[Warby Posts: 1043 Status: Offline]

Another fake email I haven't seen before, this time from Amazon. Looked very much genuine but the address when checked contained a very dubious 'Eastern sounding name' !!!!
It was confirming an order with a ficticious delivery address. It then stated 'If you have not  authurised this order please contact us immediately' and gave a link!!!!!!!

[Steve Holland Posts: 1582 Status: Offline]

The company I currently work for sends us phishing mails to try to catch us out. Most people recognise them these days.

[Nick Flint Posts: 4859 Status: Offline]

Thanks for keeping us up to speed on IT stuff John.
It is amazing that the main (head of dept) Paypal advisor after 20 mins "succeeded" but only in failing to advise correctly‼
He was grumpy after a while when i succeeded in explaining how poor his systems were
But perhaps its a good job John wasnt on the line! I wish he HAD been.
At least this thread has brought some stuff to the fore, and we are all a little less likely to
Naively click on.
 

[John Robertson Posts: 5130 Status: Offline WWW]

Apparently----if one of THEIR email addresses includes---
---@paypal---
THEN IT has to be an authorised email, as "They own that.

That is really quite poor advice from PayPal - mainly because it's completely wrong  . 

If you send an email to someone@paypal.com then it WILL get delivered to PayPal, however, if you receive an email from someone@paypal.com than that does NOT guarantee that it came from Paypal. 

If you visit a website whose URL (website address) ends with paypal.com or paypal.co.uk then you are definitely viewing a genuine paypal website, however, if you visit a website that has "paypal" in the URL along with other stuff and doesn't end with paypal.com or paypal.co.uk then it is highly likely not to be a genuine paypal website.

Currently there is no absolutely reliable way to verify a senders email address therefore the only practical advice is never click a link in an email (instead, go directly to the website of the alleged sender and check your account for messages instead).

Anyone can send "fake" emails easily - HERE

More reliable background sources are HERE and HERE

This stuff isn't a unique Internet issue - old-fashioned paper mail "phishing" has gone on for decades .  It would be very easy to send a nice headed bank "letter" to you asking you to contact a special hotline to verify your pin, etc. (asking suitable security questions - the answers to which are already public knowledge ).  You should treat emails with the same degree of scepticism as you would a paper letter!

[Nick Flint Posts: 4859 Status: Offline]

This is an "Informational Thread" not some light hearted passing glance twards Information Techknowlegie.
Light hearted banter would be more appropriate once we are nearer to Christmas.
I Thank You 

[Warby Posts: 1043 Status: Offline]

I'll go with Kingphisher :-)

I like that Steve!!!!!

[Steve Holland Posts: 1582 Status: Offline]

I'll go with Kingphisher :-)

[joncurtis Posts: 2068 Status: Offline]

Password 1234?

[Nick Flint Posts: 4859 Status: Offline]

OK--- update here. 
More fun and games with long super Paypal chats overseas-----
Apparently----if one of THEIR email addresses includes---
---@paypal---
THEN IT has to be an authorised email, as "They own that.
OK we all know nothing is 100% but they say this IS 100%--- At The Moment.
It is NOT difficult however for fraudsters to address the email to Dear Joe Bloggs, so even the correct name can be a fake email phishing exercise----
Fraudsters HAD unsuccessfully tried to get into my account, but a new (harder) password was applied by me.
PS it is NOT "Password" as that would be silly. 
        usualdisclaimers.com

[Nick Flint Posts: 4859 Status: Offline]

Yesterday I recieved an almost identical e-mail telling me of "unusual activity in London, resulting in your account is suspended" giving me numbers to phone places to click  etc etc.!
"FROM Email" was correct (OR APPEARED to be), addressed to ME personally not dear reader--
ALL looked OK BUT i reported it anyway, as, ONE day the fakers WILL spell correctly, and get around all their current mistakes---
ANYWAY, it WAS genuine after all and it told me to change my Password, which I did and beefed it up a bit via OHIO USA spoken pin number via my mobile (for gords sakes!).
I could THEN check my account, which WAS all OK, but if I hadn't followed this up in the way i did, then who knows?
IN brief,
WHEN can you actually KNOW its false, or genuinely looking, but might be false, but might not be---?
Merry Christmas

[Fawkes Posts: 14 Status: Offline]

Follow that advice and you won't need anti-virus software or the constant updates!

There is still the possibility to catch a virus or other malware by just visiting a website:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive-by_download

[John Robertson Posts: 5130 Status: Offline WWW]

The sender email (or reply email) is VERY easily faked so looking at it will tell you nothing very useful (scammers don't want a reply - they just want you to click on a link - which may be a fake website that looks exactly as it should but harvests your password or installs a virus that harvests all your email contacts so all your friends get the same email!).  As Fawkes says, never, ever, under any circumstances click on a link in an email unless you are 100% certain it's genuine (best NEVER to click a link - that's the safe option!).  Follow that advice and you won't need anti-virus software or the constant updates!

[Warby Posts: 1043 Status: Offline]

By clicking the 'From' address it shows the full email address of the sender it is not a link, it merely shows the senders full address rather than the abbreviated one. In fact with hotmail you don't have to 'click' on the address just 'hover' over it with the Mouse to show the full address.

[Fawkes Posts: 14 Status: Offline]

A good advice is, NEVER click a link to Paypal inside an email. Even if you think that the email is real and all.
Instead, always go to your browser and type the address yourself (beginning with https://), so that you know that you are not on a third party website for sure.

[Warby Posts: 1043 Status: Offline]

I've had a few of these, and just by "clicking" on the From  address it opens up the full address ie :- PayPal Service <info@localdirectory.co.uk>  And <support@g2a.com> Which is obviously NOT Paypal !!
Genuine ones are "service@paypal.co.uk"
I forward them to : spoof@paypal.co.uk
Warby