July 30, 2016 |
Phony PayPal Mail Contains Spam Scam
PC World magazine reports a new scam is ranging through the web. Since we use PayPal for our regular accounts, we thought you should know about it.
If you get an e-mail message warning you that your PayPal account is about to expire, don't open it. If you open it, don't double-click the attachment. If you double-click the attachment, don't complete the form asking for your credit card information. And if you do fill in the form, call your credit card company immediately.
And don't blame PayPal. The problem is an e-mail virus, Mimail.I, first spotted on November 13. Most viruses are sick jokes; this one's out to steal your money.
Mimail (pronounced "my mail") arrives in an e-mail that appears to be from PayPal. In very convincing language, it states that your account will expire soon unless you resubmit your credit card information. "We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause," the text politely reads.
The letter even appears concerned about your privacy: "Please do not send your personal information through e-mail, as it will not be as secure." Instead, it asks that you run the attached program. That's where you enter your valuable information, which it then sends to four different e-mail addresses.
It also scours your hard drive for new e-mail addresses to send the same bogus message. These messages, like the one you got, are "spoofed" to appear as if they came from PayPal.
So don't, don't and don't. Just delete the message (or if you have a sophisticated email client, bounce it as undeliverable or flag the sender as junk).
If you get an e-mail message warning you that your PayPal account is about to expire, don't open it. If you open it, don't double-click the attachment. If you double-click the attachment, don't complete the form asking for your credit card information. And if you do fill in the form, call your credit card company immediately.
And don't blame PayPal. The problem is an e-mail virus, Mimail.I, first spotted on November 13. Most viruses are sick jokes; this one's out to steal your money.
Mimail (pronounced "my mail") arrives in an e-mail that appears to be from PayPal. In very convincing language, it states that your account will expire soon unless you resubmit your credit card information. "We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause," the text politely reads.
The letter even appears concerned about your privacy: "Please do not send your personal information through e-mail, as it will not be as secure." Instead, it asks that you run the attached program. That's where you enter your valuable information, which it then sends to four different e-mail addresses.
It also scours your hard drive for new e-mail addresses to send the same bogus message. These messages, like the one you got, are "spoofed" to appear as if they came from PayPal.
So don't, don't and don't. Just delete the message (or if you have a sophisticated email client, bounce it as undeliverable or flag the sender as junk).