypal ran a Take Five campaign – aimed at ensuring you take five minutes to think about a strange email before responding or trashing it. Scam artists use a false sense of urgency to prompt you to act in haste and follow links to fake websites, where your information can be collected and used to imitate your identity and, in some cases, make payments and purchases in your name.