PayPal scam?

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Alan A. Reiter" <alan.reiter () verizon net>
Reply-To: <reiter () wirelessinternet com>
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 10:07:57 -0400
To: "David Farber" <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: PayPal scam?

Hi Dave,

I don't know if you've seen this, but it looks like a scam using PayPal.

I just received a realistic-looking e-mail, supposedly from PayPal, under
the heading of Paysecurity" with the e-mail address of
paysecurity () paypal com and the subject of "Dear PayPal Customer."

The e-mail says:  "This e-mail is the notification of recent innovations
taken by PayPal to detect inactive customers and non-functioning mailboxes.
The inactive customers are subject to restriction and removal in the next 3
months.  Please confirm your email address and and [Note the extra "and"]
Credit Card info number by logging in to your PayPal account using the form
below:"

Here's the information it requests:

Email Address:
Password:
Full Name #:
Billing Adress #:   [Note the misspelling of "address"]
Billing State #:
Credit Card #:
Exp.Date(mm/yy) #:
ATM PIN (Bank Verification) #:


In the fine print, there's a paragraph that says, "If you previously asked
to be excluded from Providian product offerings and solicitations, they
apologize for this e-mail. Every effort was made to ensure that you were
excluded from this e-mail. If you do not wish to receive promotional e-mail
from Providian, go to http://removeme.providian.com/.";

I looked at www.providian.com and it's a credit card company.  I don't know
if it's sending this e-mail, whether it's used for "credibility" or whether
it has anything do to with this.

I assume this e-mail is a scam, just like the phony Earthlink scam that
requested user information and looked very realistic, too.



Alan

---------------------------------
Alan A. Reiter, president
Wireless Internet & Mobile Computing consulting
E-Mail: reiter () wirelessinternet com
Phone: 1-301-951-0385
Weblog: http://reiter.weblogger.com
Web site: http://www.wirelessinternet.com


------ End of Forwarded Message

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