A decent phishing attempt

[priusenvy]

I got this in the mail a couple days ago. I think it's considerably better than most phishing attempts.




When I first read this, I didn't think "obvious phishing attempt". What I thought of was a co-worker telling me that their Ebay account was hijacked recently and a bunch of bids were made on items using that hijacked account. So my first thought was, "Oh great, someone's hijacked my Ebay account and bid on a hi-def video camera." I did see at the bottom of the display window that the actual link pointed to a Linux/UNIX system in Slovenia set up on a DSL link.

Eudora 7 has this nice "ScamFinder" feature where if you hover your cursor over the link, it will tell you if the text is different than the site that the link points to:




There is probably other software out there that warns of suspicious links. Anyway, this is probably the best phishing attempt I've ever received so I thought I'd share it.

[galaxee]

i got one of those last week, too. i don't get many phishing emails. thunderbird also lets you see the site that a link points to, and you can decide whether it's legit. it also pops up a message saying the link might be a scam and to be sure before going there... probably for people like my mom.

[rufaro]

I have had several of those types of phishes. The first one stopped me for a moment (long enough to wonder if DH had bid on something on our mutual eBay account), but only until I realized that it had come to one of my "auxilliary" email accounts--one that is NOT registered with eBay. It DID look legit!

[Rancid13]

All you have to do is log into Ebay and check My Messages to see if there were any incoming messages from Ebay with regards to the 'email' you received from "them". DON'T click on any links that are provided in the email "they" send you. I've heard that some high-tech phishers have ways of keeping tabs on which keys on your keyboard have been typed, which may (unknowingly to you) give them your username and password if you attempt to log into Ebay via one of "their" links. I always make sure to forward any and all phishing scams to Ebay (spoof@ebay.com) and Paypal (spoof@paypal.com) when they pop up in my inbox.

[rufaro]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rancid13 @ Sep 5 2006, 04:27 PM) [snapback]314828[/snapback]</div>

All you have to do is log into Ebay and check My Messages to see if there were any incoming messages from Ebay with regards to the 'email' you received from "them". DON'T click on any links that are provided in the email "they" send you. I've heard that some high-tech phishers have ways of keeping tabs on which keys on your keyboard have been typed, which may (unknowingly to you) give them your username and password if you attempt to log into Ebay via one of "their" links. I always make sure to forward any and all phishing scams to Ebay (spoof@ebay.com) and Paypal (spoof@paypal.com) when they pop up in my inbox.
[/b]

The forwarding thing is a GREAT idea...except...the ISP at my office rejects all OUTGOING email it recognizes as containing elements of phishing. Why it lets them IN, I cannot comprehend.

[priusenvy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rancid13 @ Sep 5 2006, 04:27 PM) [snapback]314828[/snapback]</div>

I always make sure to forward any and all phishing scams to Ebay (spoof@ebay.com) and Paypal (spoof@paypal.com) when they pop up in my inbox.
[/b]

I do that after I try logging in using the name of that well-known Muslim terrorist, Usuqa M'diq.

http://strmz.com/Clip3530

[markymags]

I constantly get e- mails from people at my company asking if these types of e- mails are a scam. It is interesting how much better looking these phishing scams are getting.

I have to send out weekly reminders to everyone that people are always going to be trying to get your eBay or Paypal information and that e- mails stating that they have won the lottery in Africa even though they did not buy into any African loterry are fraudulent as well.

[Godiva]

I don't open anything from Paypal or eBay like this but only use the messages on the websites after logging in.

I use Mozilla and I can see the URLs addie on the bottom left corner when I hover over it. Safari does something too, can't remember. But both let me know that the addresses aren't from eBay or Paypal but from some lame phisher. I suppose we'll have to live with them eternally, like spam and faxes.

[randreed]

I have a free e-mail account that I only use for ebay/paypal and nothing else. It's suprising how easy this is to do and I have not gotten any spam there (yet) as long as I don't use it for anything (like forums, etc).

If I start getting spam or anything phishy I simply get a new free e-mail account and discard the one that was starting to get spam of phish.

[rufaro]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rand Reed @ Sep 5 2006, 07:17 PM) [snapback]314925[/snapback]</div>

I have a free e-mail account that I only use for ebay/paypal and nothing else. It's suprising how easy this is to do and I have not gotten any spam there (yet) as long as I don't use it for anything (like forums, etc).

If I start getting spam or anything phishy I simply get a new free e-mail account and discard the one that was starting to get spam of phish.
[/b]

Very good solution...except when you are the company "info@" eddress. THAT one we cannot shut down, along with "support@" and all the other ones like it. Pure spam/phish bait. But those are where our legit clients will look for us...so I get to weed through 500+ emails to find ONE that is a legit request for help or information. It is ESPECIALLY helpful when the emailer does something "phishy" like not including a subject line, or uses funky fonts.

A pox on all their houses, sez I!