WARNING!

Geeze, i wonder how many they'll sucker with that one . . . somebody's DA needs to be checkin' out them boys an' girls . . .

The Pa State Police "tech crimes " unit has been cooperating with the US PO and FBI to set up stings . The problem with the paypal scam, is that its off shore . Sort of like the Dr Nobi Bono from Nigeria.
Ive installed one of the "challenge/response" filters. Im not sure they are foolproof but I dont think we are dealing with Nobel Prize laureates here.

Looks like this is a particularly nasty one!

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/paypal.asp

scary!

What would astound me is that someone would be such a plank as to provide anyone their PIN--this must be targeted at the congenitally stupid, or those among the elderly who do not understand the technological world. This is so shabby . . .

Setanta- I have found, that among older people, especially women, there is a level of naivete that I find astounding.

Many older widows have never been involved with financial matters, and may control a lot of money now. Their generation was socialized to be compliant, so they are easy pickings for con men and hucksters.

What I have done with my mother, who is almost 94 and has a lousy memory, is to instill a high level of paranoia in her about anybody who phones, or comes to the door.

setanta how is it you can forget, with all the political posts you see, that the congenitally stupid is a ready made and easy target audience in this country right Now? :wink:

Very scary stuff!

Well, I do not use PayPal, but if I have got such a message, I would contact the PayPal company and inquire whether they really demand confirmation of information that they already possess, and for which purposes.

Contacting PayPal
The first thing I did was contact PayPal, and they are very aware of the scam. Thanks for all the replies!

Paypal never asks for your PIN #.

Seems this scam is pretty old. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/TechTV/techtv_paypalscams021001.html
Seems that's about the time I heard from PayPal about my account. I didn't bother responding, because I don't use PayPal to pay my bills. c.i.

I got this message too, but thought it sounded a little odd. I hadn't taken the time to check it out. Thank you so much bermbits!

geesh - I just bought something last night!

One of the basic rules for survival on the internet is to always pay attention to this first rule. No legitimate entity will ever send you an email requesting you respond with your password or credit information. Never ever respond to these types of unsolicited inquiries no matter who they are from.

Quite right. This is the most common way that "hackers" "steal" people's identities.

On AOL people used to (and probably still do) get requests through AIM for their passwords.

<I used quotation marks for "hacker" and "steal" because they are more like "kids" and "give away" in my opinion>

I caustion against one more common scam.

Let's say someone sends you an email like that but without asking you for your info. But in the email they direct you to a site with a similar name to paypal (or whatever) and with an identical look.

You see the login box and you do so. But instead of logging you in the form sends your username and password to someone.

That is a very simply trick that miscreants pull on many many different types of sites. Check the urls of what you sign into.

Paypal is very good about warning you of those scams. They tell you ad nauseum to check to make sure it is their URL.

Ooh ... My own sense of ridicule gives way to embarassed concern.
There are, indeed, many people who could use all the help we can give. I'm very lucky to be where I am.

I've taught three women so far how to setup a budget, inventory, savings plan, and investment strategy ... That math phobia and helpless flailing has GOT to go! Grrrrr....

Thank you, Phoenix.

This PayPal scam should be reported as a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission.

I got this email...

_Dear_ citibank_ Card-holder, ThIs email was se-nt by the Citicard serevrs to veerify _your _E-MAIL_ addres_. You must complete this process by clicking on_the link beelow and enteering in the litlle winndow your citi_bank Debbit full Card number and CARD PIN that _you use in_the ATM. This_is donne for Your protection -2- becaurse some_of_our memmbers _no longer have access to their E-mail addresses and we must verify it. To verify your email addres and acccess _your OnlineCitibank account, clic on_the_link bellow. Tk7t5YaMbUIg3bkXr lrJYKVLo e9t

I'm not sure if it's real or not - I sent them my account information just in case it is legitimate (I'm sure it is, but I noticed one small typo and now I have my doubts).

Does anyone else think this looks suspicious?